Voorhis - Todays Gallatin
MUNSON, GORHAM
Voorhis — Todays Gallatin By GORHAM MUNSON mgrOUD VICTQMY. By Jerry Peere... F»rrmr aad Mmthmrt. $tM. ThK tare* book* of Jerry VoorhU are in logic*! prcgTOiion. First came •TV Morale of...
...How cornea "Beyond Victory" which ia an ggtiiim of the whole political philosophy of Jerry Voorhis...
...B*nni Victory shows thst he csn distinguish between a price-crisis snd s production-crisis, sn elementary Insight tha *a Secretary of the Treasury has displayed since pro-Civil War days...
...Voorhis stands well ¦hove moat of his colleagues at Wash-iagton, aad his kindred spirit seemed to be sot in today's Congress but la the Congresses of the first fear or Ave decades of the Republics history...
...meeUl range, snd dedication to ¦ablir aervice, Mr...
...and adds to them a long informstivs trestment of monopolies and cartela...
...Professor Groves argues that the corporation tax impedes incentive snd that the personal income tax •eesn't What I can't understand, even after reading the author's lucid exposition, is why s businessman's incentive should be sny more or less because his taxes are paid in the form of personal interne taxes rsther thsn in the form of corporation tsxes...
...Here is a man of integrity, snd I think that not just hit district, not just his state, but the nstion will find him out and he will become a national figure as have the great among hie prede-ressors in Congress...
...Professor Groves says, "The low bracket income tax returns and exemptions now employed are at levels that would have been appropriate for prewar use...
...Briefly then, the taxpayer feels more acutely that he is paying: taxes when he pays it out in income tax in one or more lsrge lump sums rather than an infinite number of petty taxes...
...By Harold M. Growes...
...Til IS volume does not, spell oul the proportion of incomes at various levels which would be taken by taxes under the Groves' propossl...
...First came •TV Morale of Democracy" (1941) which stated with warmth his faith I, the eoofwratiYeidea...
...Voorhis regard., what he calls "religion of tb*-ftato" a* a basic instrument <if the war-maker...
...Gallatin became under Jefferson the greatest Secretary ef the Treasury our nation ha* had (Hamilton was only tha greatest bankers' Secretary of the Treasary), and perhaps Voorhis will one day extend the parallel to Gallatin's career by becoming Secretary of the "Treasury, a post for which he has the rate qualification...
...Voorhis then devotes five chapters to the economics of securing freedom from want, and these chapters sre the heart of his book...
...Both Gallatin snd Voorhis entered Congress at thirty-five, both cams from the West (Western Pennsylvsnis was the West of Gsllatin's dsy), both bad been schoolmasters snd had worked aaatng rough men—btft these are superficial liken...
...The deeper resemblance is in their specislisation in national finance and In their ardent democracy...
...He concludes with a warning against the "master rare" Idea in our own country and relates his conversion from pre-Pearl Harbor hopes of American neutrality to ths conviction thst "Pearl Harbor changed all that...
...The first condition for peace-building, says Mr...
...Who Will Pay the Taxes...
...Professor Groves ¦eke* s point of the corporation's impersonality but perions of one kind or another are responsible for and sre the towefleiarie* of the decisions which are made in the name of the corporation...
...It shsUered every argument that held that there were many worlds upon this globe and demonstrated with suffering and death that the world is one...
...income tax, with the end product characteristic of the latter...
...Such a rearrangement of taxes it is felt has the virtue of clarifying the weight of taxes to the taxpayer...
...Most unemployment compeasattoa experts agree that sserit rating embodies aa unsound conception ef the problem ef unemployment...
...Voorhis, is "secess to the truth and freedom from false propaganda for the people* of the world," aad whil*Nh* recognizes thst Stalin's Russia offer* a difficulty, he ia hopeful thst "there are torcem at work there even now which are striving "for intellectual freedom...
...PRODUCTION JOBS AND TAXES...
...Another offset sgsinst the revenue sccounted for by the corporation tax would be increased inheritance taxes...
...I dare ssy that when this is done the tsxpsyer earning say 12.000 per year, will find bimseM paying seer* ataaa than bo *ad aeeate aad the taxpayer earning, say tosses, wife find himaeir paying eat fewer tares, It ia hardly feasible to summariss all ef Prsfssssr Graves prop—Is, I waat to siagle eat for sadtHsasl comment the recommendation that merit rating fas aa-omptoymoat insurance be givea aa additional trial Parenthetically, it ssay be said that sserit rating seeks ta reward tha employer who maintains a stable employment record...
...After a chapter on the menace to lasting peace of imperial possessions, Mr...
...In hie chapter on freedom from fear, he begin* with the proposition, which Be-hsviorist psychology substsntistes, thst "people lesrn to be sfraid of other people" snd enlsrges it to the interna-tional proposition thst "fear is net snd never has been th* 'natural' relationship between sny two peoples or nations in sll of the history of the world...
...Much of the discussion prepared as s research study for the Committee for Economic Development is devoted to sn argument for the integration of the coronation tax snd the persons...
...We all knew that in ssrhras-¦aai...
...It is true that be advocates also the elimination of sslrs taxes and other taxes on consumption which sre inherently regressive...
...A Comnritte* for Economic Development fteeeerc* Study...
...The progression k from advocacy of an idea that can be immediately applied within tho existing econoiny to a program for changing the economic frame-ef...
...By JACK BARBASH Despite Professor Groves' judgment thst his recommendations are not too favorable for business, I can't help but fed that thia well-written monograph is a rationalisation for a reduced total tax had for businessmen and an increased total tax losd for the people who sre euphemistically referred to as the lower brackets...
...Tha next waa "Out of Debt, Out of Danger" (1I4-J), a aolid gapositiori of an attitude toward the national debt that nay ha traced back te Jefferion...
...He summarizes the monetsry ideas which he developed at length in Out of Debt, Out of Dinger...
...i*fa nn te, iaally, a comprehensive Jsaarrttic "werM-thory," Bopnnd I'm-<err >• sa extended Intarprstation ef tae fair freedoms upoo which stone, in the tatter's Judgment, pesee ran be built aaa net merer/ be mad* J believe that thia book establiihe* jarry Veer hit as tha Albert S. Galbtin af ear day...
...Indeed it is doubtful if say' esse can be made that the employer's contribution to the unemployment ia-¦uranee reserve* are enough of an incentive to maiataia ¦¦iliptsisl when Te take seme ef the edge off of these critical rsmsrks, may 1 say that Professor Groves has done a good Job ef presenting a point ef view which to rather fro* from the "gobbledygook" that most ta* economist* affect...
...State-established churches are another obstacle to peace-building...
...One res well imagine him lined up with John (toiney Adams in his long light sgainst tha gag rul* tabling abolitionist peti-but I like best to picture him betide tae brillisnt young Gallatin in ques-tieniag the financial policies of Hamilton...
...More practically, this means that Professor Groves is advocating a pretty sizeable increase in the peacetime tax rate* for the lower income groups...
...This does not, however, lead him to minimise the task of overcoming leai ned or conditioned national fears...
...of financial common-ssata that dees net mistake rmmeiillogical abstractions for the physical realities of production and consumption...
...With its characteristic enterprise tha Committee for Economic Development ha* doe* op the package In aa attractive form...
...Mc(Jran-HiU...
...In genersl, there are few, if any, facts which the reader can put his finger on in Professor Groves' discussion of the relationship of taxes to business incentives...
...Such aa approach disregard* lbs underlying conception ef unemployment compear* tie* that unemployment ia It* wholesale aspects is not the fault of sny individual employer but is as economic and social dislocation...
...Voorhis — Todays Gallatin By GORHAM MUNSON mgrOUD VICTQMY...
Vol. 27 • August 1944 • No. 33
