Evening star., 1934-10-14
II. S. TAX BURDENS RAISE
EXPENSES OF ALL CITIZENS
Smallest Purchase of Poorest Family
Shares Staggering Load of Levies
That Promises to Grow Heavier.

/ four cups of flour weigh a pound,
that Is 224 loaves to the barrel and
the processing tax is half cent per
loaf.
Then there is the real estate tax
on the -four mill, the income tax on
the manufacturer who made the
milling machinery, the income tax
Of the miller and the tax-increased
cost of living Of the employees. The
baker pays another tax of half-cent
| per loaf in his rent and at least
cent loaf in his own cost Of
living.
The humble pork chop, which cost
% cents a pound in 1888, shot up to
"a cents a pound a month ago. Peo-
pie could not pay the price, so it fell
back to 1925 cents The rise in price,
resulting in part from the slaughter
of little pigs by the Government, rep
| resented an attempt to tax the city
man to aid the farmer. 1t didn't en-
tirely work.
Four Cents Tax on Pork.
Meanwhile, the pork chop, even at
its lower price, carries a burden of
about 4 cents pound in total taxes.
| The processing tax of S225 a live
hundredweight is a still larger pro-
portion when bone and waste products
have been deducted. In making pork
loins II cents, the processing tax is
30 cents a pound.
After a processing tax the packing
companies have a long string of taxes,
all the way from Federal income tax
to the tax on checks used in the
pay roll. Because of the huge volume
OF meat handled, these taxes are less
than a quarter cent a pound.
Without writing book on the sub
ject it is impossible to mention scores
OF minor tax effects, for every item
burdened tends to increase the cost
OF living for some one who produces
or distributes still other commodities
that are taxed in turn.
Without giving up the repercussion
OF rent and food costs on other prod
| ucts, We may now take up the less
vital items in the Jones family budget.
Twenty Taxes on Clothes Store.
When it comes to purchases Of
| clothing, the averages worked out by
the National Industrial Conference
Board shows the Jones family spend
ing $50 month. The retail clothing
stores pay 20 different taxes. The Ma
tional Association of Retail Clothiers
and FurniShers has worked out care
fully the gradual advance in these
taxes, from SO cents per S100 of goods
sold IN the average small store in 1880
to Sl.44 per 500 of goods in 1898.
Working back from the retailer to
the wholesaler, jobber and manufac-
| turer, the tax burden is found every-
Where, but Is most direct on goods in
Volvlng large amounts of raw material
and most indirect-being felt through
the cost of living of the employees
where the value is chiefly a matter of
labor.
In the case of a standard SO BY 90
cotton sheet, selling at wholesale for
80 cents, there is 1l0I cents of taxa.
ton before it ever reaches the hands
OF the retailer. The latter adds dn
some States sales tax and the pro
rata OF rent taxes" and handling.
income tax, etc. MerceriZed Isle
! stockings, on the other hand, which
weigh only 1l2 pounds to the dozen.
take SO little cotton that labor cost
Is the main influence.
Labor Costs Include Tax.
This does not mean that when the
Jones family buys mercerized Isle
hosiery, or silk full-fashioned for
that matter, it does not pay a tax.
Rising labor costs include the tax
burden on many thousands of fam
lilies, in the same economic group as
the Joneses, whose earnings come
from the industry.
OF the $40 month spent for cloth
ing and furnishings, it seems a safe
estimate that at least 81 goes to taxes,
And when the Jones family has a
little surplus to spend on sundries.
the tax gatherers have a field day. If
the Jones daughter buys a camera, il
carriers an excise tax to the Federal
Government of 10 per cent, plus sales
taxes in some States, and plus the
locust swarm of other. taxes already
outlined.
When Jones buys a box of matches.
he bumps into a manufacturer ex-
else tax of cents per 1000. When
the Jones boy buys candy or chewing
gum, he meets a per cent excise
tax paid by the manufacturer, as
well as local taxes.
Luxury Tax 10 Per Cent.
Such luxuries as a shotgun or a
fur coat are considered so bad for
Jones that they carry an excise tax
of 10 per cent.
When the Jones family turns on
the electric light switch it is penal
lzed by having the clicking meter in
the cellar run up per cent Federal
tax on electricity. A rough estimate
OF the tax burden of the Jones family
is about $240.
This is a considerable Jolt to an
annual income of $4,000, but 1t is
by no means the entire figure. We
have indicated briefly a number of
tax burdens that evidently increase
the cost of living but are too in
volved to compute in the space avail
able. The best estimate is that they
amount to another S240.
And this is for the family that used
to think it paid no taxes at all!
The matter would be serious, even
II nothing more than present pay
mentS were involved. 1t becomes more
than serious when it is realized that
current Government expenditures are
running far ahead of current taxa
ton and that the prevailing deluge
Of Government spending, If met en-
tirely out of revenue for the year,
would require tax total of between
one-third and one-half the entire
annual income Of the American
people.
(Copyright 1884. by the North American
Newspaper Alliance. Inc)