The Ely miner. [volume] (Ely, Minn.) 1895-1986, 1938-09-01


an active politician to talk about
more taxes in an election year, and
it is hopeful sign when one tells
the truth about such a politically
delicate matter. When Sen. Pat
Harrison, the veteran Mississippi
Democrat, announced the other day
that new taxes are coming, there
fore, it became a matter of mo-
ment. 1t was significant first that
Senator Harrison, speaking as chair
man of the powerful senate finance
committee, should boldly say there
must be new taxes, and it was sig
nifcant in the second place because
Senator Harrison has not always
stood shoulder to shoulder with the
New Dealers.
But there is another federal
treasury deficit of something
like $4,000, 0O0,O0 staring us in
the face, and the size of it indi-
Gates that no progress has been
made whatsoever in curtailing
federal spending. 1t tells us,
too, that the much ballyhooed
business recovery of year ago
is yielding less in taxes than
had been calculated by the wish
full thinkers.
Thirdly, the probable deficit
seems to show there was at least
some merit in the assertions by
Senator Harrison and others in con-
gress last winter that some of the
New Deal policies are driving the
country further into a hole instead
of bringing it out.
Senator Harrison's statements
constitute a warning that federal
taxes must dig deeper. In effect,
he told the country that the govern
ment has been taxing to the point
where it can not expect any in
creased returns from the present
sources, however heavy the levies,
and that the scope of taxes must
be extended and expanded.
More Persons to Be
Hit by Federal Taxes
What does that mean? Simply, it
means that in any new tax laws
that are enacted, congress will in
clude a greater number of persons
within the realm of federal tax
sources; people who never have
paid taxes to the federal govern
ment before are going to pay them
hereafter. am referring to income
taxes, directly, but the way the pic
ture looks to me, there will be more
taxes that are indirect-and they hit
everybody. If congress doesn't ex-
tend the scope of federal taxation,
there will never be any chance of a
balanced budget, and if the future
does not bring forth a balanced
budget, we may as well kiss our
democratic form of government
good-by.
The reason I say there must be
additional hidden taxes" levies
that are included in the cost to the
consumer such as the cigarette tax,
is that Senator Harrison's own state
ment shows there will be insufficient
revenue raised by lowering the per-
sonal exemptions under the income
tax laws or by making the tax heav-
Ter on those of, say, $4,000 annual
income and above. There can not
be any very large addition to the
revenue gained in that field for
the very good and sufficient reason
that there are not enough of those
taxpayers. Bureau of internal rev.
enue statistics prove that about 60
per cent of the country's income
earners have less than $4,000 per
family. AS the laws now stand,
person who is married and has an
income of $4,000 or less need pay no
tax. So it is seen that only a mere
drop in the bucket of new revenue
can be obtained in that direction,
wholly because if all of them were
taxed the amount still would be
small. Yet, any serious attempt to
raise revenue to balance federal ex-
penses must include levies on the
lower incomes as well as other new
taxes that apply generally.
To Search for Neto
Ta1 Possibilities
Senator Harrison's committee will
search through all of the various tax
possibilities in the next three or
four months. It will have to do
that. The house committee on ways
and means, which considers tax leg
islation in the house, will not have
the courage to go as far in adding
to the tax burden. It never has had
that much courage for the reason
that its members come up for cleo
ton every two years-and, again,
taxes are unpopular things for a pol
itician. Thus, we will have to look
to the Harrison committee if prog
ress is made in bringing the nations
tax receipts into some relation with
its spending.
The addition of new taxes is a
serious matter, yet it appears that
new taxes cannot be avoided. We
have had our play time, our fun.
We have danced; now, the fiddler
must be paid. When new taxes are
added, the buying power of every
person paying the tax is reduced by
that amount. But through five
years, money has been spent by the
government in ways that put to
shame the famed drunken sailor
ashore for the first time in a year.