The daily worker. [volume] (Chicago, Ill.) 1924-1958, 1933-05-20
TO SAVE INCOMES OF
RICH AND ROB THE
CONSUMING MASSES
Roosevelt's Sales Tax ProgramW ouldTax Food
and Clothing and Pass Manufacturers Excise
On to Toiling Masses, to Pay $220000,000
Annual Interest to Bondholders

WOIkeIS WOllu ACTUALLY NC u1uSll AAAOACs
For instance, the price Of five-cent
commodity, such as matches, would
be raised at least one cent. This
makes an increase to the consumer
of 20So instead Of the mere 1.I-S%o
Cor the amount yet to be determined)
which the manufacturer pays. We
have the example of Illinois which
has imposed go sales tax. Under
it, the Illinois Federation reported,
Persons Of limited means who are
obliged to make their purchases in
small amounts are being compelled
to pay a tax Of 20%o or even more.
Thus the working people Of Illinois
are being required to pay far in ex-
cess Of the so provided by the law"
And some commodities may actually
be raised as high as 100To! The diff
ference, of course, is pocketed by the
manufacturers and the business men.
Clothing, shoes, stockings, furni-
ture, cleaning material, oil, house
hold utensils of all kinds, medicine,
ice, coal and a thousand and one
other commodities necessary to the
existence Of the workers family are
to be taxed. Such practices are not
unknown to the workers Of this
country. The war period, it will be
recalled, brought with it luxury"
taxes. Prices Of soft drinks rose from
5 to and even 10 cents. The same
would now apply to articles which
are prime necessities stockings, me-
dicine, shoes and host of others.
Double Taxation.
When it is remembered that a
number of states, New York, Vermont,
Arizona, and others already have
passed sales taxes, and that still
others have such legislation pend
ing, it will be realized that a double
burden is to be the lot Of the Anne
rican workers unless they defeat the
present bill. The New York Times,
May Is, 1888 admitted this saying
that passage of a Federal sales tax
would result in doubling up for
many States where turnover taxes
were already in force"
The workers, who are poor and
living from hand to mouth, and buy
ing in small lots, always pay more
proportionately for what they buy
than the rich. The workers will
thus pay heavier tax than the
wealthy. In fact, a workers family
whose cost of living uses up nearly
the full amount Of its income, as is
increasingly the case, will actually be
paying tax upon nearly every cent
of its income. The rich, on the other
hand, whose incomes are Of course
much larger than what they spend,
are exempt from the tax on this part
of their incomes. And the richer the
person, the greater the exemption.
More, with over 100000 jobless
workers, a sales tax would add further
to the ranks Of unemployed by de-
creasing purchasing power That is,
with less being purchased, less would
be produced and consequently, fewer
employed.
Roosevelt claims 1t is necessary to
pay interest and principle on the
$1,000, 100000 bonds which he pro-
poses to float in connection with his
public works" program. In other
words, the workers themselves are
to be forced to pay for this con-
struction program which holds out
to them the very dubious promise OF
employment for few thousand.
Financing Military Public Works.
Yet at the same time, Rooseyelts
Secretary Of the Navy, Swanson, pro-
poses battleship construction pro-
gram which amounts to almost the
same figure as it is expected to ex-
tract from the workers $3.50 ,00O, 900.
The 1933-34 military appropriation
stands at the staggering figure OF
$685. million, or nearly 21a times this
figure. The capitalist effort to saddle
the masses with a load that very
! properly belongs to the capitalist
class itself, thus becomes even more
apparent. For that class received
between seven and eight billion
dollars in dividends and interest pay
ments in 1882, the fourth year OF
the crisis. A mere 30S5 tax on this
would provide over 81 400 ,0o0, 900
sum which would cover the 1910
million revenue expected from the
sales tax, would restore the 1885,
wage-cut to federal employees, re-
store the recent cut in veterans bene-
fits and leave 800 0oo, 900 to be distri-
buted in cash relief to unemployed.
And $1,000, 900 could easily be
raised from personal income and
estate taxes upon the capitalists.
But do you hear OF any such pro-
posals being suggested by Roosevelt,
the man who in election times
demagogically declared for grad
uated income, inheritance and pro-
fit taxes. d. -? You do not. Because
the Roosevelt government, like every
capitalist government, in line with
its central function of protecting the
incomes and property Of the rich
parasites, attempts to place upon the
toilers OF this country, the respon-
sibility for carrying out its anti-labor
campaigns.
The previous efforts TO put over
the sales tax in the first and second
sessions of the 72nd Congress, went
down to defeat. They failed because
Of the rising indignation and rebel
liouSness of the masses, the threat
Of mass pressure. The present Roose-
welt sales tax proposal can likewise
be defeated. The workers must be
aroused to protect their interests
from the ever-present onslaught Of
the capitalist class and its govern
ment. They can best do this be fol-
lowing out such campaign as out
lined in the Daily Worker, which has
been their champion in this, as in
other struggles.
AMpnN IhNTIrRE