Askov American. [volume] (Askov, Pine County, Minn.) 1914-current, 1932-11-03

\ In the 1rSt place citizens ana TAX.
payers are about fed up on scares,
threats, and intimidation, and in the
second place people want to be work.
ing away from charity more and
more. Because big business gives
mite to charity the poor are supposed
to be meek and quiet, take what is
handed them with uncovered heads
and say nothing.
Charity is still necessary to some
extent but it is not what the people
want. They want work. a chance to
make an honest living, to build and
maintain homes of their own, and not
continue to gather up crumbs that
fall from the table of big business.
The nerve, crust, greed, and selfish
ness of men with huge incomes to
demonstrate against paying to the
government part of their earnings
to help alleviate the general property
taxes of those with meager incomes
or to diminish suffering on the part
of other human beings in times like
these!
Would Tax Those Earning Well.
The argument is being used that
Minneapolis and st. Paul are to pay
the proposed income tax for the bene-
fit of the rest of the state, and that
those cities have plenty of needy
within their own gates which they
have to care for.
Let us see.
The statutory income tax bill that
was introduced i'm the last session
of the legislature but which did not
pass, was estimated to produce a rev.
enue of $1O,0O0,000 or more year
if it had become operative. Single
people were exempted $1,000 and mar
ried people $4,000 under provisions of
this bill, and there was also the added
exemption of $500 for each dependent
child. The rate of taxation started
with one per cent on the first thou
sand dollars income over the exemp-
ton and was graduated up to a maxi
mum of five per cent tax on incomes
over $4,000. In other words if a
single person earned altogether $4,000
he would pay a tax of $40 annually
under provisions of the bill and if 4
married person without children had
a total income of $4,000 he would pay
tax of $40.
That would take in many residents
in Duluth, st. Cloud, Winona, Ro-
chester, Hibbing, Virginia, Mankato,
Willmar, Montevideo. Crookston.
Albert Lea, Austin, and so on. Even
in villages of 1000 or over would be-
found some folks that would pay
state income taxes with the eXemp--
lions as in the bill of two years ago.
and there is no reason to assume that.
the exemptions will be much different
in the bill to be introduced in the
next session of the legislature.
Would Benefit Entire State.
But what of it, if the two larger
cities are to pay more of the income
tax than other parts of the state?
The only reason for that is because
they have more citizens with incomes
that will warrant it. If folks do not
have the income they do not pay the
tax. Furthermore if it were not for
counties like Pine and the more than
80 other rural counties of the state
there would be no Minneapolis and St.
Paul. They would still be Indian trad
ing posts. The same can be said of
the smaller cities. Also, the people
of smaller earning capacity living
within those cities as we'll as people
of like means all over the state would
benefit by an income tax in that it
would help to lower their burden of
general property taxes.
There has been much ballyhoo on
reactionary publications about the
Wisconsin income tax not being a re-
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