Evening star., 1941-08-05

ment even sA
though one i'm David Lawrence.
portant feature-nandatory joint
returns for husband and wife-was
eliminated from the measure at the
last moment
The controversy over joint re-
turns is by no means over. The
Senate will have to wrestle with it
for many reasons, not the least of
which is the fact that elimination
of the proposal means elimination
of S300,000,000 of needed revenue
The House Ways and Means Com
mittee having struggled with all the
various kinds of taxes that nobody
really wanted to see imposed-excise
taxes and special levies-there was
no enthusiasm for the task of re-
writing the bill to make up the
deficit. So the committee just
passed the buck to the Senate.
Heavy Pressure Applied.
When the Senate faces the task
of rewriting the House bill, it will
discover that the members of the
House were subjected to all sorts
of pressure to keep them from rails
Ing certain taxes and that if the
$500, 1000 Is to be made up, there
must either be higher individual
income taxes or high corporation
taxes or some higher consumption or
sales taxes.
All House members come up for
election in November, 1912, but only
one-third of the Senate does. So it
may be assumed that the Senate
will not find itself Influenced by as
many inhibitions as appeared dur
ing the House discussion by its COM
rllttee. As a matter of fact, the
House is glad to get rid of the bill
rs usual and pass it on to the Senate.
There Is, on the other hand, a
certain amount of basic tax raising
which has been done in the House
bill which will not be touched by
the Senate because 1t represents a
job on the whole well done. The
House committees position on man
datory returns was unfortunate. The
proposal was doomed to defeat be-
cause there are so many community
property States whose Representa-
tixes, irrespective of party, were
pledged to vote against the joint
return idea. Then, too, there has
been a fallacy to the effect that only
the rich would be affected by the
joint returns. Once the joint re-
turn idea is written into legisla-
ton it would eventually affect more
and more taxpayers as the ex-
emptions were lowered.
Unpopular Position"
1t is significant that President
Roosevelt has gone on record In
favor of broadening the tax base
by cutting the exemption of married
persons down to the 81 500 level and
unmarried persons down to s75o as
a basis OF exemption. This Is in
line with sound tax theory and it
Is encouraging to find Mr.. Roosevelt
taking his stand on what doubtless
is, numerically or politically speak
ing, an unpopular position.
In the exchange of letters between
the President and Chairman Dough-
ton Of the House Ways and Means
Committee-a strong administration
Rdherent-there appears a sour note.
Mr.. Doughton says:
The committee at times found it
impossible during. the course of its
hearings to reconcile the testimony
of different officials representing the
administration. Nothing in
this letter is intended as defense
or an apology for the action which
we have taken, but only as an ex-
PLANTATION, so that you and the coun-
try may understand some of the
ItdSOllS lOI OUI CU1lCluSlCllS.
1t is natural that in hectic times
like these and with so many prob
lens of the war emergency pressing
on the Treasury Department that
It should not be able to present a
meticulously worked out plan. Tax
bills to raise S3,000o 100000 or more
are not presented every day and the
Treasury is for the most part in
terested in revenue raising, while
Congress has to think of political
toes it may step on. In the last war,
the late Representative Claude
Kitchin, chairman of the Ways and
Means, and also from North Car
olina, told the House that it might
as we'll close its eyes and pass the
tax bill-the inequities were numer-
Gus and the problem almost in
solvable.
The Doughton bill follows in the
main the Treasury's recommended
tions, but if the Senate doesn't re-
store the mandatory joint return
proposal, there will have to be some
higher taxes imposed somewhere to
make up the $500 100000. Some Sen
ators may insist that the exemptions
be reduced and the tax base broad
ened because many billions of dol
lars of income will flow into the
lower brackets which will not be
touched by the present bill.
If the purpose of the tax measure
Is to curb imitation, then some tax
restraints to keep down the enor-
NOUS expenditure of money by the
people in lower brackets might ap-
peal as logical. If the Senate is
political, it will sidestep the issue
and let the imitation come. Maybe
by the time the debate is further
along, the Nation will have been
educated to the dangers of price
spirals and the failure to tax
everybody as means of avoiding
imitation.