The potters herald. [volume] (East Liverpool, Ohio) 1899-1982, 1948-09-30
ORGANIZED LABORiS STAKE
IN TAX POLICY

ton in 1915. Excise and employ
ment taxes on the other hand
dropped from 51.496 Of the federal
collection in 1910 to 16.1% of the
1916 collections. The war showed
us we could achieve full employ
ment. 1t also demonstrated that in
the tax on personal and corporate
income we have an effective tax in
strument.
Postwar tax developments, how
ever, raise serious questions as to
whether our congressman have
learned from the war experience.
The five billion dollar tax cut in
1945 plus the five billion cut in
1948 represents a 27.7% cut in fed
eral income tax revenue since 1945.
In 1915, of total federal taxes col
lected, 1870 represented revenue
from income and estate and gift
taxes; in 1949, less than 900 of
federal revenue will come from
these taxes. Gains accruing to low
income groups from income tax
cuts have been more than wiped out
by increased living costs.
The Consumer Pays
Revenue from excise taxes, how
ever, was about two billion dollars
more in 1947 than in 1915, increas-
ing as prices rose. An eight to nine
billion dollar excise tax bill, there
fore, is included in one form or
another in the price of almost
everything we buy, resulting in a
disproportionately heavy increase
in taxes of low income groups.
Unfortunately, a breakdown OF
the almost So billion in taxes col
lected by the states in the fiscal
year ending June 80, 1913, also
shows increasing dependence on
consumption taxes. Higher prices
combined with the adoption Of new
sales taxes in several more states
have shot sales tax revenues to
three times their yield in 1910.
Cigarette taxes have been adopted
in several states to finance the SER
vicemen's bonus. In addition, a
Gal. 2 Organized Labor's stake
number of cities have adopted local
taxes on sales, cigarettes, amuse-
ments, gasoline, and payrolls.
And what does this mean to Joe
Worker? Perhaps if enough Joe
Workers today recognized the
danger in the present tax policy il
might be changed. For as an after
math of World War ii we can see
an almost exact retracing of the
pattern in the twenties which pre-
cipitated the crash of the thirties.
Eightieth Congress Shortsighted
Five successive tax cuts between
1918 and 1929 undoubtedly contri-
buted to a piling up of idle savings,
excessive profits, an increase in
speculations, and the creation OF
fictitious values during a period
when productive capacity was in
creasing. At the same time wages
| of industrial workers remained
stationary or actually declined in
terms of real purchasing power.
The tax policy of the twenties
combined with other factors to
cause a depression. These same
factors exist today, although cor
rect tax policy may eliminate OF
minimize them. However, repeti-
tion of the mistakes we have made.
increasing dependence on consump-
tion taxes with less and less re-
lance on progressive taxes based
on the ability to pay, may lead to
depression of the ifties.
The Seventy-ninth and Eightieth
Congresses have by their haphaz-
ard and shortsighted approach to
the tax problem made revisions
that were inflationary in their i'm
mediate effect. 1t now remains to
be seen whether the American peo-
pie will select a Congress whose
members realize before it is too
late that a policy of Taxation for
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