The Wilmington morning star., 1943-10-14
BY WESTBROOK PEGLER

NEW YORK.-It has been estimated that
about 100000 citizens who now pay an in
come tax by the check-off system in the
shape of the Victory tax would be relieved
entirely of the income tax under Henry Nor
genthau's proposals, which appear to have
been rejected. This was strictly political
idea, intended to put on ice about that many
votes for a fourth term for Mr.. and Mrs.
Roosevelt by indicating a tender solicitude
for the common man and to put on a spot
all opponents of the plan who come up for
reelection. l should like to point out, how
| ever, that no such consideration for the COM
mon man has ever existed and prove up by
calling attention to the fact that the new deal,
from the very beginning, has held that no
worker is too poor to pay an income tax to
the administrators subgovernment namely
the unions of the AFL and the CLIO. Such
income taxes have always constituted first
lien on all earnings of all workers even in
the lowest brackets under the socaled labor
policy of the new deal and even now, with
the victory tax still in effect the unions still
get first grab at the peoples pay in those
areas, such as coal mining, where the closed
| shop and union security and union mainte-
nance shops prevail. The closed shop is the
| ideal of the administration and if it were
completely realized, as it may be and as the
unioneers naturally hope it will be, every
Individual worker in the nation employed for
to the colossal slush fund.
| When l say that even now, with the gov
ernment's checkoff in operation, the unions
get first chop at the money 1 mean that if
! the union isn't paid the worker is dropped
from the rolls and fired from his job. He is
then unable to earn any income on which to
pay the Victory tax so it will be seen that
the union comes before the government in
principle.
| - who -hno cd
would relieve of their taxes payable to the
national government because he believes that
they are overtaxed are nevertheless paying
their unions much more than they are con-
| tributing to the public kitty to pay for the
war Many of them are also forced to con-
tribute to various union social security prof
ects, some of them sWindleS and to vacation
| funds with concealed and tricky little frauds
written into the articles whereby the indi-
vidual gets less for his vacation than the
boss paid the union in his name or gets moth
ing at all if he drops out under certain con-
ditions. There is no proposal to relieve them
| of any such taxes out of pity Tor their pow
| erty.
The total rakeoff about two years ago was
estimated by a few of the honest un1oneers
in Washington at one billion dollars year,
| which would be m o t one-tenth OF the
amount that Mr.. Morgenthau wants to raise
| by new taxes some of them exceeding lOU
per cent of the victims income. The loot I'm
doubtedly is higher now thanks to the JOB
freezing methods of the new deal, whereby
more, and more unwilling jolners nave been
driven into the power of the union posses ana
tax collectors. Not one dollar OF this one
billion-plus goes into the public treasury ana
the best that can be said for the comfort OF
the citizen is that some of the unions, When
they find themselves overturned With cash.
invest some of it in war bonds.
Even under Mr.. Morgenthaus new plan'
individuals earning upward OF, say, Sloo
week at inflated rates of straight ana over
time pay for war work, would not heces-
sarily have to pay their federal income taxes
even though they actually owed some. mere
again, the new deal places the unions oelole
the public treasury and thus places the party
funds ahead of the war needs. Because
man who owes a federal income tax cannon
be punished for failure to pay II ne MAKES
a more or less honest return, accompanied
by statement that he is sorry 70 say uia'
he is fresh out of money because the union
got to him first. The union of course, stanoS
n for no such nonsense. .,;+,,
Mr. Morgenthau's proposal mas no ~. qua..s
of mercy. It is just another clever htue ~.
litcal scheme which would have the eilec'
of further enrching the unions wnlcn aiv
already rich, whereas OLD sam Is ~. ol,se
broke but deeply in debt an az Ae .Ap11~
of the people and the United States Aiea'"A y