America's Tax Dollar—A Key Problem in Governmental Reconstruction
| Author | Albert Lepawsky |
| DOI | 10.1177/000271624020700124 |
| Published date | 01 January 1940 |
| Date | 01 January 1940 |
| Subject Matter | Articles |
185
America’s
Tax
Dollar—A
Key
Problem
in
Governmental
Reconstruction
By
ALBERT
LEPAWSKY
OW
much
is
this
year’s
tax
bill?
H What
will
the
new
tax
do
to
busi-
ness ?
How
can
this
tax
be
&dquo;avoided&dquo;
without
actually
&dquo;evading&dquo;
the
law?
Will
that
tax
hit
one
group
harder
than
another?
Such
are
the
questions
that
have
predominated
in
American
tax
cir-
cles ;
for
American
public
finance
has
generally
been
more
concerned
with
the
economics
o
f taxation
than
with
the
gov-
ernment
o
f a
tax
system.
But
newer
types
of
questions
are
now
being
asked
in
the
field
of
American
taxation.
What
is
the
division
of
the
American
tax
dollar
between
the
Fed-
eral
Government,
the
states,
and
the
lo-
cal
authorities?
How
can
intergovern-
mental
tax
competition
be
avoided?
Can
we
establish
some
degree
of
revenue
reciprocity
and
tax
planning
among
the
various
governmental
authorities
of
the
country?
How
can
we
make
tax
admin-
istration
less
complex
and
less
expensive
for
both
government
and
business?
American
business
and
American
gov-
ernment
have
at
various
times
received
different
degrees
of
emphasis,
and
this
tug
and
pull
between
business
and
gov-
ernment
has
been
especially
pronounced
in
the
realm
of
taxation.
Actually,
the
two
are
inseparable
facets of
our
total
society;
but
if
a
choice
must
be
made,
it
would
be
safe
to
suggest
that
at
the
present
time
America’s
tax
problem
is
fundamentally
a
problem
of
government
rather
than
of
economics.
There
should,
of
course,
be
no
under-
estimation
of
that
ever
recurring
prob-
lem
of
raising
enough
revenue
without
at
the
same
time
discouraging
private
enterprise.
But
we
have
reached
the
stage
in
our
national
development
when
the
solution
of
the
tax
problem
is
not
to
be found
merely
in
preserving
corporate
business
and
individual
enterprise
from
pressures
growing
out
of
the
demand
for
more
governmental
aid
and
public
serv-
ices.
In
an
economy
which,
at
least
for
the
time
being,
has
ceased
to
expand,
these
shocks
to
private
business
can
be
minimized
but
not
entirely
avoided;
and
they
are
magnified
when
government
it-
self
is
inadequately
organized
to
engage
in
the
process
of
revenue-raising
so
that
it
may
obtain
the
wherewithal
to
per-
form
the
public
jobs
called
for
by
the
times.
It
would
therefore
seem
that
the
most
fruitful
attack
on
the
tax
problem,
while
taking
into
consideration
the
in-
terests
of
commercial
enterprise,
must
now
be
made
with
more
regard
for
the
needs
of
public
administration
and
the
possibilities
of
effective
planning
of
gov-
ernmental
revenues.
AMERICAN
GOVERNMENT
AND THE
TAX
DOLLAR
The
primary
difficulty
about
admin-
istering-let
alone
planning-American
public
revenues
is
the
fact
that
the
American
tax
dollar
is
split
three
ways,
among
the
Federal
Government,
forty-
eight
states,
and
160,000
local
govern-
ments.’
No
single
level
of
government
may
be
called
the
controlling
revenue
authority
of
the
country.
Before
the
World
War,
in
1912,
the
local
govern-
ments
collected
about
58
per
cent
of
the
Nation’s
taxes,
leaving
the
Federal
Gov-
ernment
with
28
per
cent
and
the
states
with
14
per
cent.
But
by
1938
the
local
governments’
share
had
shrunk,
after
several
ups
and
downs,
to
33
per
cent;
1
The
most
recent
1939
figure
is
161,144,
pre-
sented
by
the
Atlas
of
Taxing
Units,
published
by
the
Illinois
Tax
Commission.
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