Evening star., 1935-07-26
WA[SH-ROOSEvE[T
BREAK OVER TAX
Senator, in Forum Speech,
Hits "Share. Wealth"
Program.

Of tax legislation was sounded last
night by Senator Walsh, Democrat, OF
Massachusetts, who broke squarely
with President Roosevelt on the
"share-the-wea program, in a
critical analysis of its provisions and
implications.
Speaking in the National Radio
Forum, arranged by The Evening Star,
and carried over q Nationwide net
work of the National Broadcasting
Co., the Massachusetts, Senator said
the administration proposal is one
for reform rather than revenue"
and that there is no urgency for
this kind of tax bill"
Increases Declared Essential.
Senator Walsh argued that Govern
ment expenditures have reached a
plane necessitating levies (which will
materially increase taxes in all classes
Of income from the smallest to the
highest" and that to ignore that
fact is merely postponing the In
evitable day of reckoning
In my judgment" he concluded
saCongress should adjourn and the
committees of the House and Senate
work on a tax bill for the remainder
of the year so that when Congress
yreconvenes next January, revenue tax
legislation may be the first order OF
business"
Text of Speech.
The text of Senator Walsh's address
follows:
Financing a government on bor-
rowed money is the same as with an
Individual 1t is at best temporary
expedient. Continuous spending in
excess of income ends in bankruptcy
1ust as certainly for the nation as for
the individual.
The Governments only source OF
income is the taxes which it levies
upon the people. Devaluation of the
dollar, reputation Of the gold clause
in Government bonds and the ma
nipulation of silver have produced
some figures which the Treasury labels
''profits" and treats as income. But
such extraordinary financial methods
provide only limited help and only so
long as adequately managed and con-
trolled. Ultimately we must return to
the fundamental proposition that in
the long run the Governments income
must match the outgo, and the only
income is from taxes. Hence the ne
cessity of new and increased levy OF
taxes has been staring us in the face
ever since we embarked upon the pres
ent extensive spending program. From
the outset increased taxation was an
inescapable consequence. and we have
now come to the point where the tax
question is squarely before Congress
and before the country. and where a
new tax bill is being pressed for i'm
mediate passage.
think it unfortunate that the
question Of new taxes has not been
presented to Congress as a revenue
measure, rather than as reform
measure The tax recommendations
in the Presidents message, upon which
he desires immediate action, are not
calculated to yield the Government
large income. Their primary purpose
is social and economic reform, and to
remedy what the President conceives
to be defects in our present system OF
taxation. The President declares, and
I quote from his message to Congress:
''Our revenue laws have operated in
many ways to the unfair advantage OF
the few and have done little to pre-
vent an unjust concentration of wealth
and economic power" Elsewhere in
his message he speaks of encouraging
@ wider distribution of wealth" and Of
q duty resting upon the Government
to restrict very high incomes by very
high taxes. The doctrine which the
President expounds is first that there
is an unjust concentration of wealth,
TO which proposition many agree, and
that means of breaking it down are
through confiscatory tax levies. That
wealth is unequally distributed in this
country and in every country, outside
of Soviet Russia, is self evident fact.
That in our own country we have seen
undue concentration Of wealth in the
hands of a few and have seen grave
, abuses of great wealth cannot be de-
MED. That governmental privileges
and lax corporate laws are in part
responsible must be conceded. We
should try to remedy these abuses, and
, we are trying to remedy them. We
should eliminate special privileges.
. We should seek to equalize opportu-
nity and to insure fair distribution
of the rewards of labor and capital.
No Plan Is Practical.
. But none of the proposals for re-
, distribution of wealth, of which we
; have recently heard so much, is sound
: or practical. As was well said by an
outstanding liberal and leading advo-
+. cate of advanced labor and social well
fare legislation, "the misuse of statis-
! tics with calm disregard of realities
which are involved in these proposals
should have discredited them months
ago in the minds of all persons who
, are capable of even moderate eXer-
, else of their thinking faculties" The
so-called redistribution of wealth pro-
+, posals in reality would result In q re-
F. distribution of poverty. They would
In reality annihilate wealth, which
/ when properly managed provides en-
: ployment, increases production and
/ adds to the Nations advancement and
+. resources. It would mean State So
cialism, with all that that implies.
; Let us limit wealth, let us limit profits,
+, let us curb n1onopolies and do away
with special privilege, but let us main
! tain America as a land Of liberty. o
land of opportunity, a land OF de-
mocracy.
: My purpose tonight, however. is to
confine my talk to consideration
of the specific tax proposals before
! the Congress, It has been well said
. that the power to tax is the power
: to destroy. Some of the present tax
proposals may prove to be striking
: exemplification of this axiom. How
ever, in view of what we learn in
: directly from the executive session Of
the Ways and Means Committee of
: the House. do not anticipate tax
! bill that seeks to punish or coerce any
I group. But even if we conclude that