Evening star., 1941-10-19
English Taxes Top
Ours, Says British
Embassy Official
Dr.. Thomas Takes Issue
With Commerce Chamber
On Burden to Citizens
Bv BLAIR BOLLES.

BN bLAlh DULLES.
IN the midst of the great debate
going on here over the relative
severity of British and American
taxation, a British naval officer,
resting in Washington for day
while his ship undergoes repairs in
New York. remarked that rs cents
of the $3.50 allowed him each day
by the Admiralty for shore expenses
went back to his government in
taxation.
The naval officer pays a so per
cent income tax because his total
annual income is in the neighbor-
hood of $4,000 The British take
a stiff cut out of everybody's pocket.
A single person in the United States
earning $4,000 year will pay, un-
der the new revenue law, 20 per cent
in taxation in 1912, or $2,994. The
highest State income tax in the
United States is Is per cent.
"The burden is heavier in the
United Kingdom than in the United
States" DR.. Brinley Thomas of the
British Embassy here says. The
United States Chamber of Com
merce opened the argument by con-
tending that 'the additional levies
imposed by the Revenue Act of 1941
will bring the tax burden in the
United States above that in Britain" +"
Opponents of the aid-England
program use the chamber figures to
indicate that the United States is
impoverishing its people while the
British do less than their share.
Figures on Taxes.
The simple comparison of rela-
tive burden on individuals in this
country and England makes it clear
that the Englishman suffers more
than we do. For married person,
with no dependents, whose income
Is $4,000 year, the Federal income
tax here is Gin 1942) $138; in Eng
land, 1855; for $4,000 income, tax in
United States. S375; in England,
$1,855; for $4,000 income, tax in
United States, S1.305; in England,
S4.505; for S50000 income, in United
States, $20,439; in England, s36,455;
for 100000 income. in United States,
S52,704; in England, $4,000.
The central government in Eng
land lets the Englishman with a
million -dollar-a-year income keep
$38,l50, while the American with
that enormous income will be able to
retain $267,4 ,446 after he pays the
Federal Treasury.
OF course, in this country, after
the Federal Treasury has been paid,
there is the State and county and
sometimes the city. But no combi-
nation of local income taxes in the
United States is great enough to
bring the American burden up equal
to the British.
The Chamber of Commerce reached
its conclusion by computing the
national incomes of the United
States and the United Kingdom
and then figuring the total tax bill
as a percentage of national income
For the United States, the Chamber
of Commerce estimated that next
year the tax paymentS-Federal,
State and local-will be Is per cent
Of the national income, but that in
England they will amount to only
22.1 per cent of the national in
come.
English Excise Rates High.
The chamber estimated that the
total United States taxes next year
would come to $4,000 ,0OO, 900, while
the total British taxes would be
$7,900,000,000. Excise taxes in this
country went up considerably Oc-
tober l after the enactment of the
new Revenue Act, but high excise
taxes in England are an old story.
On the following articles the British
sales tax is one-third of the whole
sale value:
Cameras and camera film, clocks
and watches, lawn mowers, sports
equipment, victrolas and records,
radios, radio and f1ashlight batteries,
toilet soap, typeWriters, stationery,
fountain pens, ink, mechanical pen
ellis, automobiles. bicycles, furs. hats,
gloves, ties, socks, shirts. umbrellas,
canes, electric light bulbs, stoves,
ash trays and tobacco pipes.
The fashlight battery is almost
an essential item in British life now
because during the blackout the flash
provides the only guide in getting
about.
On most clothing and shoes, ex-
cept ch1ldren'S, the sales tax is one
sixth Of the wholesale value. The
same is true for most drugs and
medicines, except essential drugs
that are especially costly such as
insulin, liver extract, etc.
The annual tax on radio receiving
sets In England is 81 a year. Drink
ing in England helps support the
government and pay for the war,
since for every II Shillings spent on
whisky IA goes to the tax collector.
In the % American States that have
sales tax the usual rate is 2 per
cent on the retail price.
Levies on Estates.
England, like the United States,
has local rates. levied chiefly on
property. The Englishman does not
pay a double income tax as many
Americans do in this country.
Except for persons who leave
estates valued at s40,0O0,000 or more,
the British estate tax is much