Evening star., 1944-02-24
Text Of BarkIeys Speech on Tax Bill Veto
~ thu Associated pres..

~ the Associated Press.
FolloUtnD u the tsrt Of 4
Senator B0Ykley's speech yes-
terddy rssiCntn0 the post Of
majority leader:
Mr.. President, on yesterday the
President OF the United States
sent TO the House OF Representa-
tives, and indirectly to the Sem
ate, = message vetoing the tax
bill recently passed by both
houses Of the Congress after six
or eight months Of deliberation
upon 1t.
should have preferred to
discuss this veto message on q
proposal to pass the bill over the
Presidents objections. but not
knowing what action the House
will take and, therefore, not
knowing whether the Senate will
be given an opportunity to vote
upon the veto, / have decided to
discuss it now.
The President says in his mes
sage that he regrets 1t, but that
he had to veto the bill In the
public interest. He says that
many months ago he asked
Congress to increase the taxes
by $l0.500. .000. 900, and that-to
use his own language-"persons
prominent In our national life
have stated In no uncertain
terms that his figure was
too low.
This reference in justification
of his veto is obviously to Mr..
Wendell L. Willkie, the up-to-
date Halley's comet darting
across the armament hither and
yon to illuminate the heavens
with an array OF fantastic figures
which neither 1t nor anybody
can comprehend.
I cannot but wonder. Mr.. Presi-
dent, whether this spectacular
celestial nomad has frightened
the President into the use OF fig-
ures quite as fantastic, though
not as large.
THE President states that while
the measure purports to increase
the national revenue by little
more than $4,000 900 900. the ac-
tual net result is q little less than
$1,000, ,000. 900.
The Treasury Department has
but yesterday reported that the
net increase in taxes provided in
this bill amounts to $2,l94, 900 900.
The staff Of the Joint Committee
on Internal Revenue set up by
Congress estimates the net in
come to be around $2,300, 900 900.
Treasury's Own Estimates
Cited in Rebuttal.
But let us take the figures OF
the Treasury Department itself.
which we might well admit are
conservative. This $2,194 ,000, 900
figure is arrived at after deduct
ing from the gross increase in
revenues provided in the bill any
losses from other categories that
may occur by reason OF the bill
itself.
Whether those losses amount
to $50, 900 900, as the President
states, or to smaller, or . larger
sum, as estimated by the Treas
ury, they were all taken into
consideration and deducted from
the gross increases carried by the
bill in order to arrive at the
$2,l94 900 900 reported by the
Treasury. 1t may be that figure
Is subject to a further readjust-
ment on account Of what the
Treasury calls nonrecurring items
amounting to about $75,0o0, 900.
In order still further to belittle
the amount of revenue provided
in this new tax bill the Presi.
dent has resorted to one of the
most unjustifiable methods of
calculation 1t is possible to COLI
jure up, which obviously was
handed to him by a mind more
clever than honest. He refers to
an amount which he figures as
81 ,100, 100000, which he claims
would be collected by a doubling
OF the social security taxes on
March Of this year.
am one of the members Of
the Committee on Finance who
voted against the freezing Of the
social security tax when 1t was
passed on by the committee.
not only voted on the floor of
the Senate against freezing that
tax, but I made an argument
against 1t when the amendment
was before the Senate for its
consideration. The amendment
freezing the tax at / per cent,
instead Of automatically raising
1t to 2 per cent, was adopted
overwhelmingly both in the COM
mittee and In the Senate.
Says He Regards Receipts
As Sacred Fund"
In my discussion of that pro-
posal on the door Of the Senate
I stated that had never re-
garded the moneys procured by
this tax as anything but sacred
fund to be used for the payment
Of the worthy purposes contem-
plated when the social security
law was enacted, and that did
not at that time, nor at any
other time would I, vote to in
crease this tax merely for the
purpose of letting the Treasury
use 1t as revenue to carry on the
ordinary expenses of the Gov
ernment.
It Is true that in order to hold
this fund inviolate and obtain an
income upon 1t the law provides
that it shall be loaned to the
Treasury at 3 per cent interest.
But it Is a loan. It is not Treas
ury capital. It is no more to be
regarded as income In the
Treasury than the money OBJ.
tanned by the sale Of War Bonds,
and 1t must be repaid, Just as
they are to be repaid, the only
difference being that this loan
bears a hirher rate of intArest