The Indianapolis times. [volume] (Indianapolis [Ind.]) 1922-1965, 1935-01-12
AMAZING TAX
PLAN PROPOSED
BY TOWNSEND
Sales Transaction Levy to
Pay for Pensions, He
Explains Carefully.
BY MAX STERN
Timrs Special Writer

Timrs Special Writer
WASHINGTON. Jan. I2-Tucs-
DAY the House Of Representatives
viii receive a bill ombodyng the
Townsend old-age revolving pension
plan Dr.. T. Z. Townsend said to-
dav and with it a taxation scheme
new. strange and a bit bewildering
to Washington-the saIes-transac-
ton tax
This tax explained the lean and
solemn Californian IN his cubby-
hole hotel room office. is misunder-
stood because its 50 simple" To
finance "OARPP" and move all per
sons past so over 10 Easv-st, the
Federal Government would license
every person or firm that sells things
and impose on every sales transac-
ton a . per cent tax
Every seller. whether a farmer or
q steel corporation, would be IL
Coused Every sale, whether an ap-
pie or a locomotive. would bear the
tax And no matter how many times
an article changed hands the tax
would bear down on each transac-
ton. pyramiding as IL went
Wouldn't this require an army
Of tax colleCtors?' DR.. Townsend
was asked.
The more the better" he replied
'Dont We want TO make jobs?"
Why 2 per cent?"
rTf-~. r1~rs--- como r-rf~ -4-T+f-
ures mounting not to billions, but
tullIons.
Personal Services Exempt
IF you 60 to the House Ways and
Means Committee hearings for the
Seventy-second Congress-" he said,
"youu find that the U. S. a. did ST.
100000 100000 Of business in 1929,
and s1.1O8 600 900 600 in 1923. Now
a 2 per cent transaction sales tax on
this business in either year would
raise the required 81 500 600 600
month to pension 100000 old folks
past so at 5000 a month. Even IN
our worst year. 1892. a per cent
tax would have done it."
Q-WOuld this tax 60 on every
Transaction. say a taxi fare2 A
Yes. Everything but personal serv-
ices.
Q-AIy salary check? A-NO That
is not a sales transaction. and if it
were taxed that would involve dou-
bic taxation when you came to spend
the salary.
GLOW would the tax be collect
ed2 a Through the pOstofices or
the banks At the end of every
month every hcensee would total his
gross sales and pay the tax.
Favors Penalizing Buyer
Q-How about cvaSiOns? Al IA
vor pcnalzing buyer as well as sell
or. If wet done that there wouldn't
have been So much bootlegging IN
der prohibition The bill will forbid
trading with an unlicensed seller.
O. Wouldn't this raise the cost of
living tremendously? Ayes, it
probably would add 10 per cent to
prices But that's what We want,
isn't it? When prices went up dur
ing and after the war We called it
prosperity.
Wouldn't it bring inflation2 A
No. 1 talked with a very eminent
economist. and he said it would
have the opposite effect 1t would
increase buying and restore cOmpe-
titiOn II would substitute an album
dance economy for the one that
calls for taxing us all to feed the
poor and then blowing under crops
needed to feed them.
Licenses for Half Nation
OF every farmer and small
tradeSman is licensed wouldn't that
require a complicated machinery?
Al expect half the people Of the
country would have to take out IL
cenSeS. But we've worked out more
complicated problems than this.
Q-WOuld the tax apply to in
tangibleS. such as stocks and bonds?
A-Yes. to all sales transactions.
The Supreme Court has ruled that
intangibleS are commodities.
Here the interview was interrupt
ed by the entrance of three husky
doctors from Montana and the Da-
kOtaS. vanguard of a lobby of I'M
determined size They told of hun
dreds OF Townsend clubs in the
snow-blanketed prairies Of the
Northwest.
The Presidents social security
plans are all right" said one of
these. a NOn-PartSan Lacquer. but
they viii take too long. We want
immediate relief
STATE DENTAL SOCIETY