Evening star., 1947-02-05
Core Of the District Tax Plan
The Sales Taxa Producer of Needed Revenue
but Political Hot Potato in the Past
No. 3.
By John ". Thompson, Jr.

The sales tax Is the real hot potato
In the Districts new tax plan.
It is also the core of the entire pro-
gram due to yield 100000 of the
ST., ,750, 900 total.
Although the entire community. vir-
tually, is behind the proposed broadening
Of the income tax, the District Building
tax hearing last fall produced pro-
nounced split over the general Q per cent
levy on sales.
Storm warnings are flying at the
Capitol for both.
Key figure in what happens to the
sales tax in Congress is likely to be
Representative Dirksen, Republican, OF
Illinois, chairman of the House District
Committee.
Mr.. Dirksen virtually fathered the
present income tax from 1887 to its
enactment in 1899 and bitterly opposed
all efforts of the late Representative
Jack Nichols of Oklahoma to introduce
sales levy.
The Confession of Mr.. Dirksen.
Times have changed, however, and SO
has Mr.. Dirksen's opinion.
"Open confession is good for the soul"
he said last summer on the House floor.
81 publicly now confess my own sins and
derelictions in that respect. When the
District Commissioners and the special
taxing committee recommended sales
tax number Of years ago, it was the
gentleman from Illinois who opposed 1t
here and elsewhere and finally kept it
from being included in balanced
revenue system.
st have tried to make amends In that
respect, however and said to them
very recently that 1t ought to be in,
cluded. hope that when we next tackle
the question of adequate revenues for
the District of Columbia, sales tax
will be included Insofar as my feeble
talents can be devoted to that matter,
it will be included in such tax struc-
ture."
The sales tax under the West COM
mittee program would be per cent on
all tangible property sold at retail IN
the city, except food products for con-
sumption off premises, medicines, ma
terials used in permanent construction,
and except where previous selective
sales tax has been levied. Additional
exemptions are believed to have been
added during the past few days. The
levy would cover articles whether pur-
chased for use in the city or not.
An Annoying Little Companion.
It was the opinion of the committee,
too, that the Commissioners should have
the discretion Of exempting all sales
transactions under Is cents However,
recent indications point, to a boost in
this figure-possibly to so cents.
A companion to the sales levy would
be 2 per cent "use" tax on items
bought outside the city for use or
storage within it which would be taxable
if bought here. This levy would not
apply to purchases of less than s25 ag-
gregate in any one month or to pur-
chases of nonresident brought here
for his own use.
Credit would be given under the "use
tax" plan for any sales tax paid at
place of purchase outside the District.
Collection method proposed for the
sales tax is similar to that used in
Ohio. Coupons are sold to the merchant
by the collector Of taxes and delivered
by the merchant to his customers as
evidence Of tax payment
This system avoids the use Of tokens
by the general public since the retailer
merely adds the amount of tax to the