The daily worker. [volume] (Chicago, Ill.) 1924-1958, 1932-03-17
THE NEW TAXATION-MORE
OF THE CRISIS BURDEN
ON THE MASSES

immediacy Of the government treasury crisis.
With Unsuitable appetite, the nav OF the crisis
Of American capitalism demands the very flesh
and blood and life of the working masses IN the
effort to stem of the ruinous consequences OF
the crisis Of American capitalism. .- -
Upon the balancing Of the American budget
depends much OF the future position OF the
United States in the sphere Of international
finance. The new tax bill is the complement
Of the inflationary movement now under way
and both together represent the most extreme
financial measures which the American capital
ist class has so far been forced to take.
Some indication Of the sheer necessity under
whose pressure the representatives OF Wall Street
in Congress are acting is limited at IN the sol
emn warning given the House of Representa-
ttves by Representative Crisp OF the first day Of
the debate over the new bill:
IF Congress does not yass this BILL the
financial wS-:o I'll become frightened to
the solidity Of United States credit. When
our bonds deprecste everything else depreci-
ates in proportion
The revenue act is designed to raise sufficient
funds to balance the budgetry deficit Of $l7O0,-
900 for the fiscal year 1888 The total to be
raised is 81, 246,000O0O. OF this amount, approx
mately 1925, 100000 will be raised by effecting
economics IN government expenses Cmainly by
cutting the wages of the lower paid civil service
employees). The sum to be raised by outright
taxation is therefore about s1O21, 100000. This
total is again subdivided according to the man
ner in which it is to be raised into eleven cate
gories. Of these subdivisions by far the most
far reaching and drastic in it's effects on the
working masses is the general manufacturers
sales tax.
Under the provisions Of this sales tax, all
manufactured articles, with the exception Of
certain specified commodities, such as bread,
meat, fish, farm products, salt, sugar, ETC., are
TO be taxed "a per cent of their manufactured
sales price The total amount to be raised by
the sales tax is $595,000000
A brief comparison with the entire sum COL
lectable under the provisions of the new revenue
act shows that So per cent of the total to be
raised by outright taxation will come from the
general sales tax. Since 80 per cent of all man
ufactured consumption commodities are bought
by those having incomes of less than $4,000
year, that Is the working class, poor farmers and
Electromagnetic, the net result of the general
safes tax is that almost AZ per cent of the total
money to be raised by taxation under the new
revenue act will come out of the pockets of the
workers, poor farmers and lower strata Of the
-bourgeoisie of this country.
This, however, is but half the story. The
sales tax of "a per cent is that in name alone.
Actually. in practice sales tax of 214 per cent
amounts to tax of anywhere from 2A per cent
to so per cent. The majority of the articles
purchased by the working class are those within
the range of low-priced commodities. Since the
tax is levied on the basis Of 2A cents on every
dollar Of manufacturers sales price or five cents
on every article worth two dollars the tax
amounts to payment by the workers Of one
cent extra on each taxable commodity worth 40
cents
If articles are priced at less than 40 cents 1t
Is obviously impossible to pass on the tax to
the purchaser in its original percentage amount
because there is no unit Of money smaller than
one cent. 1t is foregone conclusion that
neither the manufacturer nor the retailer Will
consent to pay the tax out Of his own pocket
merely because the revenue act calls for 2X
per cent tax. In every case in which the tax
amounts to less than one cent according to the
provisions of the tax bill, the worker will be re-
quired to pay at least full cent tax if not
more. The smaller the price Of the article the
greater will be the percentage OF tax, running
in some to fifty per cent Of the sales price
TO Be Concluded.)