The Kennewick courier-reporter. [volume] (Kennewick, Wash.) 1914-1938, 1932-05-05

WICK COURIER-REPORTER
and that 60 percent of the wealth
of the state, pays nothing to the
support of the state government"
} Furthermore, the possession of
property is not necessarily an evil
Hdence Of ability to pay as is indi-
Gated by the large amount of prop
serty being forfeited for failure to
meet the taxes levied.
To afford relief from present
rinequities there are ally two alter
natives-to reduce the cost of gov
ernment or to utilize other bases
of taxation. Unless the public is
willing to dismiss many teachers,
policemen, judges, firemen, road
workers, etc.-to curtail or i'm
pair the several services of gov
eminent in drastic fashion-other
sources of taxation than real prop
erty must be found. A tax on in
comes is one other important
source for state revenue now uti-
lized by nineteen other states.
The purpose of Initiative No. SO
is not to increase the total of tax
alton, but to spread the present
tax load over a wider base. 1t
proposes to relieve the ,overburd-
ened property. taxpayer by exact
ing tax from incomes unreach-
ed by the property tax. 1t accom-
plishes this purpose by providing
that proceeds of the income tax
shall be paid into the school funds,
which are now provided by proper
ty-tax levies, thus reducing the
state schoo llevies by as much as
income tax receipts make possible.
Receipts go first to the Barefoot
School Boy" fund, which at $40 per
census child now amounts to about
z IL millions; then, if there is a
remainder, it goes to reduce the
levy for the higher institutions Of
learning, which require about 8 1-2
millions. The proceeds under the
rates and conditions will certainly
not equal the II millions of school
funds. 60
As stated, the income tax pro-
ceeds would not increase the school
funds, but they would render these
funds more secure by erasing the
present pressure on real property.
The plan Of the bill is the we'll
known Wisconsin plan, with some
notifications in this state. The
rate and deductions are taken di-
rectly from the. Wisconsin law,
which is the oldest and most sue
cessful income tax in the Union.
The act itself is necessarily
long and technical. These details
have been carefully drafted by an
able corps of attorneys including
the chairman of the two commit
ties on Revenue and Taxation in
the last legislature. High points
of the bill and very brief sum-
mary and guide by sections fol-
low:
High Points
"a The basis of the tax is the
calendar year as in the Federal
law. (Sec. II
(2) The corporate person is clas-
sified and taxed on the same basis
as the natural person. (Sec. q
(3) A person with net income
of less than $500 if single or of
less than $3.50 if married, or with
gross income of less than $500 is
not required to, file return. (Sec.
8.)
a. Rates are graduated from
/ percent on the first 500 up to z
,percenti.on more than 10000. (For
scale see Summary, Sec. 81
81 There are deductions from
the computed tax Of So for single
persons and $3.50 for. married
persons and sd for each dependent.
lSec. 81
co Offsets are provided for
consisting Of all taxes paid on home
property up to $50 and of addition
al ad yalorem tax paid up to one
half of the remainder of the COM
puted. tax. )Sec. 81
~ Proceeds Of tax levy are as