Evening star., 1924-11-28
congress LEANING
TO TAX REVISION
Record of Expenditures Will
Decide if Treasury Can
Stand New Slash.
By DAVID LAWRENCE,


Returning members of Congress
are showing a Significant curiosity
about the chances of another revision
of taxes.
And they will find that the answer
to their queries cannot be given them
by the President or the Secretary Of
the Treasury. For tax revision de-
pends on two unknown factors. One
Is the business condition Of the coun-
try-a better economic situation
meaning increased revenues-and the
other is the spending procliyity OF Con
gress itself.
The Treasury estimated last TIM
that there would be q surplus OF
about 0,00o. 900, but 1t actually CAM
to $505,0oo.000. which goes to show
that the forecasts cannot be exact
and that favorable business stu
alton and rigid economy can change q
prediction materially.
Assuming that on the basis Of the
figures already published there Is an
indicated surplus of about $70,000.000,
this would not be enough to warrant
recommendation for a revision OF
taxes. But the experience of the
past has taught that Treasury esti-
mates can be exceeded. For this
reason some people have gone so far
as to say there will be a $350,000,000
surplus, Notwithstanding the cut that
has been made by the new tax law
in the expected receipts.
Congress, to some extent, has Il
In Its power to bring about surplus
of $3.50, 100000. Economy in expendi-
ture will do the trick.
If business man wanted to bring
about surplus at the end of a year
he not only would cut down his ex-'
penses of operation, but he would
look to increased revenues by better
business methods. The Government
and Congress can't improve economi
conditions except by omitting to dis
turb business and avoiding the i'm
position of uncertainties in one form
or another. But Congress can do the
other. 1t can fail to spend large sums
and 1t can even inquire closely into
the estimates Of expenditures made
by the executive departments. Pre-
sumably the budget director has done
all the pruning possible, but Congress
has been known to slash aprpopri;'-
tions which emanated from executive
departments even since the budget
system came into operation.
The relationship between another
horizontal cut in taxes-say, 25 per
cent on incomes earned this year
and economy in Government expendi-
ture never has been so easy to de-
termine nor 60 manifest to the naked
eye Of the taxpayer as it IL today.
Economy has always been something
academic, because the income tax law
has not been we'll understood, and
the war upset all standards of ex-
penditure. In the last few years,
however, economy has become one OF
the paramount issues. and the cleo
ton Of President Coolidge is at
tributed by many of his friends to
his efforts to effect economies in Gov
ernment operation.
Sentiment among those members OF
the House and Senate who are here
for next weeks session is plainly in
favor of another tax cut. The argu-
ment that the executive branch OF the
Government has been making, namely
that until after the payments made
on March Is next, the exact revenue
producing capacity of the present law
will not be known Is recognized as
sound, but 1t usually leads to dis
cussion of what the administration
will do IL there In a surplus.
The administration insists that it
has not closed the door to an extra
session, but 1t must see a substantial
surplus before 1t can talk about tax
revision. And until Congress has
wound up it's short session on March
nothing will be known OF the exact
amount of money appropriated for
Government expenditures. The infor-
nation needed to confirm the present
judgment of the administration or
to bring about a change in it's de-
cision will therefore be available
about April /, and the whole subject
Of an extra session and a further tax
cut may be postponed until those fg-
ures are available and the record Of
Congress on economy is definitely
made.
Copyright, 1924.)