Evening star., 1945-03-04

without thought of the consequences,
follow the same practice.
The States, besides New York, from
which the II required approvals might
come this year are: Arizona, California,
Colorado, Connecticut, Georgia, Idaho,
Kansas, Maryland, Minnesota, Missouri
Montana, Nebraska, Nevada, New Mex
leo, North Carolina, North Dakota, Ohio,
Oklahoma, Oregon, South Carolina,
South Dakota, Tennessee, Utah, Ver-
mont, Washington and West Virginia.
The States whose Legislatures are on
record as approving the memorial to
Congress are: Wyoming, Rhode Island,
Mississippi, Iowa, Maine, Massachusetts,,
Michigan, Texas, Indiana, Illinois, Wis
consin, Delaware, Pennsylvania, Ala
bama, Kentucky, New Jersey and New
Hampshire.
Called Diabolical by Patman.
Calling the proposal a "diabolical
scheme" Representative Patman of
Texas asserted in the Congressional
Record recently that the lobbies were
ments by additional State Legislatures"
and he noted that in the past the reso-
luton had been approved by one cham
ber and not the other in six States-the
California and Virginia Houses and
the Senates of Louisiana, Nevada, New
York and Ohio.
Il must admit" Patman said, "that
am amazed and completely bafled at the
success which the Committee for Con-
stitutional Government, under the di-
rection of Pettengill, Rumley, Gannett
and Mcclure, operated before the
treacherous scheme was brought to
light
The Treasury Department took Seri-
Gus note of the progress of the Is per
cent ceiling plan last summer when the
research division analyZed the effect of
the proposal if adopted. This was
technical study which attracted little
attention. Last month, however, the
department issued a supplement, which
pointed out, in simpler language, that
if the wealthy taxpayers, who are in
the top brackets going as high as 95
per cent of part of their income, are
brought down with the small taxpayers
at a fiat 25 per cent, the only alter
native tax fields would be sales taxes
and excises, which are paid by con-
sumers, regardless of income.
Fear for Treasury's Credit.
This study also pointed out that the
credit of the Treasury might be impaired
by a constitutional restriction on the
Federal Governments taxing power.
IF Federal credit suffers" the study
said, "State and local credit will suffer
with it. Any real shock to public faith
in Federal securities would undoubt-
edly involve State and local securities
sympathetically. Furthermore, any
such shock would weaken the banks
and other credit institutions and hinder
them in assisting State and local gov
ernments."
The amendment has attracted little
attention in Washington, primarily be-
cause the lobbies have been working
in the State capitals. For reasons un-
known in washington, opposition from
the representatives of the small tax
payers has not been as formidable as
might have been expected on such
vital subject In Congress, the most
vigorous opponent has been the Texan,
who recently asserted that adoption of
the plan would hurt the lower income
groups.
In practice he said "the 49,200 900
taxpayers in the lower brackets will not
only not have their taxes reduced under
this amendment, but their taxes will
actually have to be increased to make
up for the savings that will be grant,
ed to the few who now own and con-
troll so much of the wealth Of the
country"
printed by Special Advancement With
the st. Louis Post-Dispatch)