Detroit evening times. (Detroit, Mich) 1921-1958, 1942-09-08
Here S a Tax
Plan to End
All Tax Plans
McLemore Suggests AIIV
Money 90 TO U. S.
By HENRY McLEMORE

A SURVEY made by the
- Singlefoot Poll (which is
very similar to the Gallup Poll.
the major differences being that
Professor Singlefoot uses carrier
pigeons instead of postcards for
polling, and has not yet decided
that he is a national figure) =
shows that my readers are
anxious for me to do an article
dealing with taxation.
or three ders polled
(names, addresses and numbers
will be furnished on request
when request is accompanied by
a white wall tire and Jar OF
mayhaw jelly) two of them
answered in this vein:
please, please have him do
something on taxation. With his
clear. cold, analytical mind he
can do much TO further confuse
the problem"
The other reader (McGuffey's
his name, i believed sent his
pigeon to the wrong address.
Just what he said is not known.
But in a country where the
majority is supposed to rule I
must respond to the two out
of three readers, so. without
further ado or thought. and be-
fore you can say Senator Walter
George. we will plunge into
taxation and all its vexing prob
lens.
My first thought on taxation
Is that the treasury department,
the Senate finance committee.
and all the others concerned in
raising ready scratch from the
citizens. should come clean and,
in straight from the shoulder
message. say this:
Honestly, we are not so much
interested I'm what kind Of q tax
program we formulate. as we
are formulating one that Will
come close to taking every penny
from the men, women and chill
uTcn III THIS country
| TIP UNTIL now the boys have
~ been beating around the
bush. AS of today they haven't
screwed up enough courage 10
come right out and say that
those who're going TO get il in
the wallet. that those who have
been hoping TO have il are going
10 get the same. and that even
those who are going 10 get il or
might possibly have il in the
future. are going TO get an
operation in the vicinity of their
purse.
But TO any one who can read
between the lines OF an income
tax blank IL is obvious what Mr..
Morgenthau is after.
We are all going to have 10
get the pig banks down from the
mantelpiece and give them a
thorough shake.
What the money raisers in
Washington need is a plan or
two. ] am ready 10 provide
same. my first one being the
Monte Wooley-Beardsley- Ruml,
or See What the-Boys-in-the-
Back Room-Have-Got-on- Their
Person-Plan.
On first reading that seems
to be a pretty long name for
plan.
On second reading 1t seems
even longer.
On third reading--well. never
mind. let's get on with an ex-
PLANTATION of the plan. 1t is a
deliberate steal on the Beardsley
Ruml suggestion for taxation.
which you undoubtedly know
about, because il involves the
doing away with the paying of
1941 taxes.
Mr.. Ruml made helluva play
for popular sentiment when he
came out with a plan that had
as its base the elimination Of
1941 taxes.
He couldn't 60 very wrong
there-not with the taxpayers,
anyway.
But he also marked himself
as the No. optimist OF the year.
LIE MUST have known that
H the government was not
going to take kindly to any such
suggestion.
The government, to judge by
my own experience. is looking
for an idea that will enable il
to tax what happened in 1888.
l wasn't born at the time.
but il wouldn't surprise me 10
get a letter from the revenue
department asking for a small
Surtax on the chances of my
being born.
II Mr.. Ruml thinks he Is
going TO sell his plan to Wash
ington. he has another thought
coming.
He might Just as we'll spend
his time perfecting a perpetual
motion machine, or drawing
blueprints of bridge across the
Atlantic. or demonstrating a
saber-toothed tiger. or writing
Wendell Willkie letters that do