The Wilmington morning star., 1947-12-06
Republican Tax Strategy

| Last summer when President truman
vetoed the second tax reduction bill the
Asheville Citizen Times commented: In
their understandable resentment, the re-
publicans threaten to make campaign Is
sue of tax reduction next year. They are
already reminding the voters that only the
Opposition of President Truman has de-
prived them of tax relief"
At about the same time the Charlotte
Observer said: ut is certain now that one
of the major issues in the 1948 presidential
campaign will be that of tax reduction.
That is inevitable in view Of the fact that
the republican Congress twice recently has
passed $4000,000,000 tax reduction bill
to be vetoed each time by President Tru-
man. :"
| Many other newspapers had the same
thought, but these two quotations are Sc
lected because they are from leading North
Carolina dailies.
That they were obviously correct is in
dicated by the present purpose of the re-
publicans in Congress to introduce, not one
but two, tax measures as a means of TAX
ing the initiative from the administration
on the eve Of national election and either
force them through over possible vetoes
or place the entire blame for failure on
President Truman during the coming cam
paign. For whatever other major issues
may arise, whatever troubles may develop
throughout the world, whatever becomes
Of the Marshall plan, the American people
still believe their tax load too heavy, and
will resent any failure to provide relief.
r ;r 0LoI1o $I,o{ +Lo
introduce their first tax bill in the House
about December Is. The measure is ex-
pected to provide increased exemptions in
the lower-income Enthusiastically bid
for democratic votes. The second bill, ac-
cording to Washington forecasts, will be
introduced early in the regular session and
provide for general revision of the federal
tax structure, and hopefully remove in
equities, inefficiencies and needless COM
plexities.
Writing in the Christian Science Moni-
tor Roscoe Drummond, chief of the Moni-
tors Washington bureau, declares, ct h e
real cleavage between the administration
and the republican majority in Congress
is that the democrats want tax reduction
geared to the necessities of the Marshall
plan and the republicans want the Marshall
plan geared to the necessities of tax re-
ductuion. The unresolved decision is over
which should come first"
On these conflicting views, the New York
Times, following Mr.. Truman's veto of the
second tax bill last summer, probably
struck the right note, as far as public opin-
ion is concerned when it commented: 1T
might be said that as result of this re-
orientation of foreign policy, with it's en-
phasis on economic aid to Europe, much
OF the sting, as well as the surprise, had
been extracted from the second tax bill
veto well before it was presented to Con-
gress."
In the mass of comment to be found in
newspaper columns concerning this i'm
portant domestic question of tax reduction,
the sad reflection is that tax legislation,
las well as the Marshall plan and other
vital matters of national and world con-
Germ, is being considered on strictly politi-
cal grounds with each of the major par
ties gearing their strategy to election po-
tentialities.