Toledo union journal. [volume] (Toledo, Ohio) 1942-current, 1948-04-23
This New Tax Deal
By BEN DOR
LPA ColumniSt

felt pretty good when they came around
and gave me new tax slip to sign. 1t meant.
that my pay check would be bigger in a weeE
or SO, and who doesn't like that. In way, tn
tax cut was the same as a wage increase, and
that's never hard to take
But even before l had the slip made out
and signed, that good feeling began to wear
off little. 1t isn't an easy feeling to explain,
but if you'll stick with me for a few lines,
I'll try.
It's not that can't use the money. Every
body that l know is the kind of person who
can use an extra five dollar bill any time that
one happens to come along. And the immediate
results of my getting the extra dough each
week that used to go into taxes will be very
good
But that's only the immediate effect The
long term effect may be quite different Differ
ent because while they were slipping me the
extra few bucks, they were handing back
thousands of dollars to the people who sit
way up there at the top of the tax brackets,
For every dollar that they gave me and you,
they slipped the fellow in the silk hat few
hundred.
All right, you say, that's lucky for him.
Go away and stop bothering me while enjoy
the windfall that l got out of this new tax
deal What business of yours, you think, is
1T how much the other guy was able to get
away with?
Here's why it's your business That money
wasn't just given to somebody. It was taken
away from somebody There's the man or
woman living on social security benefits
we've been working long time to get them
raise in their pay, Not much chance now;
the money for that pay increase went to- cut
the tax bill of some big shot instead. Take
the young fellow and his wife who are getting
a chance at school through the CT benefits
Know what they get to live on? If you don't,
ask the man who is trying to live on it,
FTrly1 H. ENoz
things that Congress wanted to save money /
was the Department of Labor; the Bureau that
keeps track of jobs, cost of living, and other
facts of that kind had its budget cut. But who
cares about facts. Dollars in the bank book
are lot better than government figures any
day.
Those figures show that purchasing power
has dropped. You're about as well off today
as you were in 1912, if the figures are right.
You've gotten raises in pay; you make about
$13 per week more than in 1912, if you're the
average worker, But your purchasing power
has dropped until you're worse off than you
were six years ago
That kind of drop means trouble mister
Since 1912, production has gone up Your pur-
chasing power has not If you can't buy it.
you won't make it. Your job will be gone
unless purchasing power is forced up to match
production. But the government isn't helping.
For years now we have been fighting to
get the burden of taxation off the backs of thu
little earners and onto the backs of those
who are big enough to carry it. In the last
tax cut, even though you and / picked up a
few bucks apiece it was the big boys who got
rid of big part of the burden. That was an
other round in the fight we lost. If they put
over sales tax to take its place-or the pay
roll taxes they are talking about here and
there-that will be another round against us.
How many more can we lose before the fight
is over?
That was lot to think about while / signed
that new little tax reduction slip. But they
say that drowning man sees his whole life
flash before him in just a few seconds And
what's drowning man got that we haven't
got?