The Washington times., 1933-05-11
TAX WHIP SEEN
FOR SELFISH
BUSINESS
Roosevelt Program Provides
Board to Work With Com
merCiaI Groups

FT6SluGIlI fLOOSCNC1I PAOPOodA
for Federal control of business
and industry through the Govern
ment'S power of taxation was
studied today by Administration
leaders on Capitol Hill.
The President favored Federal
regulation of all commerce, intra-
state as well as interstate, to
spur the economic recovery Of
business and industry.
He believed this could be
achieved, not by invoking the
power of Congress to regulate
interstate commerce, but by i'm
posing a national processing or
occupational tax on all industry
and then exempting such units
as voluntarily carry out the Gov
ernment's program for economic
recovery.
For U. S. Control Board
The President would use the
taxing process to benefit both
labor and owners. The program
would set up a Federal business
control board to negotiate trade
or labor agreements in each in
dustry.
Labor presumably would be
benefited by agreements to
shorten the work week, to i'm
prove working conditions, to
eliminate child labor, and to fix
minimum scales of wages. Own
erS, the proposal contemplates,
would be helped by agreements
to fix a minimum sale price on
a commodity, to eliminate price
wars and ruinous competition.
Under the Presidents plan, If
most units in an industry adopted
one of these agreements, then the
Federal Government would help to
impose it on the entire industry.
This would be accomplished by
exempting from a new Federal
tax, either on processing of the
article or for occupational pur-
poses, those units which carried
out the agreement. The ratio re-
Quired to impose such an agree
ment on an industry will be fixed
later.
Constitutional Issues
The immediate fate of the plan
rested upon constitutional issues.
Never before has the Federal Gov
ernment undertaken to regulate
intrastate commerce through i'm
posing a processing tax.
It has imposed inspection taxes
and it has regulated interstate
commerce, but it failed to stamp
out child labor because its effort
was held to be an interference
with intrastate commerce.
The President submitted his
views, along with several other
plans for regulating industry, to
Congressional leaders at series
Of conferences in the White House.
He suggested that a new public
works act be attached to the reg
ulatory bill, with provisions not
only for Federal, but State and
municipal projects but for extend
ing aid to private industry in ex-
panding construction work.
The President agreed with his
advisers that relief of unemploy-
ment was the most pressing prob
lem now before the Government.
He urged prompt action not only
on eliminating abuses in COM
merce but in expanding new work.
Differences Over Sum
There were indications of an
early solution of the controversy
over public works program. The
principal obstacle has been the
demand of the Treasury Depart
ment that any new bond issue be
accompanied by some plan for its
payment.
The Treasury suggested a new
tax to amortize the bonds within
IS years. This would call for a
tax raising an annual revenue
equal to 10 per cent of any bond
issue.
Congressional leaders urged a
SO, 3,000, 900, 900 fund while three in
surgent Senators introduced a bill
calling for a $4,000 100000 pro-
gram but failed to enunciate any
plan for payment of the bonds.
Those opposing a special tax
pointed out that $4,000, 900 900
of bonds were floated during the
war without special tax and re-
tired by the revenues from gen.
eral taxation.