The times-news. [volume] (Hendersonville, N.C.) 1927-current, 1933-01-14
INTEREST IN
CLEMENT TAX
BILL is WIDE
Budget Report Awaited
Before Value Of Proposal
Is Judged
By J. c. BASKERVILLE
The Times News Burcau
Sir Walter Hotel

RALEIGH, Jan. 14.-Much in
terest continues to be shown in
the bill introduced by Senator
Hayden Clement of Salisbury,
that would levy production tax
on all manufacturers Of One-half
of one per cent, although few
members of either house have
had an opportunity to study this
bill. 1t is also true that almost
all the members of both houses
are waiting for the report Of the
advisory budget commission and
the tentative revenue act which
it will submit with its proposed
budget, before coming to any
conclusions about what meas
ures may be necessary to bal
ance the states budgte.
The opinion is undoubtedly
growing in many minds, however,
that it will not be possible 60
remove the Is cents state prop
erty tax now in effect, provide
enough revenue for the operation
of the various departments and
institutions and balance the bud
get without levying some kind
| of new tax. Even the most an
dent economy advocates are be-
ginning to realize that they can
cut salaries until there are no
salaries left to cut and even
abolish many state departments
and divisions and still not be
able to save enough to balance
the budget, &c.
AS result, attention is becom-
ing focused more and more up
on taxation plans that broaden
the base of taxation to include
more taxpayers, which means
some sort Of sales tax. Until
the Clement bill was introduced,
most of the talk here was about
a general sales tax that would
impose tax on gross retail
sales only. This form Of sales
tax would not touch the manu-
facturers, power companies, to-
bacco companies, railroads, pub
lie service corporations and
other non-consuming and non
retailing corporate interests. 1t
was being advocated and still is
being advocated by representa-
tives of these interests. 1t has
been agreed by those who have
looked into the matter that a
tax Of at least 2 per cent on
gross retail sales would be re-
CURED to yield anything like the
$8,OO0,O00 in new revenue re-
CURED to balance the budget.
The fact that conservative
estimates indicate that the Glenn
ent bill would yield about ST.
100000 with its tax rate of one
half of one per cent, without
touching retail sales, has made
! the advocates of the tax on re-
tail sales sit up and wonder if
they have not been overlooking
a very important source of rev
enue in neglecting to consider
the manufacturers. Some are al
ready beginning to figure on
measure that would include both
the retail merchants and manu-
facturers, in the belief by so do
ing the tax rate could be reduc-
ed well below the one-half of one
per cent proposed in the Gle
ment bill.
The manufacturers are already
strenuously Directing to the
Clement bill, however, and almost
every member of both houses
from manufacturing cities and
counties are already definitely
opposed to it. They maintain
that industry is already bearing
as much of the tax load as it can
possibly bear and that the i'm
position of any additional tax,
even of only one-half Of one,
per cent, would force thousands
of manufacturers into bank
ruptcy at the present time. They
point out that industry now pays
the greater portion of the state
taxes for the operation of the
state government through the in