Evening star., 1932-03-07
The Tax Bill.

The new billion-doll tax bill, SO
! called because it is designed to raise an
| additional $l.1OO,OO0, 900 from the tax
, PAYERS. has taken final form at the
| hands of the House Ways and Means
| Committee and is to be reported to the
House favorably this afternoon. The
! time has come, the House committee
and the administration have decreed
| for the Government to balance its
budget. Additional taxes, they hold,
are the only sensible remedy for the
situation in which the Government
! finds itself, with a deficit around two
billions of dollars in sight. The tax
payers who have to foot the bill will not
, rejoice. No one pays taxes for pleasure
! But it is a duty which those who live
under the protection of the American
flag owe to the Nation.
The House Ways and Means COM
mittee, Republicans and Democrats
alike, finally came round to manu-
| facturers' sales tax. a proposal that has
Dtcll OCIlOutlSSo oA4N oN VAN
same time urgently advocated. In the
end, however, this tax was deemed to
be fairer to all concerned than pro-
posals to single out number of in
dustrieS and levy the increased taxes
on them. From the manufacturers
sales tax the committee has exempted
oil Ii, aF hy ho
farmers, meats, milk and other neces-
saries of life
The new tax bill lowers the personal
exemptions in the income tax and
raises the SurtaX materially. Under the
provisions of the bill married persons
will have an exemption of $4,000 in
exemption of 81 900 instead of $1,000.
The surtax rates rise until on incomes
of 100000 the Government will take
40 per cent Of the whole. The normal
rates have been raised, too. The new
income tax levies are not effective on
incomes for the year 1881, on which
taxes are payable during the present
calendar year They must be paid, how
ever, on the incomes which are received
during this year.
The patrons of the moving picture
houses must pay a 10 per cent tax on
admissions for which 25 cents or over
are charged, along with persons who
attend the Legitimate" theater produc-
tions, prizefights, base ball games and
the like. Taxes of five and ten cents
are levied on messages by telegraph,
telephone and radio.
Without going further into the details
of the bill it is obvious that the
American people will feel the sting Of
these new taxes. They will not be
popular. But they have become neces-
sary. The House committee has shown
great courage and great common sense
| in dealing with the vexing problem.
The American people will take new
pride and greater feeling of confidence
when the Government has balanced its
budget. When the British government
took the bull by the horns many
months ago and drastically increased
taxes as well as ruthlessly cut its gov
ernmental expenditures it set an ex-
ample to the nations of the world.
While an increase of taxes at the
present time may be the wise thing
for the American people and the
American Government, the funda-
mental thing is to put an end to ever
increasing Government costs, costs
which have been allowed to mount tre-
mendously in our days of prosperity.
In the final analysis, excessive taxes
have been the burden that has caused
the fall of great governments. When
the great mass of the people are
heavily taxed to provide free living and
free entertainment, whether of royalty
and aristocracy or of the proletariat,
or both, the danger mark has been
+ reached.