Imperial Valley press., 1943-07-11

Secretary of the Treasury Henry
w. Morgenthau, Jr.s crack the 9TH
er day that by the end of l943. "the
average American family should be
investing approximately 25 cents of
every dollar of income in war
bonds.' has been worrying a num-
ber of people. but it may not be as
bad as 1t looks at first glance.
The average Joe orJane, now pa
triotically contributing 10 per cent
of his or her pay check to buy war
bonds, is apt to figure it out like
this:
Ten per cent is Okay, but where
do they get this rs per cent stuff?
Withholding taxes after July arc
going TO be 20 per cent under this
new tax bill SO l understand, and
If they want me to kick i'm with
IS per cent for bonds, that makes
As per cent Of my pay, and what
do they expect me to live on?
Wages are frozen, cost of living
is still going up, and I'm sup
posed to get by on IS cents out
of every dollar l make. What do
they expect me TO dO--Sell the
house or the car? Give up my
life insurance? Starve?"
Take it easy, chums, for it really
isn't that tough.
In the first place, the 20 per cent
withholding tax called for under
the new tax bill is gross figure
Exemptions are provided, SO the aC-
tual net payroll tax collected will
run from nothing at all to a maxi
mum of 20 per cent For the ma
jority of the taxpayers, withholding
taxes will average only about IL pei
cent.
VARYING PERCENTAGES
In the second place. this 25 pei
cent of payroll contribution tht
Treasury is talking about is an av.
erage figure. 1t doesn't mean tha
every wage-earner is expected Il
kick in with 25 per cent of his pa.
for war savings, as was the cas'
with the campaign to get everyone
to contribute 10 per cent of his pay
Some people obviously won't be abl'
to boost their 10 per cent to 25 pc
cent. Others will be expected to d'
as much as so per cent A numbe
of cases are actually on record nov
in which some members of fam
ily. all of whom are working, ar,
saving the full 100 per cent of thei
wages.
Starting about June Is when the
Treasury War Savings staff gets
under way with its new summer
drive, the slogan Is 10 be Figure
1t Out For YOURSELF The idea
is simply that every wage-earner
should get a pencil and paper,
make out new budget for the re-
mainder of 1913, figuring in new
taxes and cost of living expenses
at present prices, then determine
what his maximum contribution
for war bonds can be.
This Treasury figure of 25 pc
cent average income savings hasn
been simply pulled out of the al
Treasury experts know that tn
surplus money is available, in sa,
ings accounts or as hot none
burning holes in the pockets of pee
pie who want to spend it on some
thing-anything-just to get rid {
it. AS loose spending money. tn
excess purchasing power is an infls
tionary threat and the idea is
blot it up with war bonds, not on
to check initiation now, but to he
finance the war effort, hold dow
the war debt. and indirectly prt
vide savings for spending money
the postwar period when the boo
is all over.
SIMPLE ARITHMETIC
[ It is a fairly simple matter fl
an economist to sit down and shO
| that for 1943 there is approximate
, ly $d3 billion in excess money floa
ing around loose. Gross incon
, from wages for some 63 millic
American wage-earners will