Evening star., 1934-10-14
BY ROYAL F. MUNGER.

OdA hCA ID OCbLlAAl6 ONCl
~ American citizens. The pre-
L \ vailing belief that this applies
only to the rich is entirely
erroneous; the taxes are taken out OF
the smallest purchase of the poorest
family. And there is every indica-
ton that taxation will grow worse
instead of better.
Even today, with the aggregate OF
current and emergency spending car
ried in large measure on money bor-
rowed by the Government, taxes have
mounted to between one-fourth and
one-third of the national income. II
the spending were covered by taxes,
the load would be considerably
heavier.
In buying pork chops at the
butchers the housewife pays taxes
In renting an apartment the family
signs a lease without realizing that
a large part of the sum paid must
be used by the landlord to meet its
share of the real estate taxes.
Burden Widely Diffused.
Everything in life, almost, from
turning an electric light switch to
getting a haircut, is subject to a vary
ing percentage of impost. And as
even the present tax load has proved
unavoidable, there is no hope that
the average citizen will escape the
increases.
AS simple as get-rich-quick
scheme and as automatic as a bear
trap, the tax load has escaped at
tention by the method of distribution
over a multitude of small items. This
does not really make it any easier to
carry; instead, the method increases
the cost of the bureaucracy necessary
for collection.
Because of the widely spread exac-
tions of different governing and tax
ing bodies, no one person sees the
entire burden at any given moment.
The man or woman who buys a loaf
of bread, a pound of meat, or an
overcoat, perceives only the tax on
that specific product, without realiz-
ing the endless chain Of taxes that
have gene into the cost of living of
the other workers by whom that prod
uct was made.
Tax Gather in Breach.
The price to the producer is low;
the price to the consumer IS high.
And the taX-gatherer stands between.
The retail clerk had pork chops for
supper and the butcher who sold the
chops slept in home furnished with
purchases from the clerks store. The
butcher had to include the cost of
his city license, real estate tax in
cluded in the butcher shop rent and
pro rata share of the live weight
processing tax of S225 per 100 pounds
that went into the cost of his pork
at the packing plant.
Taxes are included in the wage Of
the butcher through pressure of
realty taxes on his rent, the butchers
personal property tax, the income tax
of his employer and possibly Of him.
self, and the taxes paid by the pack
ing company on property and income.
plus the corporation franchise tax.
The price of the retail merchandise
was higher because the people who
made it and sold it paid taxes. 1t
was also higher because the man who
sold it had to pay. through his butcher,
tax on the pork chop he bought
with his wages. And the butcher had
to charge more, not only because of
his own taxes, but because the bread
he ate included another long series
Of taxes, in which the wheat process
ing tax Of 80 cents bushel is by no
means the largest item.
Rich Taxpayer No Samson.
To assume that the rich man can
be made to pay the burden of high
taxes is a pleasant illusion to the man
who does not consider himself in that
category. Nothing is simpler than
the purchase of the tax-exempt bonds
which a paternal Government is
printing so rapidly. Meanwhile, the
tax burden comes to rest just where
in the long run it always comes to
reSt-on the neck of the man who has
the least money, but is on that very
account the least able to dodge the
missile.
What does the Jones family pay in
taxes?
On S35 week earned by Mr.. Jones
and another S5 a week earned by the
Oldest boy after school hours, the fam
lily is not exactly in the higher income
tax brackets. On the other hand. the
Jones family, instead of being able to
invest in tax-eXempt bonds, is mulcted
by invisible tax burdens on practically
every penny spent.
Rent of an apartment amounts to
$32 month, in addition to gas and
electric light costs of another Sc a
month. 1t is a fortunate landlord
who does not pay out in real estate
taxes one-flfth to one-third of the
rental of house or apartment.
Into the rental goes also the cost
of living of every one connected with
the maintenance of the building. II
the janitor pays IS per cent more for
sausage because of taxes, he needs
that much more salary and the land
lord will either close the building or
tack the salary on the rent. The coal
to heat the building adds taxes to its
costs.
Coal Experience Cited.
In many States there is a tax on
coal mining properties that goes into
the cost of coal at the mine. Then
come the railroad freightS. including
the 10 per cent tax burden on the
railroads. The retail coal dealer will
pay real estate taxes, city vehicle and
license taxes, gasoline taxes, personal
property tax and Federal income tax.
For food the Jones family spends
$50 month, and most housewives
will agreed that to keep within this
figure means counting every penny,
where the family table is of even
moderate length. What Mrs. Jones
does not know is the number of those
pennies that go into the salaries