The Wyandotte herald. (Wyandotte, Mich.) 1879-1943, 1939-08-04
Of
MICHIGAN
F|hANC|ER|NG

only one you are working for you are
wrong You must take into considera-
ton the fact that you are working for
government. You may not be on the
government payroll, but just the same
you are working Gne-quarter IF every
day for the government. If your work
day Is eight hours, you work two hours
of the eight OF say, f: ON 10 o'clotk TO
l., for government
You say Il don't own any real es-
tale All right, you pay - per cent
ot your wages in taxes of various
sorts, over OAe-half III hidden taxes
Id don't let anyone tell you different
! ~
Eifty-six pc cent Of the billions paid
| /" governments last year was III hidden
taxes. This secret system of taxing the
LeOple is ike Il pickpooket sneaking up
behind you in The dark and taking
Jour money Uut of your pocket. If all
L, XeS were paid out in the open" you
would find that - per cent of your
pay check was being taken from you by
cur tax spendeis.
Some of our legislators would lead
| Us To believe that most Of the taxes
were paid by the big fellows" Fact
is, any taX placed upon any business or
manufacturer Increases the cost of do
ing business, and this additional cost
must be added TO the selling price the
sdme as is the cost of materials, labor
and other items N cost. So when you
buy any article. that article carries a
hidden tax which you pay. The manu-
facturer cannot absorb all ihe taxes
heaped upon him by government and
keep running and give work 10 men.
| Taxes, federal. state and local, col
lected in 19IS reached an all time high.
They amounted 10 about 1412 billion
payers of Michigan contributed 80
million. which placed us fifth in amount
| of taxes paid by states To show how
government spending has mcreI sed,
| this amount was equal 10 about one
! fourth of the entire annual federal
lH,dget before the world war. But huge
n this 30 million seems il Is estimat-
I'll that ii would only pay the present
running EXPENSES of the L. :. govern
ment for about five or six days.
/ In 1898 the Michigan sales tax be
! came law. Al the same time the
state property tax wis repealed. our
! legislators saying the state property
/ tax would no longer be needed as the
/ sales tax would bring III an estimated
81 million dollars. or more" Ii did
bring more. 1t is expected that sales
tax collections this year will exceed
u million and. don't forget that about
! ~ per cent of these collections will be
! from the sale of food. Don't blame the
>torekeeper for this tax. He has To pay
IL, If you don't pay it the merchant
has to dig into his pocket for il.
In addition 10 the sales tax we have
liquor taxes which also bring in mil
lions. The sales tax and liquor revenue
! totals about 40 million yearly, all new
I money that We knew nothing about
prior 10 1888
Notwithstanding all this new reven-
ne. it's not enough 10 keep pace with
The inc; eased spending. We are still
, running behind. The last adminiStra-
tiOn left deficit of over - million.
and in spite Of the deplOrable state Of
our finances the demands Oh the pre-
sent administration by pressure
| groups" and state institutions were
greater than last year With an eSti-
mated income of about Us million, de-
! mands were made for 40 million.
Nearly all states are in the same
kind of financial mess as is Michi-
gan. That 1898 showed the biggest tax
collection in history, would Indicate
! that the fault lies. not in enough tax
money celleced but in 'jitterbug fin
anciering," wasteful spending of our
tax dollars for things We could we'll
dO without.
1t makes no difference how much is
paid into the tax hopper the tax
>penders spend il all and cry for more.
Much of this increased cost of gov
eminent can be Laid 10 sO-called re-
forms demanded by groups organized
| to ''pnt over someone's per idea, that
is supposed To make for better govern
ment and be blessing 10 all man.
kind. About all these schemes ever ac-
| cOmpliSh l. to increase the cost Of gov
eminent, by creating new tax spending
agencies and make lot more jobs,
usually for the OriginatOrs of the re-
| form.
These refOrmers or groups having an
axe 10 grind are Oh the job in Lansing
making demands Of our lawmakers,
and some Of them are rather bold in
their demands. Many of our legislators
being promised political support for
their votes, but if man decides to
vote against their bill they mark him
for political slaughter.
IL we are to have taxation with any
degree Of representation We must see
TO it that better men generally, are
elected 10 represent us. Men who are
tax minded" and that will agree 10
stand on their own feet and think Of
the Majority" back home and safe
guard the interests Of all the people
instead of playing with these minority
Igroups that control most legislation.
Trouble is, we no longer get legisk-
ton by legislators, we get it by pres
sure groups"
From all over Michigan have come
requests for an organization Of tax
payers that would put a stop TO the
wssteful spending Of our hard-earned
tax dollars In the opinion Of those
who have expressed themselves, the
Chamber OF Commerce Of Michigan.
1 IN. 4 nj an