The daily worker., 1932-03-18
THE NEW TAXATION-MORE
OF THE CRISIS BURDEN
ON THE MASSES

cerning which the capitalist class maintains
deadly silence will accomplish tax increase of
many times more than the innocentIy scheduled
pa per cent.
particularly vicious aspect of the taxation
OF fixed and circulating capital is the fact that
the amount of the tax is not added simply to
the final sale sprice along with the tax on the
final product, but itself becomes the basis for
the sales tax Thus the 2A per cent tax is not
placed on the final sales price, to which the tax
on the machinery is added but the tax is placed
on the final sales price In which is already in
cluded the tax on machinery. The effect Of this
broadening of the tax base is, Of course, a huge
increase over and above the simple az per cent
tax called for by the tax bill.
In order to affect a diplomatic concern Tor
the welfare of the Masses" the capitalist poll
ticians who drafted this bIood-sucking tax bin
exempted certain articles Of mass consumption,
such as bread, farm products, milk, meat, salt.
sugar, etc. The list Of such products is very
insignificant compared to the total list OF articles
of mass consumption. Such vital necessities as
clothing textile products Of al lsortS hats shoes,
canned goods soap, furniture, household uten-
sils, ETC.. ETC., are subject to the tax bill Since
with the perpetualy small wages Of the working
class, the rapidly narrowing buying power due to
the tremendous wage Slashing campaign Of the
Bosses and the staggering totals Of unemploy-
ment, the cost of these articles Of mass con-
sumption represent the largest item on the list
of commodities bought by workers, the suffering
imposed on the masses by the tax bill becomes
staggering. On top OF the direct tax on these
articles of mass consumption, the cost OF the
largest single item Of expenditure Of the work
ers-rent-will be immeasurably increased. While
there is no direct tax on buildings, there Is a
tax on all building materials and an increased
tax on all real estate. This added tax will, by
no means, be borne by the landlord The i'm
mediate result of the tax bill will be q huge
jump in rent with consequent further tre-
mendous impoverishment of the masses.
Side by side with the tax bill, which is but
one aspect Of the attack contemplated by the
capitalist class all along the line against the
living standards of the masses, there Is the fact
that the taxes are imposed against back
ground of a tremendous inflationary movement,
the net result of which will be to depreciate the
value Of the little wages received by the worker,
to raise prices, thus broadening the tax base
and to increase the amount of money literally
taken out OF the pockets OF the workers.
From every conceivable angle, the new tax bill
is aimed at depressing to the utmost even the
present animal level of existence to which the
masses are gradually being reduced, at tre-
mendously accelerating the process of ruination
of the petit-bourgeois middle layer, and at des-
perately attempting to help the capitalist class
walk through the swamp of the world crisis over
the bleached bones of the starved and famished
millions.
Agains this program Of unabashed highway
robbery, the working and farming masses must
set themselves soldly behind the program Of
struggle Of the Communist Party and the Red
Trade Unions. The employed and unemployed
must turn back this vicious attack on their very
right to existence by a determined battle for
higher wages, for Unemployment Insurance
against the whole hunger and starvation system
Of the bosses.
More clearly than ever before do the words Of
Marx ring true that: THE only part of the So
called national wealth that actually enters into
the collective possessions of modern peoples is
then national debt"