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VOL. XXXIX. No. 12 Nobody Escapes Taxes; Everybody Has To Help Pay Our Ever Increasing Tax Bill Sponsored by the American Tax Payers League, Inc., and pre sented by the National Broadcasting Co., as one of the weekly discussions of the tax situation, Mr. Lerqy A. Lincoln, vice-presi dent and general counsel of the Metropolitan Life Insurance Co., delivered recently the address below, his subject being “Every body Pays The Tax Bill”: The Boston Tea Party took place in t|ie days before slogans were slogans, but it had what we moderns would call a slogan, “taxation without representation.” In our recent days of trib ulation, some wag has said that what we need now-a-days is “Tax ation with representation.” Whether this be jest or not, there is much food for thought in a slogan “Taxation with representa tion.” Under our form of government, certain elected officials are sent to Washington, to our State Capitals, to our City Halls, and out of their deliberations come taxes and more taxes. But is there representation? Do they represent you and me and the majorities who sent them there, or do ihey represent the vocal, vociferous, vigorous—sometimes near-violent—minorities which seek special expenditures for themselves? Minorities Demand Special Favors Special favors at the hands of government have always met with disfavor at the hands of the American people so soon as the people comprehended what was going on Take, for instance, the great railroad enterprises of a generation or two ago. The pub lic came to believe that the railroads were the recipients of spec ial governmental favors. Thereupon, with one legal expedient and another, railroads were put into a straight-jacket, but now r the pendulum seems to be swinging the other way. Apparently the railroads are to be preserved for performance in their great field of real usefulness minus abuses which are admittedly things of the past. The railroads, the big service corporations, the big industrial concerns no longer present a problem at all comparable with that with which we are confronted at the hands of organizations of individuals, having neither the form nor the substance of a busi ness corporation. These organizations represent minorities composed of persons with a common purpose. They demand this, that or the other special consideration at the hands of some gov ernmental |)ody, and as a consequence, there has ensued a con firmed habit of extravagancy in connection with all public expen ditures. Here, then, is the public problem of this fourth decade of the Twentieth Century. With no claim to being a prophet or the son of a prophet, I do hazard this prediction, that when future historians shall he appraising what has happened in this year of 1932, they will place as foremost in importance, not a presidential election, not a reapprai-sement of prohibition, not the weary ups and downs of a business depression, but the awakening of the American people to the prodigious expenditures which have been foisted on them and on each of them at the hands of their various governmental units. >— Tax Rebellions Taking Place There is going on before our very eyes today a rebellion, a peaceable rebellion, a rebellion whose volunteers are voters and whose bullets are ballots. Only last month we were reading in the newspapers of what were called tax rebellions in certain States. Similar uprisings of taxpayers have taken place in local communities and no doubt will take place in many a town and county through the land. The import of these peaceful uprisings is this, that the man in the street, the artisan, the farmer, the butcher, the baker, the candlestick-maker, is now taking real notice of one tundarnental fact. He is appreciating that what he supposed were taxes im posed on some other fellow are taxes imposed on himself as well, no matter how artfully their sponsors have, sought to deceive him. There is a striking similarity between this aspect of our com mon tax problem and a radio talk. Over your radio comes the voice of the speaker, but you, do not see him. With every dollar you spend comes a tax, but you do not see the bill. No one re minds you that you are paying a tax. These hidden taxes, and our failure as citizens to realize that every tax is our personal liability, whether directly levied on us or not, are largely respon sible for our tax problems today. The solution of these prob lems lies only in a recognition on the part of every citizen that he and his wife and his children and his children’s children have to hear this growing burden of taxation, Governments, as such, have no magic power to support them selves. Their income, the money used:to pay for their expendi tures, must come out of your pockets and mine whether we are rich or poor. It makes no difference, we all pay—either directly or indirectly. If the rising fiood of taxes is to be effectively stemmed before it destroys us ail, every citizen must be fully alive to his own individual interest in the problems of taxation. He must become active in his opposition to every unwise and un necessary governmental expenditure because, in the last analy sis, governmental expenditures can be supported only through taxation. Each citizen must extend his interest to every branch of government, national, state and local, for out of them comes the sum total of all the taxes w'ith which we are so grievously burdened. Taxation Affects Everybody The American tax system is complex. Its multiplicity of in direct taxes, ostensibly levied against a few but ultimately paid by all, have too frequently diverted the attention of the rank and file of our people from their direct concern with the growth of the tax burden in its entirety, and the real weight of that bur den upon us all. Too frequently have we remained quiet about GIBSON RECORD Published to Furnish the People oi Glascock County a Weekly Newspaper mid as a Medium for the Advancement of th e Public Good of the County. GIBSON, GA., WEDNESDAY, FEBRUARY 1, 1933 Why Is It? A. * wAat •AND the SO. RtGARDUSS consequences 0? may -*S / n BE, YOU MUST ALWAYS /A . * \ C:j I > ;'j\ TELL TRUTH THE \ 0 )\ \ MV 1 A ! t; HI MVCR WO S–JJ A Ll 8 / gL ik If I i v I I * v t ifc iAt -THAT A (HAH VlHLL HAVE THE GREATEST RESPECT FOR THE TRUTH * 'vi. YisstR.MM*. 'There’s a ul* ol* r- BUS AS \s GOOD ENOUGH FER ANT i wr® I < TT MAN- REPAIRS* NEVER NEVER A CENT A BVT FER O’ m jl TROUBLE l t SSL W o \ i \ I <3 \ W't ' ''frM % L i V m y- •• / J m It ft!. :0 lu )) m ©KSH S«T , r AOTOIHOBU.E'??? YET, DELIBERATELY Ut CONCERNING HIS « new addition ito some public budget because we were led to believe that it would be paid for by a tax which would not af fect us personally. Too frequently have individuals and groups of individuals, advocating projects at the public cost—projects embracing the interest of some but not all the people—too fre quently have those groups been sivtce.-rslal in adding to seme pub lic budget, items which would have been avoided had there been a lively public interest in every proposed expenditure and every proposed tax. The common interest of all of us in matters of taxation, and the vital effect of excessive taxation upon every individual, are easily illustrated. Both landlord and tenant are equally con cerned with the burden of taxation upon real property. Or take the grocer. He can continue in business only if his tax burden is shitted to every pound of sugar or of salt or of other necessi ties which lie has for sale. The selling price of his commodities must reflect the expenses of his business, one of which is his tax. If his taxes go up, they must be added to the prices of the goods lie sells. The railroads furnish still another illustration. Ultimately their taxes must be paid by the shipper in increased freight rates or by the passenger in increased passenger charges, or by both in inferior service. If freight and, passenger rates are too severely restricted, then millions of indirect investors find such faxes reflected in the earnings of their securities. If you arc a savings bank depositor or a holder of a life insurance policy you are one of these indirect investors. Policy Holder Pays All Insurance. Taxes I am speaking not only as a citizen hut as an executive of a life insurance company which has millions of policyholders. What is the interest of life insurance in this problem? There are some sixty-eight million life insurance policyholders in the United States. Every other individual is a policyholder. They, with flieir beneficiaries, constitute a major portion of the popu lation of the country. Taxes purporting to be upon the business of life insurance companies are fair examples of those indirect taxes ostensibly levied against a big corporation but actually paid by the individual policyholder. The policyholder pays his tax with every remittance to hi s company, but there is no sepa rate bill for this item to remind him of the tax. In every State of the Union, save one, a percentage of every life insurance premium paid by the policyholder must be paid by the company into the treasury of tiie State by way of a tax. There are also numerous oilier license taxes and fees, and, finally, the federal income tax imposed upon all life insurance com pa nies. These taxes, all of them, must, in the last analysis, he borne by the policyholder, as reflected in the cost of his insur ance. Tax a life insurance company a hundred thousand dollars in your State and those of you who have policies in that com pany have to stand that tax Dill either in increased premiums or decreased dividends on your policies. It shouTd be understood that nearly 80 per cent of th e life ta ticipating basis, . that is o sa>, c I he something .. . i dividends to policyholders. 1 remaining ovei , per cent of the ccountry’s life insurance, on a basis which does not provide for reduction of premium by dividends, must com neto with this participating type of life insurance and the burden of oi taxation laxauuu is reflected in the premium charge for such insur it is reileclcd in the iei uc ion o f < iv i „„ „„„ < ance just as ticipating policies. natural Life insurance companies destroy no resources, en • no s ,, ec i a i privileges and put the State to very little expense, ihp 1 e Lirarv 1 ‘ thev serve the State. By far the largest per- SUBSCRIPTION $1.00 PER YEAR Community Plan For Ga. Cotton Growers By H. E. McConnell, Farm Agent One seiious drawback to the production of stapled cottons has been the lack of marketing ities to secure the true value staple cotton. Community production, as or ganized around gin centers, ton mill centers, and seed pro duclion centers, has shown that cooperative production is much to remedy this situation, and is one of the first steps in cooperative marketing. In order to secure the best prices for our cotton and to make a reputation for producing cot ton of the qualities desired by mills, many of the varieties now being grown should be dis- eentage of life insurance claim payments goes to the support of those who might otherwise he dependent upon private or public charity and thus become a burden upon the State. Policyholders are already imposing upon themselves a charge to provide inde pendence from public support and are relieving society of a bur den it would otherwise have to carry. Why should these thrifty policyholders he singled out for special taxation? This is a cold practical question that every policyholder should bear in mind. He should know' that a tax on his life insurance company is a tax on himself, collected from him, without notice to him, through the medium Of his life insurance company, Only Avenue of Escape And so it is whether the tax in one on real estate or on rail roads, on living expenses or on life insurance. There is no such tiling as a tax on property or services which does not inevita bly come out of the pocket of the ultimate consumer of the goods or services involved, Indirect taxation behaves like an opiate. Its accompanying deception that only a few are paying taxes for the support of projects to he enjoyed by all, has brought upon us the same sort of debility as follows the use of a drug. The habit of increasing public budgets lias been gradually—almost unnoticeably—grow ing upon us and we have not been awake to what has been going on. But now Hie tragic enormity of the situation has become clear to us in this time of depression. There remains for us but one avenue of escape, an aroused and widespread public demand for the utmost economy in governmental expenditures. What can we do about it . Each one of us can associate him economy and |j lux reduction, and actively cooperate with them, yy e mus t a inform ourselves about local and State expenditures an( j (j le position of candidates for office on this question, We must make our views felt by direct communication with •andidates before, particular'scheme and with representatives after, election. We need advocate no of reduction of expenditures or taxes. We should look to our elected representatives to ac complish that necessary result through means which they should best understand. ’Ihey should know where reduction of expen ditures is practical. The necessary reductions will be made when, and only when, our representatives in the various legisla tive bodies fully understand that the people back home demand reduced expenditures and reduced taxation and will have them. carded and attention devoted to a few varieties which will pro duce the kind of staple in de mand. The farmer who grows a few bales of better staple cot ton is not usually able to sell it for its true value, for the reason that the local buyer cannot get enough of a uniform type to en able him to pay a premium for ii. One of the largest tire manu facturing companies in the Uni ted States is making fabric in Georgia to use in their tires. They need a staple cotton and only two sections of the state, Commerce and Covington, are producing this cotton in suffi quantities to warrant their buyers to go there and purchase type. The mill uses 104 bales of cotton per day average, and they are shipping staple cotton from Texas, Louisiana and Mis sissippi to mix with Georgia short staple because they cannot get the stapled cotton here, ex cept that which they secure from the above two sections. There are a few farmers in many counties perhaps who produce staple cotton but very probably they do not get a pre mium unless they ship to the Cotton Grow’ers Cooperative As sociation, because the local buv cannot get a shipment suffi iently large to warrant their paying the extra price. If yve can interest a group in each section of the county in planting only a few acres in staple cotton and keep this cotton separated from the other and then have a “gin day” and all the farmers bring their improved cotton in on these days, the ginner will clean out the rollers and you can get good seed to plant the entire crop the next year. By proper selection each far mer could get enough seed to keep his cotton up to the stand but most-farmers. prefer to buy a few seed each year from the originator.- You can get sat isfactorv results the second year from the originator, but you will find readv sale for seed only one year removed, Community production offers the following advantages: 1. Higher yields per acre for community as a whole, 2; Less mixing of varieties at the gin and less plated bales, 3. Cotton of uniform stanlo and duality produced in large amounts. 4. A higher average price on the local market, r >. Creation of a rcnutation - Unit will attract outside buyers.