Evening star., 1932-11-08
Beer and National Taxation
Share Stage AS Battle Ends

tax of 40 cents the gallon could be
levied without advancing the price
enough to make bootlegging profitable.
as Garner fears. Tax CT that kind
would produce revenue OF 1854 900 600
a year, and that would be Just about
three -fourths of the income tax revenue
collected last year"
BY way Of criticism. the Boston
Herald remarks that 1t makes one
dizzy to think Of how many billions Of
glasses Of beer Americans must drink in
year to pour the several hundred
millions OF dollars into the Federal
Treasury" and the Des Moines Tribune
makes the comment on the statement
of the Investment bankers: Secretary
McSparran of the Pennsylvania State
Department Of Agriculture derides the
notion that a beer tax would produce
even half a billion in new revenue.
To realize that amount he says, every
family in the II States that would
probably legaliZe beer would have to
drink 100 pints every year This is
somewhat surprising in view Of the fact
that prophesies Of bankers are usually
supposed to err, If at all. en- the side Of
overpesSimism. But maybe, on the other
hand, they are extraordinarily capable
beer drinkers"
On the question Of more fundamental
action the New York Sun says: Sup
pose the House, at the coming session,
should vote two to one for repeal. The
chances are strong that the Senate
would listen with interest and respect
to the voice OF a body which Is gen
orally believed to be closer 10 the people
than the Senate. The chances are
strong that the Senate would disclose
a large number of eleventh. hour con-
verts. Politics willing, strong prob
ability exists that the Seventy second
will repeal the eighteenth amendment"
THE full potentialities of the LIQUOR
eXciseS as revenue producers were never
adequately explored" advises the Balti-
more Sun, for the reason that the re-
quirements of the Treasury were never
onerous enough in the days before the
war to neceSsitate the exploitation of
these levies on an extensive scale" The
Sun concludes: 1T Is to the credit of
the Volunteer Committee OF Lawyers
that 1t Is now circulating q careful ex-
animation Of the repeal proposal In
which this point is emphasized. The
Stuuy, prepared w LIle dSSOCldIlOn
Executive Committee, which embraces a
number Of able young lawyers, ventures
no estimate Of the amount which a gen
eral excise on all forms Of alcoholic
beverages might yield. 1t does. however.
stress the point that the liquor excises
are historically the most equitable and
profitable of our indirect taxes, and
offer therefore the most appropriate
remedy for fiscal uncertainties resulting
from our recent reliance on direct or
income and corporation taxes"
The New York Times places emphasis
on the fact that rural districts were
the first to be won over to the cause Of
prohibition, and will presumably be the
last to desert it," with the belief that
"the goal would be nearer at hand II
the residents Of urban districts, in gen
eral the chief proponents of a change,
possessed authority in Congress more
nearly in consonance with their num-
bers." The Kansas City Star offers the
judgment on the prospects: 1T is
possible that the necessary 36 States
could be obtained for a modification
amendment. 1t Is almost inconceivable
that IS States would not line up against
outright appeal"