The Bismarck tribune., 1925-06-13
SENATECHIEF
DEMANDS NEW
TAX MEASURE
Underwood Says Present Law
Carrying 40 Per Cent Sur
tax Is Coniiscat0ry
WANTS LESS BUREAUS
Says Expenditures of Gov
ernment Should Not Ex-
ceed Revenue

Montgomery, Ala, June l3.-.Oscar
w. Underwood, addressing a meeting
of the Alabama Tax Clubs in session
here, declared that the present tax
measure carrying maximum sur
tax of 40 per cent is confiscatory
and should be rewritten along the
lines of the law Of 1915 when the
highest bracket of the surtax was
thirteen per cent.
'Since the very dawn Of civiliza-
tion, taxes and government have
been almost synonymous terms and
government did not exist where
tribute was not exacted from the
governed" Senator Underwood stat
ed. Long ago the most cruel,
grasping and avaricious of rulers
to tax, he held the power to destroy
the future productive capacity of his
people and that the laying on of un-
due burdens of taxation inevitably
lead to revolution or death.
Would Destroy Property
There is school of philosophy
destroy if they could the private
ownership Of all property and mass
it all in the hands of the State.
Though the avowed advocates of
these political heresies are compara-
lively few in numbers, their satel-
lites and partial imitators, who deny
the faith, but who would destroy
those they envy, are approaching
numbers that NAV in the near future
jeapordize the life Of the state.
"The very dawning of civilized life
was the recognition of the home
unit, father, wife and children, their
sustenance and their protection. The
accumulation of sufficient property
Good and clothing) to carry on and
provide for the future was necessary
that the family unit might persist.
The destruction of this property by
whichever method has always meant
the destruction of the home life and
the fabric that rests upon it.. For
untold centuries the ownership or
protection of this property, the re-
sultant accumulation Of the family
and not with the state primarily.
The philosophers of the new school
would take it away from the family
and give it to the state. In state
where there is no constitutional in
hibition, it may be. done by direct
legislation. Not SO with US. 1t
must be borne in mind that although
there is a constitutional prohibition
in the government of the United
States against taking private proper
ty without just compensation, there
is no limited space on the power OF
taxation, as to amount in the federal
government, and the private owner
ship of property can be destroyed
through the power to tax.
High War Taxes
During the great war, in the
higher brackets Of the revenue bill,
taxes were collected as high as 65
per cent of the revenue derived from
the citizens estate, and even now,
seven years after the conflict is over,
our taxes against some men and
women are as much as 46 per cent
of their entire taxable income. The
question naturally arises, is this
taxation or is it confiscation In
war time the government may take
the life of the citizen and / doubt
not his property. il need be, to pre-
serve the life Of the Nation, but not
20 in time Of peace. The very fabric
Of our institution cries out against
it. Yet if you would follow the
school of the anarchist, why daily
with the situation? The power to
tax is Just as potent a factor to use
in the destruction Of private prop
erty, as the red flag or the lighted
torch.
Il am not prepared yet to say that
the men possessing the power OF
government are conscious of de-
sire to destroy. the property of the
rich, but / am willing to say that
some of our tax gatherers have be-
come very cahous Of the rights Of
those who have ,amassed great for
tunes, overlooking the, fact that
where you unjustly, throw the top
stone from the monument Of our
business life one by ,one the others
will inevitably follow until the very
foundation is reached.
$50 it is impossible to consider
the task of the reduction OF taxation
without bearing in mind the motives
that may lie behind the cause that
produces the levy and to always re-
first of all desire high taxation that
the home life and then the very fab
ric of our national existence.
Burden On T0ileTs o
$50 much for one angle of the
situation that confronts US. Another
angle is the answer to the question,
does it pay to tax until it destroys
or even until it hurts? Let US pause
for minute to- adjust our funda-
mental principles. It is q funda-
mental canon of taxation that all
taxes are paid in the end from the
accumulated wealth Of the people
taxed. Some have said from rent,
profit and wages, but In the end all
wealth is the accumulation of the
asset that grows out Of the work Of
the heads and hands Of men and
women. So that at the end Of the
decade or the century the extraordin-
ary burden laid on the body polite
must come from the men who toll
and the women who reap or there
must be a diminution Of the accu-
1nnulated wealth Of the country that
existed when the burden was laid.
The question before us is whether
the nation is stronger, ssfer and
more productive with great store
Of accumulated wealth or without it.
"The genius Of our great develop
ment has come through the hmassing
(coptippsd on psSs thysel Il