Evening star., 1942-06-17

sons In the David Lawrence,
United States might be affected, but
the probabilities are that under the
deduction system, not more than
5000 would have to pay the super
tax.
What is not generally realized by
those who cry out for drastic tax
alton and who resort to the arts of
demagogy to prove they are soak
ing the rich is that the soaking
already has been accomplished. The
time is not far of when the dema-
gogues will have to tell the people
the sad truth, namely that sources
of taxation in the higher brackets
are drying up and that taxes will
have to be extracted in larger and
larger amounts from the low income
groups which have hitherto been
favored with a partial immunity.
Few Retain S25,000.
President Roosevelt. in one of his
recent addresses, used the figure of
s25,000 as a probable maximum that
q taxpayer would be able to retain
as II this were some real hardship
that was about to be imposed on
large number of the American peo-
pie. The truth is that existing tax
rates already have prevented about
90 per cent or more of the taxpayers
from retaining anything like s25,0Oo
q year.
There are plenty of persons who
would be happy if the Government
made it possible for them to retain
as much as s25,000 after taxes. In
deed, anybody who earns 100000 or
$4,000 or even s50,O0O a year cam
not retain s25 900 after paving Fed
eral taxes. If State taxes were in
cluded in the reckoning, it is con-
ceivable that under certain circum-
stances the taxpayer might be earn
ing as much as $4,000 or possibly
more before he or she could count
on a net residue of as much as
$4,000.
The tax rates being proposed by
the House Ways and Means Com
t1i,tee permits man who earns
$1,000 a year to retain 1854 and
by the time the O00-a-year in
come is reached in the tables, 1t
will be found that the taxpayer can
retain only s13,736. So there has
to be large paper earning of some
where near $4,000 before the citizen
can ever become one of the small
class of persons who could be re-
motelv affected by the s25,000 max
imum or the payment of 100
per cent super tax.
Would Bring S1s4,000,00o.
The Treasury's proposal looks
more like a fulfillment OF the ges-
ture toward drastic taxation that
has been banded about in recent
months as proof that the taxation
is really drastic for the public
generally. 1t is drastic for an in
finitelv small few. This is revealed
by the fact that only sl84 900 900
will be collected from the super tax.
This group of 1000 persons with
incomes above $4,000 a year have
a total income of about $780,
100000, of which the Government
collects somewhere between so and
70 per cent.
Yet there are 15,940,000 persons
with incomes from $4,000 to $4,000
a wear whose income is about s54,-
600. 900 900. A relatively small part
of this has been tapped for tax
purposes. Some day, when a real
tax program is proposed that is
designed to collect revenue, 1t can
be expected that the tax rates will
be made heavier between $4,000 and
$4,000 and that there will be fur
ther taxes on the low-income
groups. But that day cannot be
expected to materialize so close to
q congressional election. where the
quantity of votes counts rather
than the size of the individual
income.
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