Evening star., 1935-03-14
ThePOliticalM Mill
BY G. Could Lincoln.

Coming taxes cast their shadows
before them. Perhaps, in the light
of the proposal that the Government
put up $5,0OO.00O,OOO for relief and
work relief, and in the light Of the
coming passage of the soldiers bonus
bill, taking another $4,000, 900 900, IL
Is just as well that the American
people begin to understand that these
things have to be paid for and that
they are going to foot the bill. They
will pay through increased taxes
There is no other way. The first
muttering of the storm Of taxation
that is on its way was heard yesterday
in and about the Senate Finance
Committee when it had before it the
House bill for the repeal of the pink
slip" publicity feature Of the income
tax law.
Two members of the Senate com.
mittee, Senators Couzens of Michi.
gan and La Toilette Of Wisconsin, haC
thought up additional ways of raising
revenue, and brought them to light
Then q little later Senator Pat Har.
rison of Mississippi, chairman Of the
committee which handles all the rev.
enue legislation which comes before
the Senate, strongly intimated that
there would be new revenue bill put
through, probably before the close OF
the present session Of Congress His
statement was made after the commit
tee had voted down the Couzens pro-
posal, which was to increase the ex-
cess profits tax on capital stock,
What he said was that new revenue
legislation should wait until after Con-
gress had passed all the laws it wishes
carrying appropriations of Govern
ment funds. Then, Senator Harrison
said, 1t would be possible to know def
initely just what new revenue was
needed and also to get the slant OF
the Treasury Department officials.
X +
The La Toilette tax amendment
which was not voted upon in the
committee, but which he offered in
the Senate preparatory to the arrival
there OF the pink slip repeal bill, pro-
poses to raise $3.50 ,000, 900 to SITS, ,000,-
600 through increases in the normal
and excess profits taxes on income
and through a lowering Of the exemp-
tions. La Toilette would boost the
normal tax rate from to per cent
and the surtaxes would begin on the
excess Of $4,000 income and range
from 4 per cent to a maximum of II
per cent on the excess of $1,000, 900.
The present surtax rates go as high as
% per cent. Exemptions under the
La Toilette amendment would be cut
for married men from 81 500 to So, 1000
and for single persons from $1,000 to
$500.
All kinds Of Federal taxes come out
OF the income Of the people of the
Nation. The Federal income tax Is
the most direct and easily recogniz-
able, however, of the whole lot of
taxes. 1t may be worth while to
consider just what it means in in
creased taxes, as shown by the La
Toilette amendment, to raise even
$3.50. .000,0 900 additional revenue-when
the country has in the immediate
offing appropriations totaling more
than S7,000,000,000 for relief and
soldiers bonus. Senators and Repre-
sentatives are beginning to catch their
breath these days and wonder, after
all, what is going to be the end Of
this great program of Government
spending. They are worried. Senator
Harry Flood Byrd of Virginia, Senator
Millard E. Tydings of Maryland and
Senator Alva B. Adams of Colorado,
all Democrats, have not hesitated to
give their views on this matter of
excessive spending, and other Senators
on the Democratic side of the Cham
Der are getting around to their views.
This feeling Of uneasiness over huge
expenditures is playing its part in the
delay of the Presidents work relief
bill In the Senate, as well as the
prevailing wage amendment.
There is one thing that might wake
the whole country up to the spending
program which has been going on and
to which there seems no end. That
is to levy an income tax on every in
come, no matter how small. The La
Toilette proposal to reduce exemptions
now allowed individual income tax
payers is a step along that direction.
At present the millions in the country
are inclined to applaud big Govern
ment expenditures. If they realized
by little application of the direct
tax method what these expenditures
mean to themselves in the way of
tax burdens, their point of view might
be different. Up to the present, how
ever, appropriations Of public money
have been exceedingly popular.
When Senator Long of Louisiana
talked in the Senate yesterday of the
folly of bringing a S5,000.0 100000 ap-
preparation bill into Congress without
making any provision for raising the
revenue to meet this expenditure,
Senator Carter Glass, with a grim
humor, asked: Does not the Senator
know that the Wagner Costigan anti
lynching bill has not yet passed."
And when Long said: What has that
to do with this matter?" the Virginian
replied: 1.-THE Senator knows very well
that if the Senate were to impose now
the taxes necessary to meet the cur
rent Indebtedness all of us would be
lynched before we would get back
home" And yet the Senate in all
probability will go right ahead and
appropriate $4,000, 100000 for relief.
Senators who do not like the pink
slip publicity feature of the income
tax law have plucked up their cour-
age after the 3-to-1 vote registered
by the House in favor Of pink slip
repeal. In the Senate Finance Com
mittee by a 2-to-1 vote the La Fol-
lette proposal to have income tax
returns made public records, instead
of the pink slip designed for pub
licity, was turned down, and the COM
mittee probably stood just about as
strongly for repeal Of the pink slip,
although no record vote was taken
on the motion to report the bill favor
ably. In the Senate itself, when a
record vote is taken on the publicity
Of income taxes considerable ma
jority has voted for publicity. Sen
o%1~c 900 fIn