The daily worker., 1932-03-18
BY MAN WEISS

II lConclusionl


AN illustration oil the manner in which the sales
n tax Will operate to squeeze the starvation
wages Of the employed and the miserable relief
.of the unemployed Cn cases where they receive
such relief will show very clearly the vicious at
tack on the standard of living of the masses con-
cained not only in the sales tax as such but
in the concrete working OUT of the sales tax.
Manufacturers selling soap for instance
zone of the articles Of mass consumption
taxable under the new law originally priced at
five cents each, or forty for two dollars, will
pass the tax on to the retailer by charging him
l$2O5 for forty cakes. The least price therefore,
at which the storekeeper can sell each cake, dis
regarding the additional amount added to this
cost price by overhead expenses, wages, profit
etc. and yet not suffer a loss which If con-
tinued in will drive him out OF business, is five
and one-tenth cents.
1t is impossible, Of course, to charge such a
sum. The next lowest figure which can be
charged is six cents. Therefore, the worker is
creed to pay not five cents on every two dol
la-s worth of such purchases but forty cents. If,
in order to keep his trade, the retailer arranges
combination sales by means of which the worker
can pay the exact amount of the tax, a very
improbable procedure by purchasing a suffi-
GENTLY large amount of commodities and thus
allowing for a spread Of the tax over wide
range, he escapes the exorbitant tax only at the
expense OF buying in amounts which will very
severely limit his other vitally essential pur-
chases and thus work untold hardships on him.
With his wages Slashed until the worker can
buy only the barest essentials necessary to main
tain himself and his family alive, such large
purchases will become increasingly impossible.
The final result will be that the worker will be
compelled to buy single articles because of lin
tied purchasing power and thus be the victim
o. one Of the most exorbitant tax swindles that
the fiendishy clever, crisis-craZed capitalist class
IS capable Of deyising
To further Illustrate the conscious swindling
character Of the new tax bill by means of which
the working class will be compelled to pay not
TWO and a quarter per cent tax but in many
cases fifty per cent or even higher, it suffices
10 examine the highly touted non -pyramiding'
character Of the bill.
BY "pyramiding" sales tax is meant such a
tax that results in each unfinished commodity,
requiring more than one productive process, be-
ing taxed as it passes out of the hands of its
Immediate manufacturer. BY the time it reaches
the worker who buys it, the article has been
taxed five six times, depending upon the
number Of manufacturing processes it under
goes The present tax bill is supposed to avoid
this feature by levying the tax only on the ar
tlCleS which leave the final manufacturer and
pass straightway into the hands of the con-
surner
What will actually happen is that the bill will
result in pyramiding of taxes to a monstrous
degree but in a different form. Not all manu-
Hactured products are consumed by the workers.
Many Of them are taxed, but remain in the pro-
ductive process, such machinery, autos, trucks,
gas, OIL electricity, etc. Those items of fixed and
circulating capital represent a tremendous pro-
portion OF the cost of production of most COM
modties. The taxes levied on the manufactured
products consumed in the process Of production
or circulation of taxable commodities will in turn
be passed along to the retailer, who, in his turn
will unload them onto the shoulders Of the
working class and farming consumer This
beautiful feature of the new revenue act con-