Evening star., 1944-02-24


public accountants cannot inter-
pret them. No"
Says the President, with q
comma
1T is squarely the fault of the
Congress of the United States in
using language in drafting the
law which not even a dictionary
or a thesaurus can make clear"
Mr.. President, no man could
have made that extraordinary
statement who has sat in tax
committees in the Capitol of the
United States. II it was made
by anybody who ever sat in
tax committee. 1t was a delib-
crate and unjustified mis-
statement in order to place upon
Congress the blame for universal
dissatisfaction, with tax COM
plexities. and in order to produce
the illusion that the executive
departments have in vain pro-
tested against this compleXity.
Congress is to blame for these
complexities to the extent. and
only to the extent, to which it
has accepted the advice, the
recommendations, and the Ian
guage of the Treasury Depart
ment, through its so-called ex-
perts who have sat in on the pas
sage of every tax measure since
I can remember.
Every member OF the House
Ways and Means Committee and
every member of the Senate FL
nance Committee Knows that
every time we have started to
write a new tax bill in the last
10 years we have started out with
the universal desire to simplify
the tax laws and the forms
through which taxes are col
lected.
Says Treasury Experts
Used Complex Lingo.
We have attempted to adopt
policies which would simplify
them. When we have agreed
upon policy, we have submitted
that policy to the Treasury De-
partment to write the appropriate
language to carry out that policy:
and frequently the Treasury De-
partment. through its experts, has
brought back language so compi-
Gated and circumambient that
neither Solomon nor all the Wise
Men OF the East could under.
stand 1T or interpret it.
In his effort to justify this veto
message. the President is forced,
with searchlight and o magni-
tying glass, to ind inconse-
quental faults. The President
states-and I quote him:
THE bill is replete, with pro-
visions which not only afford
indefensible special privileges to
favored groups hut set dangerous
precedents for the future"
AS evidence In support Of this
statement, the President refers to
the provisions Of the bill permit
ting corporations reoreanized in
bankruptcy to retain certain ex-
cess profits credits and other
items attributable to the con-
tributiolIs of stockholders who
are, to quote the President, "us-
ually eliminated in the rcorgani-
zation." This Is cited as q loop
hole in behalf of special privi-
leges.
As a matter Of fact, nobody
knows at this time whether there
would be any loss whatever to
the Treasury on account Of this
provision. 1t all depends upon
the outcome Of litigation now
pending in the courts, the out
come OF which no person can
foresee with any degree Of cer-
tainty.
Calls Loss Claim
without Justification.
But even if the litigation
should result In making this
provision effective, it would not
substantially, but would merely
to a small extent, allow corpora
tions which have come out Of
bankruptcy to claim and obtain
the same credits which corpora
tions which are still In bank
ruptcy obtain. Therefore, no
person can categorscally claim
that this provision would result
in a loss to the Treasury.
The President cites the per-
centage depletion allowance on
q few new and Insignificant items
in this bill, not heretofore car
ried In the tax bills or in the
present law, and says that such
allowances are questionable In
any case.
It Is well known, Mr.. President,
that the Treasury has always
been opposed to any sert Of