Evening star., 1941-03-16
Treasury Is Drafting
New Taxes 10 Avoid
81-BiIIion Deficit
Congress May Get Plan
In Two lnstoIIments,
In Spring and Fall II
BY BLAIR ROLLES.

The 100000 Americans for
whom yesterday was the deadline
for payment of income tax to the
Federal Government will learn
within the next two months that
they have known just a sample of
the high cost of national defense.
The administration already is at
work developing new revenue pro-
gram, which, according to present
plans, will be presented to Con-
greSs in two installments-one this
spring the second next fall.
The Treasury is reported opposed
TO certain extraordinary revenue
raising steps which have been sue-
gestec at the Capitol, such as a
direct levy of l to S per cent on all
weekly pay checks of $50 or more,
or general Federal sales tax. The
disparity between income and ex-
pendltures for the Federal Gov
ernment merit year will be huge.
more than 100000: but the
deficit has been as high as S13.37O-
600 0O0-in 1919.
AAS new CaXa-
tlor program may be presented to
Congress in May, by which time the
treasury will have an accurate pic
ture of the returns the Federal
government can expect from taxa
ton this year. With that data in
mana, the Treasury experts will
propose immediate action on part
one OF the program, calling for
raising more revenue through me-
dlums now accepted as strictly
orthodox. 1t is said to call for:
l.. Reform of the income tax basic
statute in order to erase ineouities
and loopholes.
2. Lowering of the tax base.
s: enactment of requirement for
a single family-return. Now a man
and his wife, or every one of the
various money making members of
the same family, can each prepare
his or her own return.
One Unorthodox Aim.
Part two of the program now
under consideration has one un-
ortnodox aim, inspired by the pe.
cullar demands of the times. It will
seek to discourage the use of GER
TAIN luxurieS so that the factories
Where they are made and the goods
that go into their making can be
devoted to national defense require
ments.
Ihls sort of usedeterrant taxation
1t Is thought, could help eliminate
defense bottlenecks born of material
shortages, by making certain prod
ucts so expensive that only a few
could purchase them.
Part two also may be outlined in
message to Congress in Nav. In
oroer to give the country an op-
portunity to consider it during the
summer months. The sort of tax
urged for this purpose would be a
general manufacturers tax levied
not on the consumer in the form
OF a sales tax but at the source
as an excise tax One factor in the
plans for delaying the drive for
enactlng this tax until autumn is
that the Government desires en.
ployment to be at capacity before
1t Is invoked. Unemployment is
expected to be at its lowest in 12
years by autumn.
All plans are subject to change,
OF course, but the luxuries tenta-
lively marked for conservation tax
atlon included building materials for
private purposes, radios, refrigera-
TORS, hardware and plumbing sup
pnes. More intensely each day the
government finds itself confronted
with the problem of conserving for
defense purposes the materials in
dlspensible to defense manufacture
ing.
For purely revenue purposes, part
TWO, 1t Is expected will broaden the
number of articles subject now to
moderate excise taxation.
Even certain agricultural mate
rlals needed both for industry and
consumption may be subjected to
the special taxation in order to con-
serve them. Today this country
has an oversupply of farm goods,
but the development of a full pro-
gram for feeding England may
bring the United States to the
point where caution will have to be
observed in the distribution here
OF the agricultural commodities.
The food aspect of the British-aid
program may quickly deplete our
surpluses.
S6,110,000, 900 Revenue.
The revenue from income taxes
ren0rfnd voctordou arI fro~, Ill