Evening star., 1926-02-20

During the final battle in confer
ence between the House and Senate
over the tax bill public opinion has
concerned itself chiefly about the
prospect of having the measure in
effect before March Is. when 1925
takes are due. From the moment
the Senate pa ssed the bill with levies
cut beyond the House reductions
newspa per comment disclosed general
satisfaction at the certainty that the
House figures represented the mini
mum of what citizens could expect
in the way of relief, and little dis
position to worry over the Treasury S
predictions of deficit.
Discussing the action of the Senate.
the Knoxville Sentinel independent
Democratic) declared the Mellonites"
started it. Mr.. Smoot had to nibble
off some few score millions more for
the big fellows the Tennessee paper
continues, .'and 1t was too late to
cry ruin. destruction when the lit
tie fellows get their turn, as Norris
said. The mischief was done. Every
more than they wanted" Similarly,
the Utica Observer-Dispatch tch Gnde-
pendent, remarked: '.Smoot took care
of the rich He should not be sur
prised that the Senate then broke
away and voted to abolish those other
taxes which weigh more heavily upon
the average citizen than do inheri-
tance or estate taxes" The Charles
ton Evening Post independent DEM
ocratic) predicted that it would not
be easy for the administration to re-
store to the tax bill the items which
had been eliminated in the Senate
and said: lit is not impossible that
the appeal these eliminations make
to large sections of the public-the
automobile tax directly affects nearly
one.hfth of the whole population of
the country and perhaps 80 per cent
of the taXpaying element-will shake
the solidity of the House and break
the administration strength there.
X y
The Des Moines Evening Tribune
News independent Republican, criti-
cized the program in Washington 10
cut off the taxes on wealth on the
theory that the war is over. this pa
per contending that the war Will not
be over for the taxpayer until that
| SIC, ,0OO. 900 900 of war debt has been
paid. The question is, Shall wealth.
be conscripted until that debt Is
pa i'd
The Sioux City Daily Tribune lin
dependenU thought that under the
natural conditions. which have been
reflected in some other legislative al
fairs. the Democrats and insursent
! Renublicans in the Senate Shonld
have made the tax bill less of rich
mans document ON the other hand
the Hartford Daily Times Gndepend
ent DemocraU contended that the
bill carried tax reduction long ms
lance for earners of salaries and
[ wages. Hundreds of thousands OF
such persons who enjoy excellent IN.
comes and who live in comfort will
be entirely relieved of any Federal
tax burden the Times added. Tax
reduction cannot be carried much
further for their benefit without de-
stroving the fundamental theory of
the income tax. If exemptions were
made much larger the income tad
would become entirely tax upon
the rich"
As to the difference between the two
houses Of Congress, the India ma polls
News independently said: I'm the ad-
iustments that will be made in con-
ference both sides are expected to
make concessions. On many of the
issues presented. 1t is not a question
of the desirability of the reductions
or eliminations. but of taking no final
action that might risk a treasury def
lett The Buffalo Evening News
Republcan) considered that the coun-
try was well satisfied with what the
House bill promised and public
opinion strongly urges the adoption of
the measure" The Lansing State
journal Gndspandant) said. ton. that