Detroit evening times. (Detroit, Mich) 1921-1958, 1941-07-19
The New Tax Bill

LHE tNEW on LII
THE Congress is making painful progress with evil
dence of little liking fog the task toward enactment
of the new tax bill which will extract more than
$3500000000 from the earnings of the people
AS tentatively approved by the House ways ana
means eommittee the bill will heavily tax not only each
dollar earned but also wide variety OF spending trans
actions essential TO livelihood.
The people are going to be made acutely aware of
the high cost of maintaining an eXraVagant government
when this bill is finally approved winch II VIII De-
THE necessity or at least the unavodability of the bill
is quite evident
Treasury officials have just reported total Of ex
pendures during the fiscal year ended June 30 1871 of
32774, S9O323
The total of revenues for the period was
Thus the deficit for the year was roughly about
Since this Ne eleventh consecutive year of federal
accordingly nk being SlS96l, NaAona compared with
the S16Sd iS5f13 at the epd of the 1891 fiscal
when the PARADE OF DEFICITS began
BEING the hercuean task of the Congress to provide
L the spending money for lavish administration the
familiar policy of taxing the people to the limit of their
and borrowing the rest against their future
will of course be pursued.
1t is not to be anticipated that Congress will either
diligently seek successfully discover any other course
The plight of Congress in this respect has not been
made easier by the expenditures for national
defense the total spending for this purpose having been
$6047 ,929,292 during the past year.
However the habit of spending in OF revenues
is old with the administration, officiating the
current defense program by several years
So the most painful of the duties of Congress is that
of providing what is necessary for the defense OF the
country while continuing to support the administration IN
the extravagant style to which it has been accustomed
OF COURSE the very nature of the present crisis sug
~ gests the wisdom of meeting increasing defense ex
pendtures with reduced nondefense expenditures
Quite in vain have the people lmplored the Congress
to do this obviously practical and clearly patriotic thng
Vainly also have the more responsible and conscen
tous leaders of the administration warned against
compelling the people to the double burden of essen
tal defense and wasteful government.
Said Secretary of the Treasury Morgenthau during
the early hearings the tax bill now being framed
ut would be a tragic error to assume that we can
expand defense production colossal scale and
still go usual ways, whether government or as
individuals
1T would be folly to assume that we can continue
to spend did i'm normal times.
CONGRESS could have eased its pains materially
- and the burdens of the people substantially by heed
ing this sound counsel.
But Congress has NOT made appreciate reductions
in nondefense spending.
Congress has certainly made it most certain that
the American people, individuals, Will longer go
their usual ways
But it has NOT imposed corresponding obligation
upon the government to forego its usual familiar and
habtua way of spending the peoples money lavishly
recklessly and even ruthlessly and ruinously
The tax bill may be depended upon to be
eXacng and oppressive the real and the fanced
eXgencies of defense require
Why cannot the American people be represented at
all times but especially in such emergency this
by Congress which will be concerned for the capacity
of the people to pay taxes as for the capacity of po
clans to SPEND?