Proletarec. [volume] (Chicago, Ill.) 1906-19??, 1945-01-17
Congressional Salaries
Should Not Be Ruised

In view of what is happening in this country regarding taxes, and
taxes cheerfully by actually doing without things they would like to
have, the attempt of a Congressman from Georgia, one Vinson, to put
in a bill to Congress which will provide for increasing the salaries of
Congressman to $4,000 a year, is even more than just sheer nnpudence
1t is what is sometimes termed immaculate gall"
Look at this picture. Congressman get $4,000 a year IS well as
allowances which enable them to have every comfort at their disposal,
while they are supposed to be performing their job. And, like the rest
of us, they have to pay part of their salary az taxes. This means that
they have left on the average around $500 a year, o about $50 a
week. Mark you, this is after they have paid their taxes. Well, most of
IS could get along very nicely O such a nice amount as this, because
most of our people on the average have to get along with a third or
less before they even pay taxes.
Now what shape will the Congressman be in if their salaries are
increased to $4,000 a year? After they deduct their taxes, IS they do
now from their $4,000 a year, they will not only have the same as
they received before the w "a taxes were laid upon them, but they will
have over $1,000 in addition to their old salary Of $4,000.
In other words, what this bill would do would be to take N amount
of money out of the public treasury to pay the taxes of every Congress
man and allow them at least an additional $1,000 over their old salaries.
When you read this you can judge for yourself whether w e arr justified
IN saying that this congressman has more than just immense lmpu-
dence and that we are justified in stating that he has immaculate gall.
In order to save the face of Congress, if a majority of its members
can be induced TO pass uch a measure, 1t IS further provided that the
salary of the President shall be increased from $4,000 to $100 600, and
that members of the Cabinet should be given $4,000 a year apiece.
AS ia as the President is concerned, not only has Franklin D.
Roosevelt failed to ask for an increase in his salary, but he proposed
that all incomes over s25ooO should be taken into the public treasury,
including his own. 1t "a Congress which declined to have anything
to do with such a proposition.
When someone said to the President: you II certainly pulling
down your own salary he is reputed to have replied with a laugh:
We'll at least I'll be receiving the same salary as the President of Gen
eral Motors" At the time this was said, the president of General Motors
together with his bonuses was receiving IN the neghborhood OF $500.
600 per year,
Even the suggestion of such a measure as this from any member
OF Congress IS slappng tn majority OF our people right IN the face.
The whole crux of the tax question is not how much anyone pays in
ever, those belonging TIC tn House Of Have seem to have no conception
of the problems of the vast majority of our people who belong to the
Have Nots.
Oc curse 40 one believes that Congress would dare to pass such
a BILL but the fact that a member of the House, whose seniority has
mtee' shoulo propose ucn a measur is mos astounding. It's true
that he lives in a poll tax state. That's one reason why he has been in
Congress SO long. A minority of his people sent him there. What's more,
~ lives IN a state winch before the war was a real suOstandard wage
Nice picture, isn't it? A man who never did anything "a a law
maker to prevent the pay of sweashop wages, wants the large salaries
of Congressman increased 500 at one fell swoop!-The Advance.