The Indianapolis times. [volume] (Indianapolis [Ind.]) 1922-1965, 1925-10-22
'POIiticSS!'


81 r%7RETTY soon virtuous voices will be
heard calling on Congress to quit playing
& politics with the tax program. This Will have
Il a proper sound and you nt doubt will feel like
q Joining the chorus. Before doing so 1t may
e be worth your while to consider the kinds OF
e politics that are likely to jbe played
q IA A Congressman is said to play politics
q when he advocates or vota,s for measure IN
q order to help himself politically If he votes
s for a certain kind of tax bill because he thinks
i itwill make him or his panty popular with the
q majority of voters that S politics. 1t ne votes
y for another kind of tax bill because he thinks
& it will make him or his party popular with
large campaign contributors, that likewise, is
q politics. The of the Fl rst description calls
B the man of the second description tool OF the
! interests The second Calls the first dema-
4 gogue.
Of course, if the first lnan is &C ing solely
on the conviction that VIII; 1t the people want
must be given to them, he can't be called
demagogue; and if the Sc cond man honestly
! believes the way to benefit the average man IS
to benefit the big interests. first, he can't be
! called anybody s tool
i ing session will result from the two tendencies
described. The last tax reduction was the
work, largely, of Democrats and independent
Republicans, in Congress- They took the vast
ly advertised Mellon tax ian and remodeled
it until Mr. Mellon didn't recognize it. His
aim had been to reduce the: taxes OF the little
folks little and the taxes of the big fellows
lot. Congress turned the project around, re-
ducing the little fellows hot and the big fell
lows little.
i Now the best Of motives moved Congress
in that but, just the same til ere some poll
tics in it, Indeed it looked like the slickest
kind of politics. There was! President Cool
idge, angry as Vermont farmer finding
tramp in his haymow. His t;ra plan was bust
ed and one likely to please Il lie great majority
Of voters had been passed ov el his protest.
He let it be known that he d Ii ke to veto it, and
then he signed on the dotted lNne. What hap
pened? The country gave HIM, not Congress,
the credit for the tax reduction. The country
wouldn't believe that anybody could be more
economical than Coolidge.
Congress is going up against another Mel
Ion tax plan this session. although his name is
being kept remote from the bill. Again the
Mellon aim is primarily to reduole the big fell
lows taxes. Congress may succee d in improv-
ing this program as much as it di the other,
but at this moment it appears to- be a harder
job.
The Federal taxes of the littl @ fellows are
almost at the vanishing point. Reduce them
any further and the little fellows, cease to be
Impoverished taxpayers, that Is to say for
they will continue to pay the taxes hidden in
rents and the prices of things hey buy. 1t
may not be wise to break this dire yet taxpaying
connection between millions of citizens and
their government 1t would SCI I'm better to
have every citizen contribute to t be cost of his
government, if only little, and Il bat he should
know how much he is contribut hing. Never
theless there will be much supper in Congress
for plan to take the little fello, Us off the in
come tax books entirely.
\ Mellon s idea is to make COZ siderable re-
duction in the surtax Of the big ia xpayers. He
would leave the little fellows paying about
what they now pay, in order to DIX this.
Entering into the problem is the question
Of what to do with the leftover W ar taxes, the
taxes on automobiles, theater tickq It's, club dues
and so forth. The Administration. s hope is to
crowd through bill this session without re-
moving the tax on automobiles and then, two
years later, just preceding the 1923 election, to
sponsor the elimination of the auto tax. There
would be lot of votes in that. Everybody
who buys an automobile would APT )reciate the
removal from the automobile ads Of those italc
lnes-''f. 0. b. Detroit-pus tax The tax
amounts to per cent Of the ma1u ufacturer's
price.
Well there are some of the fu ndamental
differences that Congress has to deal with So,
unless you want Congress to shut it eyes and
pass the first bill the Administration hands it,
regardless Of what it contains, d. mt start