The principal assault has
been upon her income, for her great Principal is still intact.
In examining the methods adopted by England and France to meet the cost
of the war, you find a sharp difference of procedure which is
characteristic of the countries. Following the British tradition,
England is trying to make the war "pay its way" with taxation. Out of a
total expenditure of $9,500,000,000 for the current year, no less than
$2,500,000,000 was raised by taxation. The rest was obtained by loans at
home and abroad.
The income tax alone will serve to show the enormous increase in
tribute. From .04 per cent on small incomes to 13 per cent on large ones
before the war it has risen to 1 per cent on small incomes to over 411/2
per cent on big ones. Again, 60 per cent of all excess profits earned
since the war are surrendered to the State.
I can give no better evidence of the result of this taxation than to
repeat what Reginald McKenna, Chancellor of the British Exchequer, said
to me in London last August:
"The English position is so sound," he declared, "that if the war ended
at the end of the current financial year, that is, on March the 31st,
1917, our present scale of taxation would provide not only for the whole
of our peace expenditures and the interest on the entire National Debt
but also for a sinking fund calculated to redeem that debt in less than
forty years. There would still remain a surplus sufficient to allow me
to wipe out the excess profit tax and to reduce other taxes
considerably.
Pages:
120
121
122
123
124
125
126
127
128
129
130
131
132
133
134
135
136
137
138
139
140
141
142
143
144