The Waterbury Democrat., 1942-09-11
Revenue Proposals
 Far From Adequate
At Least 10 Billion More Needed; Both England and
 Canada Paying 20 Percent More

New York, Sept. 11-To put the nation on Q sound fiscal basis anc to act as a safeguard against g destructive imitation, the American people must pay a much greater proportion of war costs out of cur rent income. At least an addi- tional $10 billion of taxes is needed -A billion more than is recon. mended by the House revenue pro- posals now being considered by the Senate. Both England and Canada are meeting over 50% of their total expenditures with current tax rev. enue. The United States, however, under present proposals will pay less than 3096 of 1943 war expendi- lures in taxes.
 These and other significant con- clusions are brought out by the data presented in FACTS AND FIGURES ON WAR FINANCE, a study in booklet form compiled by the Tax Foundation. Designed to contribute to needed debate and consideration of war finance and to clarify the problem and the facts which relate to it, this booklet of charts and tables presents graphic picture of national income and ex- penditures, federal taxes, e1pendi- lures and debt, corporation income, war bond sales and cost-of- living index.
 According to FACTS AND FTG- URES ON WAR FINANCE, the United States should collect in 1943 taxes at least 40% of total expen- ditures, or $29 billion. Businesses usual sources of revenue are already yielding just about their limit, and the only remaining source is a broadened tax base which would tap the bulk income of the country, the lower brackets into which 80% of the nations income flows. The income in those brackets, the study points out, represents the great in- fiationary surplus = the surplus, mass buying power which can bid up the prices of increasingly scarce consumer goods and start the course of an inflationary spiral which may not be possible to control. One striking fact revealed by the Tax Foundations study 9s that if all net incomes oyer 5000 were confiscated in 1941 it would pay for only 48 days of the war.
 The answer to one of the ques- tions in the booklet urges Ameri- cans in all brackets of income i'm mediately' to consider the choice between demanding that their hard-earned money be taxed suffi- ciently to avoid imitation now or, in not demanding it, to find the money they have not paid In taxes, along with a great part of the rest of their income, consumed by infla- tion, the first symptom of which is the rising cost of living.
 On the assumption that the full amount of the $222 billion of war expenditures now authorized will be expended, the study shows that even if 401o is collected in taxes the federal debt of June 30, 1945, will
 mount to over $225 billion. This is the equivalent of 8 debt of $70OO for every family of four in the United States.
 In the fiscal year 1922 the na- tional income reached net figure of Approximately $104 billion, an increase of 106 over the calendar year 1941 and nearly one-fourth more than the previous record year of 1929. Despite an increased na- tional income, war expenditures are requiring more and more of our productive facilities. It is estimated that by the time the peak of our production is reached in 1914 the national income figure will rise to $120 billion and that about 60% of our total production will be de-