Evening star., 1956-03-21

S4AoA4SSo va - EA SkSS~~N
lief in bill to continue curren
rates vanished at a Senate Finan
Secretary of the Treasury
that he would oppose any such C
Committee Chairman Byrd
proved extension bill must be re-
ported out early next week and
passed by the Senate before
April /. The present rates other
wise would decrease on that day
with a resultant loss OF more
than So billion year in revenue
essential for balancing the. Fed
eral budget.
Senator Byrd said a committee
recommendation for the sug-
gested amendment at this time
would cause complications.
Suggested in Separate Bill
But Senator Fulbright, Demo-
crat of Arkansas, received con-
siderable encouragement from
Senator Byrd and several other
members of the committee when
he offered to submit his sug-|
gested amendment as a separate
bill.
He attacked the present cor
porate income tax scale as "ut-
terly outlandish and outrageous"
in discriminating against small
businesses. His plan, he said,
would help small companies
without hurting big businesses
and actually would increase
Treasury revenue by $40 million
a year. He also claimed that
such a move would halt what
he called a dangerous economic,
social and political trend toward
more and bigger business
mergers.
The present So per cent over
all tax on corporation incomes
applies a basic rate of 80 per
cent plus a % per cent surtax
on net earnings over $25, 900.
The Fulbright amendment would
reverse this by making the basic
rate 90 per cent and the surtax
81 per cent. for a So per cent
overall levy.
Sees Wide implications
"a change of this sort" Sec
retary Humphreys letter stated.
''has such far-reaching implica-
tions that the final decision on
its merits will be possible only
aftel extensive public hearings
and thorough consideration from
many standpoints.
II am not prepared to say
what our final position on such
a proposal might be. but I am
satisfied that the problem is so
complicated and so important
that any quick decision or &C
ton might turn out to be wrong.
On this basis, I would oppose
any such amendment on the
pending bill for a one-year ex-
tension of the corporate income
and excise tax rates"
Senator Fulbright empha-
sized that his proposal was not
unfriendly to big business. He
nevertheless complained that
Congress and the administra-
ton for several years have failed
to remove what he called the
serious and dangerous discrim-
ination in the corporate income
tax structure as applied to small
business.
Sparkman Favors Tax Aid
The Arkansas Democrat was
the only witness at today's hear
ing, but the committee received
a statement from Senator Spark
man, Democrat of Alabama,
chairman of the Senate Small
Business Committee. Senator
Sparkman noted that during the
last three years, Congress has
carried out most of the specific
recommendations his committed
has made to ease the problems
of small business. The Alabama
Senator said. however. that nei-
ther the administration nor
Congress has taken any action
thus far to ease the income tax
burden on such companies.
As the committee opened hear
ings on the House-approved ex-I
tension measure, Senator Byrd
demanded that Congress and the
administration cut proposed 1857
expenditures by $3.2 billion.
That is practically the same
sum the administration hopes toI
retain by continuing for another
year the current rates.
Byrd States View
Neither Senator Byrd nor
Senator Fulbright has voiced OPP
position to another one-year
continuance of the overall cor
porate income tax rate and the
excises. But the Virginia Sena-
tor began his statement by de-
claring:
Congress is in the process OF
enacting a tax bill extending
peacetime corporation and excise
taxes at highest wartime rates
which reflect directly in the high
cost of living. In effect, Federal
excise taxes are simply Federal
sales taxes on things we buy. |