undue profits of the large
producer back to the public. It was a wise war measure, but the moment
restraints on profits were taken off and there was a free and rising
market ahead, then the tax was added to prices by all the participants
and passed on to the consumer, or deducted from the farmer when world
levels crowded his prices down. It should have been repealed at the time
the controls were abandoned, but our legislatures have been busy with
other things and, in the meanwhile, in food it not only increases the
margin between the farmer and the consumer but tends, as stated above,
to come out of the farmer to a large degree. It has other vicious
results in that it also stimulates dealers and manufacturers to
speculate their profits away in unsound business, rather than to pay it
to the government. It does sound well to tax the great manufacturers,
but to make them the agency to collect taxes from the population is not
altogether sound government.

It is a very important tax to the Government, bringing as it does over a
billion a year, and a place to put this load is not to be found easily.
The income tax does not have so malign an effect, for it comes to a
great extent from the individual and not from business. The present
method of income tax, however, has some weaknesses. The same levy is
made upon earned incomes as upon those that are unearned. The tax on
earned incomes tends in certain cases to be passed on to the consumer or
deducted from the farmer, and, besides, it is not just that a family
living by giving productive service to the community should pay the same
as a family that contributes nothing by way of effort. A stiff tax on
these latter families might send them to work, and certainly would
induce economy. Moreover, the earner of income must provide for old age
and dependents while the unearned income taxpayer has this provision
already. Altogether, it would seem the part of wisdom at least to
increase the income tax on the larger unearned income and decrease it on
the earners. It is argued that this drives great incomes to evasion by
investment in tax-free securities, which is probably true. We need more
comparative figures than the Treasury statistics yet show to answer this
point. In any event, relief to the earner would free his savings to
invest in taxable securities and we need above all things to stimulate
the initiative of the saver. Income taxes, except when too high on
earned incomes, do not d