Madison County Democrat. (London, Ohio) 19??-1958, 1950-06-20
Retroactive
Tax Threat
Thomas 1. Parkinson

InomaS u. parkinson
President. The Equitable life As
surance Society OF the U. S. !
We who still emphasize the des-
irability of individual freedom
know that me government of free
men must be an instrument of the
people; the people cannot be the
tools of the government. We know.
too, after centuries of experience.
that government representative OF
the people must in large part
be local, near the homes of the
people, rather than centralized at
some distant seat of national
government.
In recent years we have seen
the representative governments in
many countries replaced by dict
ators. and always the change has
been brought about by the gradual
expansion of the powers of the
national government and the SUBJ
ordination to it of the local gov
ernments. Something of this kind
is going on even in this country as
our Federal Government, directly
or indirectly, absorbs the functions
or supervises the administration
not only of the States but OF their
vital subdivisions.
Builders of representative gov
ernment have always recognized
the desirability of doing as mucn
as possible of the job OF govern
ment through local agencies. In
Great Britain, without any written
constitutional distribution of loo
al and national functions, the local
gyernment has been built up and
secured in their functions by ira
ditions often referred to as an un-
written constitution. The trainers
of our own Federal Constitution
government to the powers express
" delegated to it and by reserving
to the States or to the people the
powers not So delegated. The ef-
fectiveness of this reservation has
been weakened, however, by the
rapid expansion in the past Ie"
wears of the fields to which the
courts have said the powers dele
gated to the National Govern
ment extend.
This has been particularly true
in the case of the power OF con-
oress over interstate commerce
which is now held to extend to the
regulation of the equipment anu
operation of buildings in wnich
tenants of the owner manufacture
Goods which are later shlppeo
across State lines. Only a lew
wears ago this would have seemed
. ridiculous exercise of the nation
al mower over interstate COM
merce Now it is accepted IN
terpretation and it carries with !.
the regulation of wages ana con-
ditions of employees engaged III
factories which produce goods LOT
interstate shipment There are
many other familiar illustrations
of the exercise of national con-
troll over matters of local concern.
The trainers of our constitution
always included in their originai
draft a prohibition against the
Federal Governments levying any
direct tax except where it was ap-
portioned among the States m ac-
cordance with population. mat
provision was more or less acao-
emic for many years, but In the
competition for revenues wnicn
presently exists between the red
eral tax collectors and their local
competitors it, has become OF great
importance both to the taxpayer
and to the local governments.
The problem of financing the
welfare state will sooner or later
tempt its sponsors to seek FUNDS
even by direct or capital taxes
Unless some way is found OF a.
voiding this constitutional pro-
vision it will certainly prevent any
such taxes by the Federal Gov
eminent, because the twenty-five
States with the largest populations
will not vote in the Senate for 6
tax which falls more heavily or
their citizens than on the citizens
of the less populous States. 1t was
of course, to avoid this constitut
ional restriction and to make pos
sible a direct tax without appoint
ment that the Sixteenth Amend
ment was adopted. This authorized
the Federal Government to i'm
pose an income tax which had pre-
xr;o,,elxy boon hold m ho dirpc