FDR Goes to War by Burton W. Folsom Jr. & Anita Folsom & Anita Folsom

Author:Burton W. Folsom, Jr. & Anita Folsom & Anita Folsom
Language: eng
Format: epub
Publisher: Threshold Editions
Published: 2011-12-09T16:00:00+00:00

Taxes under the Robertson-Forand Bill, which Passed the House by a 313–95 Vote on May 4, 1943

Income earned in 1942 and in 1943

Taxes Owed in 1943

$10,000

$3,559

$50,000

$45,048

$100,000

$115,985

$1,000,000

$1,564,795

$5,000,000

$7,924,795

Source: Congressional Record, 78th Cong., 1st sess., May 4, 1943, vol. 89, pp. H3957-58; and May 13, 1943, p. S4344.

Naturally, the question arose, “How can we ask our wealthiest citizens, many of whom are very productive in producing war materiel, to pay more than they earn to the government?” Even if the tax debt was stretched out in smaller payments for three years, it would still exceed his income. Rep. Charles Gifford (R-Mass.) stated the problem this way: “For three long years he has to pay more than he receives. How does he pay his other taxes? How does he meet his living expenses?”35 Rep. Jere Cooper (DTenn.) responded, “It may not be possible to pay more than one year’s taxes out of one year’s income, but, with few exceptions, persons in the higher brackets have assets that they can use to pay it.”36

Rep. Gifford disagreed. He called such high taxes “class hatred” and said, “This administration [has] set loose the forces of prejudice and disunity.”37 John Jennings of Tennessee said of the American taxpayer, “Heretofore, we have sheared him annually—now it is proposed to skin him.” Yes, Jennings conceded, “under the equality of opportunity that our system has afforded to men in every walk of life, we have some rich men.” He added, “I do not hold any brief for Henry Ford, but I am glad that he started life with a pair of blue overalls and a monkey wrench and the genius that God Almighty put into his brain, and became a millionaire, because he made other men rich and paid the highest wages that up to that time had ever been paid to the American workingman and covered this whole country with a network of highways.”38

The following discussion then ensued between Jennings and Rep. George Dondero (R-Mich.):

Rep. Dondero: I might say to the gentleman from Tennessee that the [Henry Ford] plant at River Rouge now employs 110,000.

Rep. Jennings: Of course. And at that great plant bombers are being turned out that mean victory. In my town we have a man born with inventive genius. Weston M. Fulton started from scratch. Today there is a plant in Knoxville, Tennessee, that makes instrumentalities without which we could not operate our submarines. Mr. Fulton is no longer at its head, but other men have trod in his footsteps, men who had inventive genius and vision. They are at the head of a great industry there that employs over 3,000 men, women, boys, and girls in a defense industry. Who would begrudge that man the money he made by founding that great enterprise?

Jennings then changed direction. If we want to discourage wealth and encourage modest attire, perhaps, he suggested, the House should “send for Mahatma Gandhi with his diaper and his nanny-goat and put him at the head of the Ways and Means Committee of this House.

Download

Copyright Disclaimer:
This site does not store any files on its server. We only index and link to content provided by other sites. Please contact the content providers to delete copyright contents if any and email us, we'll remove relevant links or contents immediately.