As the Senate Finance Committee took up last week the depressing job of rewriting the House Tax Bill—which is big but not big enough—Secretary of the Treasury Henry Morgenthau presented himself to make his usual recommendations. Consistent as a phonograph record, he asked the committee to stuff back into the bill three controversial provisions which the House has thrown out:
> Mandatory joint returns for married couples.
> No exemption for tax-free State and municipal securities.
> Elimination of a 27½% “depletion allowance” on gas and oil wells.
The committee promptly turned down the first two. To bring in other revenue to reach his goal of $8.7 billion, Henry Morgenthau asked for additional increases in corporation, estate and gift taxes, new excise levies, a little lowering of the income-tax exemptions.
At least equal in importance to the need for more revenue is the necessity that the bill provide some checks against inflation. Though with every passing day a sales tax made more sense, Henry was still against it.
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