The Indianapolis times., 1935-11-04
MOST SERIOUS
TAX DOUBLING
CITED IN STUDY
Occurs in Gasoline, Beer
and Liquor, Tobacco and
Amusement LeVieS.
Following is another in = series of tax
dispatches.
BY RICHARD l.. GRIDLEY
United Press staff Correspondent

WASHINGTON, Nov 4.-Taxes
on gasoline, beer and liquor, TO-
bacco and admissions are among the
least Objectionable levjes yet de-
vised by government officials, and
in these fields are the most serious
instances of overlapping Federal
| and state tax collections
Together they accounted for near
ly fifth of all governmental tax
collections during 1884. The ma
tional government collected S901.-
100000, and the states $67l, ,176 900,
q total of S1,572, ,444,0O0 Both have
collected even larger sums this year.
A tentative proposal of the Inter
state Commission or Conflicting
Taxation would reserve gasoline taxes
exclusively to the states; split liquor
revenues between the Federal gov
ernment and the states with not
more than half to the states and
halt further taxation of tobacco by
the states.
Gas Tax S2O2, $4,000
In 1894 the Federal government
collected $202,575,000 in gasoline
taxes and the 48 states which tax
the product took in 1851 ,272 ,000 To-
bacco brought the Federal govern
ment S425, ,169 900 and 10 taxing
states 23,755O0O. Alcoholic bever-
ages yielded the Federal government
$258,9ll 900 and as taxing states
S79,906,000. Admission levies gave
the Federal government s14613,0OO
and 81 taxing states $6,243,0O0.
There are more than 300 other
items taxed by two or more Federal,
state and local authorities, but most
of them are not important from
revenue standpoint. About the only
important tax source not subject to
important overlapping is the per-
sonal property tax Collections for
this tax have been reserved for state
and local governments, although
form OF this tax has been enacted
by the Federal government in new
laws providing for sharply increased
estate taxes
For decades the tobacco tax has
been imposed only by the Federal
government. In 1921 Iowa went into
this field with a 2-cent tax per
package of 20 cigarets, followed
in 1923 by Utah, South Carolina.
South Dakota and Georgia.
Gasoline taxes are levied bv all
states, proceeds of which largely
go to highway purposes. They pro-
vided states with 30 per cent of their
revenues in 1884, according to the
American Petroleum Industries
Committee. In recent years states
relied more and more on the gaso-
line tax
10 States Had Levy
In 1922 only 19 states imposed
gasoline taxes and in no cases
hlgher than 2 cents a gallon. BY
1888 all states were imposing gaso-
line taxes, Notwithstanding the fact
that the Federal government had
entered the field with a tax of
cent. The 1885 state gasoline taxes
range from 2 cents in the District
of Columbia to 7 cents in Florida
and Tennessee.
Full effects of the taxes on al
coholic beverages have not yet
been felt because of the short Pc
riod that repeal has been in eff
feet. Higher taxes on these prod
ucts are generally opposed because
they may encourage bootlegging by
boosting prices. In fact, num-
Der Of groups are agitating for lower
rates on the theory that they will
reduce prices, discourage bootleg
ging and hence increase total reve-
nueS.
The Federal government now i'm
poses a 16-ments a gallon tax on
beer and 81 gallon on spirits. Mary
land is the only state without
beer tax while in South Carolina it
reaches Is cents a gallon. Cali
fornia has no tax on spirits, while
Colorado has the highest rate with
S160 per gallon. A total of 10 states
have monopolies on sale of spirits
and hence no tax rate can be COM
puted