Evening star. [volume] (Washington, D.C.) 1854-1972, 1931-11-01
BINGHAM POINTS OUT NEED
FOR ADDITIONAL TAXATION
Member of Senate Finance Committee
Discusses Problems I'm Radio
Forum Address.

:
| or use the street car he does not have
/ to pay the tax. In the second place,
when he pays IL he immediately derives
q certain amount Of pleasure and sat
| iSfaction from the use Of the gasoline
and also the excellent highways beau
tifui roads. which his money helps to
provide. He derives 50 much satisfac-
ton and enjoyment therefrom that he
does not resent the tax. Similarly, be
does not object TO the 2-cent stamp tax
which enables him 70 send q letter to
any part CT the United States An In
crease In the gasoline tax meets with
no strenuous opposition because the
users realize that Il means more money
for better roads. Increases In the stamp
tax on articles carried by the post ONCE
meet immediate opposition because that
service Is now 50 good and so reason
able no one expects TO have 1t improved
by paying more for his postage stamp
tax.
Opposed a. Nuisance.
Similarly proposals to put q 2-cent
tax on personal checks, q tax that was
found useful at the time Of the Span
ish American War, meets immediate OPP
position because, In the first place it
Is nuisance to be obliged to put a
2-cent stamp on each check that one
makes out and. in the second place, no
one believes he is going to get improved
service for what he spends. Yet it
would help carry the load.
A few years ago the Federal Govern
ment collected q reasonable tax on all
automobiles and motor cycles when
they were sold. This tax produced a
good deal OF revenue, most of which
might fairly be said TO have been spent
on Federal bodybuilding projects In
1923, 1924, 1925 and 1926 the United
States Government received about one
hundred million dollars q year, from
this tax. In those years, however, we
were receiving 80 much more than we
were spending that those interested in
the automobile industry succeeded final
ly In getting the tax abolished In the
meantime the demands that the Federal
Government spend more money on
bodybuilding projects have increased
In size and persistency. It seems to
me that the way to meet those de-
mands and the proper way to raise the
millions Of dollars which we spend on
Federal-aid road projects is not by
spreading the tax over all the people
through general taxation, but by plac-
ing It directly on the automobiles which
use those roads. Can any one suggest
q reason why that is not q fair propo-
sition7 II you do not own q car and
do not use the roads you pay no gaso-
line tax and you pay no automobile
pay no Federal tax on the original
cost of the car. But II you do own q
car, do use the roads, Is there any rea-
son why you should not bear your fair
share Of their costs by paying to the
State an automobile registration tax
and a gasoline tax and paying to the
Federal Government tax on the orig
inal cost of the car? This seems to
me such fair proposition and one so
eminently just that favor a return Of
the automobile and motor cycle taxes
from which we formerly received hun
dred million dollars year.
Every one knows that we have an
enormous deficit. Every one knows that
the Treasury Is running behind millions
and millions of dollars every week.
Every one knows that we do not want
to stop the bodybuilding program
Therefore. it seems to me, that every
one ought to be willing to see this tax
restored In an effort to meet the deficit.
Then there were some nuisance taxes
which we abolished in the years when
we were enjoying q great annual sur
plus. Such taxes as stamp taxes on
playing cards, theater tickets, club dues,
etc. used TO yield us about $500, 900 900
year which we do not now receive.
No one wants these nuisance taxes re-
stored, but would it not be wiser to
bring then back rather than to keep
on increasing the public debt. on which
we must pay interest, which, in turn,
must be raised by taxation? A selec-
tive sales tax such as We had in 1928
Will help carry the burden. It is fool
ish TO think we can meet the situation
merely by increasing income taxes,
when every one knows that practically
all incomes have been greatly reduced
as result Of the depression. The only
large incomes which I know of which
have not been virtually cut in two arc
those derived from non-taxable securi-
ties, like municipal and State bonds
It Is obvious that merely to raise the
rates on income taxes. even though the
spread Is made wider than It Is at pres
ent. viii not greatly help the situation,
even though 1t ought to be done.
Must Help Pay Taxes.
When I look at the steadily increas-
ing burden Of taxation wonder how
still higher. On the other hand. when
study the heavy burden Of indebted
ness that is growing heavier every year,
particularly on residents Of our larger
cities and towns, 1t does not seem fair
TO increase this burden OF Indebtedness
by adding to the already enormous bur
den OF debt which the war left upon our
shoulders
Do not be misled by persons who tell
you that they have a plan which will
make somebody else pay the taxes and
give you the benefits of somebody elSeS
thrift, skill and good fortune They
may succeed for short time, but in
the long run 1t cannot be done. When
/ YOU buy anything you help pay some
/ body'S taxes. Prices are as low as pos
sible, but the dealer must take into con-
sideration all costs, including the burden
! of taxation.
/ Perhaps because this has not been
| fully understood by the great mass of
citizens: perhaps because we like to fool
ourselves by thinking that the Govern
ment which pays for good roads and
/ beautiful buildings is something apart
| from ourselves. perhaps because we
have failed to remember that eventually
] every cent which the Government
/ spends must come out of the pockets
/ of the people and does not come out of
thin air. We have been very extrsvagant
since the days when the successful sales
| of Liberty bonds taught us to think In
| terms Of billions of dollars
| The increased cost of Federal. State
/ and municipal governments since the
war is simply appalling. In 1918 the
Federal Government was costing about
seven dollars annually for every person
! in the United States. Within the past
| five years that cost has risen to some
$50. More than four times as much
as il was before the war That increase
Is due chiefly to the cost of the war
But State governments are now spend
ing more than five times as much as in
| 1918. Local governments. municipali-
ties and cities are spending about four
| times as much. That is not due 70 the
war but to extravaganza. Municipal
expenditures and State expenditures
have been going steadily upward each
year, even though Federal expenditures