The Key West citizen. [volume] (Key West, Fla.) 1879-current, 1941-10-14

-NEAN 1AoA III l. SOD1 HldlN
Americans viii have rude
awakening. They viii learn,
for the first time. that war and
defense are an Incredibly costly
business For. on that date. the
highest income taxes ever levied
in this country VIII be due and
payable. Everyone knows that
the new tax bill is severe-but il
IS probable that relatively few
know just how much of their in
come il VIII take.
4 comparison Of the old tax
bill with the new tells the story.
Under the old law, a single per-
son with $1,000 net income paid
the Federal government S84 in
direct taxeS-under the new law
he must pay s197. Under the old
law a married person with no de-
pendents and a $4,000 income,
paid $528-under the new law
he must pay S1,305. And the
new tax bill reaches down into
income levels which were never
touched before. For instance,
under the old law a married
person earning $4,000 a year was
not taxed at all Under the new
law. he must pay S37.
In the upper income brackets.
very substantial increases have
also gone into effect. a mar
Tied man, for example, without
dependents and earning S25. 900
a year, paid S3.S43 under the old
law. Next wear he must pay
S6.864-an increase Of more than
so per cent.
In the highest income brackets,
the increases are pTopOrtionately
much leSs-and for sound rea-
son. That reason Is that people
with incomes Of great size have
long been taxed to the very hilt
An example: Under the old law,
a married person with an in
come of $1,000, 900 q yea had to
pay the Federal Treasury close
to three-ouarters of it-S717, 900
Under the new law. he viii pay
something over S732,Oo0.
The heaviest burden OF the new
law. however. falls on corpora
tons, rather than on individuals.
The regular corporation income
tax rates have been upped and.
in addition, very large increases
in corporation excess profits
taxes have. been enacted. A cor
poration with a net income of
$4,000 a year GER more must pay
a regular tax of "A per cent On
excess profits of $4,000 il must
pay IS per cent in addition.
where the old rate was IS per
cent When excess profits pass
$500. 900. it must pay 60 per cent
Furthermore, the new law con-
tains a provision which makes
the burden on corporations con
siderably higher than the per
centage figures indicate. To
quote the u s News, Under the
old law. the normal taxes came
out first, and the excess profits
taxes were levied on what was
left, The new law provides that
the excess profits taxes come
out first, and the normal taxes
apply to what Is left. Since the
excess profits rates are much
higher than the normal rates, the
corporation fares much worse BY
the change"
Heavy as this tax bin IS, the
Treasury estimates that il VIII
mean an increase in Federal rev.
enue OF only S3,550, 600. 600 a
year So far. We have appro-
priated $50. 600, 0OO, 900 for mill
taTy pUrposes-of which $50,000.-
600. 900 Is for our own defense.
and sl0000, 00o. 600 IS for Aid to
Britain In short. the revenue
produced by the mountaineering
new taxes viii be only a drop
IN the bucket IN relation to the
cost Of GU rs policy program.
The general opinion IS that a far
tougher tax bill viii have TO be