The Omaha guide., 1935-07-06
ECONOMIC
HIGHLIGHTS

ner Fails, DIVIDEND CneckS and
Tax Bills Of Every Individual.
National. and. International
Problems Inseparable from 10
cal Welfare.
900
The Presidents new tax pro
gram was greeted with amaze
ment by the nation; including
practically all Congressman save
for the Administration floor lead
ers who had been informed Of
what was coming.
The amazement was due less to
the terms of the program, than to
the fact that he President should
put it forward for consideration
at this Congressional session,
which is already far behind sched-
ule, is weighed down with half a
dozen or so other proposals of the
first Importance, and which seems
to have little chance Of adjourn
ing before the middle Of Septemb-
er, in spite of industry's devout
wish that it would wind up its
business and go home. Experts
say that it would take ia least a
month to properly draw such a
bill as the President proposes, and
as much more time to get it
through the Congress.
The Presidents plan belongs in
the "share-the-wealth" category.
1t includes increased income taxes
in the higher brackets, and sitter
corporation, gift, inheritance and
estate taxes. And it would do
away with tax-exemption Of gov
eminent bonds
OF great significance was the
attitude of the principal American
newspapers, all of which express
sed their views in editorials ON
the following day.
The more extreme opposition
papers said that the Presidents
proposal definitely aligned him
with the left-wing LOng-Coughlin
school of national economy. Mid
die of the ground papers, for the
most part, simply said they be-
lieved the bill was wrong in prin-
ciple, praising parts of the plan
and criticizing other parts. Rela-
lively few papers approved of the
proposal in toto. Representative
opinion was expressed by the At
lanta Constitution, which said
that the plan "conflicts with the
promise oft-repeated that there
there would be no tax increases
during this session Of Congress;
for Congress to remain in session
for the length Of time necessary
to enact the program, wuold be a
national calamity"
Many observers siad hat the
higher taxes on income, ETC.,
would simply stifle industrial mi
|tiative, brighten investors, and
thus further retard recovery. On
the other hand, the majority of
commentators seem to favor the
provision for taxing government
securities. Senator Byrd Of Vir-
ginia, a conservative Democrat, at
once introduced a bill and a con-
stitutiOnal amendment to make
that possible.
All in all, response to the bill is
not what the President might
have expected; and it is extreme
ly doubtful if he will be able to
muster his usual Congressional
support behind it. Congressman
are being deluged with letters
protesting the existing burden Of
taxation, and they will naturally
be chary of increasing it further.
In the opinion Of the well-inform-
ed Wall Street Journal, the bill
will 60 into committee, will be
treated as if it were on the
"must' list for the current SEES
sion; but will be put over until
next wear when it is found that it
will necessitate too long a delay.
There was one other important
legislative act during the week in
review. The House committee
came out with approval of a Pub
lie Holding Company bill which
is in sharp contrast with the bill
that passed the Senate. Where
the latter provided for the elmina-
ton of holding companies, the
House measures propose to string
emily regulate them, Immediate
result Of this was a rise in utility
security values.
600
On June Is a number of notes
went out from the State Depart
ment in Washington. Addressed
to the principal foreign powers,
they politely informed them that
their animal installments on the