Report Outline
Limited Scope of Roosevelt's Tax Message
Partial Tax Immunity of Public Employees
Tax Exemption of Government Securities
Revenue Losses from Tax Exemptions
Special Focus
Limited Scope of Roosevelt's Tax Message
The Letter of Secretary Morgenthau which President Roosevelt incorporated in his tax-evasion message of June 1 noted the Treasury's surprise and disturbance over failure of income-tax receipts to measure up to budget estimates and, attributing that failure to widespread resort to evasive devices for reduction of tax liability, advanced the opinion that “if tax evasion and tax avoidance can be promptly stopped through legislation and regulations resulting from a special investigation, a very large portion of the deficiency in revenues will be restored to the Treasury.” In asking that Congress enact legislation at this session aimed to plug loopholes already disclosed, and that it make provision for a further investigation to provide the basis for more comprehensive corrective legislation at the next session, neither the President nor the Secretary of the Treasury mentioned two broad classes of income which at present largely escape federal taxation: (1) Compensation paid to state and local officials and employees, and (2) income from federal, state, and municipal securities.
When this omission was brought to his attention at a press conference on June 8, the President said he favored abolition of the foregoing exemptions as well as the corresponding exemptions from state income taxes of federal salaries and of income from federal securities. He observed, however, that action of that sort would require a constitutional amendment, and he could see little hope for ratification of such an amendment by the states. There have nevertheless been signs of a revival of interest in this question in Congress, and the way has been left open for its possible consideration by the new Joint Committee on Tax Evasion and Avoidance. The duties of the committee, to be limited originally to investigation of the methods of tax evasion and avoidance pointed out in the President's message, were broadened in the authorizing resolution as finally adopted so as to include consideration of “other methods of tax evasion and avoidance.”
Moves in Congress to Subject Exempt Income to Tax
On the day the President's message was sent to Congress, Senator Byrd (D., Va.) introduced a bill to permit the states to tax the compensation of federal employees and the income from future issues of federal securities. He introduced also a joint resolution proposing a constitutional amendment which would empower the federal government to tax the compensation of state and municipal employees and the income from state and municipal securities. A score of other resolutions proposing constitutional amendments to permit reciprocal taxation of federal and state securities or the salaries of federal and state employees, or both, had already been introduced at the current session of Congress. While numerous proposals to amend the Constitution in this manner have been advanced in recent sessions, advocacy of such action at the present time is given added force by reason of the current drive to increase the yield of the income tax by closing existing avenues of escape from the full burdens of that levy. |
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Feb. 07, 2020 |
Hidden Money |
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Jun. 28, 2013 |
Internet Shopping |
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Jan. 16, 1998 |
IRS Reform |
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Mar. 22, 1996 |
Tax Reform |
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Apr. 06, 1990 |
How Fair Is the Nation's Tax Burden? |
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Aug. 28, 1987 |
Taxing Business Services |
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Oct. 17, 1986 |
Tax Reform In The States |
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Sep. 28, 1984 |
Tax Debate: 1984 Election and Beyond |
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Mar. 19, 1982 |
Tax-Exemption Controversy |
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May 19, 1978 |
Property Tax Relief |
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Apr. 07, 1978 |
Tax Shelters and Reform |
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Feb. 10, 1971 |
Property Tax Reform |
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Mar. 26, 1969 |
Tax Reform Pressures |
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Mar. 24, 1965 |
Excise Tax Cuts and the Economy |
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Feb. 15, 1961 |
Flexible Taxation |
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Apr. 02, 1959 |
State Tax Problems |
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Apr. 23, 1958 |
Tax Reduction, 1958 |
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Aug. 14, 1957 |
Fast Tax Write-Offs |
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Apr. 10, 1957 |
Federal Payments in Lieu of Taxes |
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Sep. 12, 1956 |
Corporation Profits and Taxes in Prosperity |
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Mar. 16, 1954 |
Shares in Tax Relief |
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Nov. 21, 1953 |
Revision of Excise Taxes |
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Mar. 19, 1953 |
Federal-State Tax Relations |
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Oct. 01, 1952 |
European Taxes and Tax Evasion |
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Nov. 03, 1950 |
Excess Profits Tax |
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Feb. 01, 1950 |
Tax Loopholes |
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Jun. 04, 1949 |
Excise Taxes |
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Oct. 27, 1948 |
Postwar Sales Taxes |
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Aug. 29, 1947 |
Taxation of Family Income |
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Apr. 09, 1947 |
Income Tax Relief |
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Jan. 11, 1946 |
Taxation of Cooperatives |
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Oct. 16, 1945 |
Federal Taxes on Business |
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May 08, 1944 |
Postwar Taxes |
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Sep. 20, 1943 |
Sales Taxes |
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Dec. 05, 1941 |
New Taxes for Defense |
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Apr. 05, 1941 |
Taxation for National Defense |
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Feb. 28, 1941 |
Taxation of Alcoholic Beverages |
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Jan. 11, 1941 |
Exemptions from Taxation |
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Dec. 04, 1940 |
Federal Taxes and Defense Financing |
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Feb. 01, 1940 |
Sharing of Tax Revenues |
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Feb. 02, 1939 |
Turnover Taxes in the States |
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Nov. 05, 1937 |
Broadening of the Income-Tax Base |
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Jun. 17, 1937 |
Exemptions from Income Taxation |
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Apr. 05, 1937 |
Coordination of Federal and State Tax Systems |
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Dec. 19, 1936 |
Revision of Federal Tax on Capital Gains |
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Nov. 02, 1936 |
State Taxation of Natural Resources |
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May 26, 1936 |
Assessment of Property for Taxation |
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Apr. 17, 1936 |
Federal Taxes on Consumption |
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Mar. 19, 1936 |
Taxation of Undistributed Corporate Profits |
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Dec. 17, 1935 |
Reduction of Tax Burdens on Real Estate |
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Oct. 21, 1935 |
Tax Delinquency in the United States |
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May 21, 1935 |
Comparative Tax Burdens in America and Britain |
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Feb. 01, 1935 |
Federal Taxation of Corporations |
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Nov. 27, 1934 |
Elimination of Conflicts in Taxation |
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Jul. 25, 1933 |
Taxation of Excess Profits |
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Jan. 25, 1933 |
Tax Burdens and Tax-Free Securities |
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Nov. 23, 1932 |
The Beer Tax and the Sales Tax |
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Dec. 19, 1931 |
Sales Taxes: Federal, State, and Foreign |
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Sep. 18, 1931 |
Death Taxes and the Concentration of Wealth |
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Mar. 18, 1931 |
Federal Taxation of Large Incomes |
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Jan. 10, 1931 |
Taxation of Capital Gains |
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Nov. 09, 1929 |
Federal Tax Reduction-1930 |
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Aug. 08, 1927 |
Federal Tax Reduction—1928 |
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Sep. 27, 1926 |
Tax Reduction and the Public Debt |
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Jan. 16, 1926 |
Taxation of Estates and Inheritances |
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Nov. 07, 1925 |
Federal Taxation of Small Incomes |
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Nov. 28, 1924 |
Social, Fiscal and Legal Aspects of the Inheritance Tax |
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Apr. 07, 1924 |
Causes and Effects of the Tax Return Blockade |
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Dec. 12, 1923 |
Tax Exempt Securities |
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Dec. 10, 1923 |
Taxation |
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