The Barnwell people-sentinel. (Barnwell, S.C.) 1925-current, July 22, 1937, Image 3
• • •
Tfct Barmwll Ptopl^S—Barawll. 8. C- Tli«n*day t Jalj 2X lt37
What the salesman doesn't always tell yon: The cost of a used ear
and its operation include hidden taxes amounting to 20.1 per cent. If
it were a new car, the figure would be 21.4 per cent.
Here’s the way the tax collector
fares with that one:
%*fT»x«a Amaant
Cast Found at Tux In
Far Manta In Cast DalUrs
Food .,.,......$27.00
7.1
$1.92
Shelter 18.00
25.3
4.55
Clothing 9.00
8.0
.72
Fuel and Light . 8.00
9.5
.57
'Transportation
(Streetcar) . 4.00
11.0
.44
Recreation .... 2.00
10.0
M
Insurance 2.00
2.8
.05
Sundries k Mis
cellaneous 12.00
102
1.22
Total 880.00 Av.12.0
$9 67
Annually ...$900 00
12.0
$118.04
Taxes on 1200 Income.
There is a slight difference in the
proportion of hidden taxes to the
spending of a family with an in*
come of $200* a month. This is again
accounted for by the automobile,
as shown:
SOMEONE’S PICKING YOUR POCKET!
It’s the Hidden Tax Collector—He Respects Not Even the Real
Necessities of Life, and How He Wallops Your Budget!
By WILLIAM C. UTLEY
D O YOU make $150 a month?
If you do, you’ll be inter
ested—and perhaps a little sur
prised—-to learn that the tax
collector picks your pocket to
the tune of one-eighth of your
income. He sneaks enough from
the family wallet in two years
to buy a new car.
Yes, he picks your pocket. For
this “take”—which amounts to 12.7
cents out of every dollar—repre
sents indirect, or “hidden,” taxes.
They’re not like your income tax
or personal property tax or a state
retail sales tax, for you rarely know
when you have to “shell out” for
them. They’re concealed in the
price of the goods and services you
buy, even the bare necessities of
life such as bread and shoes. “Death
and taxes are inevitable”—and all
too often invisible.
These are only a few of many il
luminating revelations to come
out of a survey just completed by
the Family Economics bureau of
the Northwestern National Life In
surance company, of Minneapolis.
The study was started in Novem
ber, 1935. Records of 206 concerns
—public utilities, insurance compa
nies, manufacturers, jobbers and
retailers—were investigated “in an
effort to measure as accurately as
possible the proportion of prices
paid by the consumer for which
taxes—federal, state and local —are
responsible.”
All levies which* would not nor
mally be included in the cost of
■ goods and services sold were omit
ted in the calculations which fol
lowed from the original producer
to the retailer. The principal taxes
entering into the picture then were:
Farm and urban realty taxes, per
sonal property and general prop
erty taxes of business concerns, ex-
chise taxes, licenses, fees and fran
chises, moneys and credits taxes,
gasoline and oil taxes on motor
truck deliveries, import duties and
the tax element in freight costs in
volved in the various steps of dis
tribution.
Taxes Are Passed On.
To understand the figures it is
necessary to understand how some
of these indirect taxes work. “In
the case of a retailer who owns
the building which houses his store,”
says the report, “real estate taxes
are shown on his books as an item
of overhead, and their participa
tion in the ’makeup’ which he
must add to his cost prices can be
measured with considerable cer
tainty.
“However, if he rents his store
building, the taxes on the building
are necessarily contained in the
rental paid, and are just as surely
a portion of his overhead expense,
even though concealed in the entry
’rent.’
“In the wholesale price which the
retailer pays for his merchandise is
necessarily contained an overhead
element consisting of the real estate
taxes on the building occupied by
the wholesaler, and just as neces
sarily, taxes on the factory which
produced the goods contribute a por
tion of the price charged the jobber
by the manufacturer.
"This study,” the report contin
ued. “has undertaken to include in
the figures finally attained the prin
cipal elements affecting ultimate
prices charged, whether actually
listed as ’taxes’ on the books of
the business, or contained as a por
tion of some other entry.”
Social security taxes were not con
sidered, “because they are in a
sense deposits for future withdraw
al.” Gasoline taxes were computed,
because gasoline and oil are sub
ject to local taxes in all 46 states
and the District of Columbia, in
addition to the federal levy.
Tax-Grabber Is Killjoy.
The researchers estimated that
the average worker’s family with
an income of $150 a month spends
$43.50 foc^food; of this 7.1 per cent,
or $3.09, goes to the hidden tax col
lector. Of the $30 spent for shelter,
hidden taxes take more than a
quarter, $7.59. They account for 8
per cent of the $16 clothing bill, or
$1.28. Fuel and light cost $11, but
9.5, per cent of this, or $1.05, rep
resents indirect taxes.
The tax-grabber really cuts into
the family’s enjoyment of life. The
cost of an average used car, includ
ing license, and gas and oil sales
tax, is $14.50 a month; hidden taxes
get 20.1 per cent—$2.91. And the
$3.00 the $150-a-month family can
set aside for recreation includes
30 cents for the tax-grabber, who
seldom shows his face,
t Insurance bears a lighter tax
load. Of the $5.00 spent monthly
for that protection, only 2.6 per
cent, or 13 cents, falls into the hid
den tax barrel. Sundries and mis
cellaneous items—toothpaste, jewel
ry, tobacco, etc.—which coat $27 a
month are burdened with taxes
amounting'to 16J per cent, or $2.71.
The hidden taxes which eat away
at aa $M monthly tncoms are slight
ly leas la proportwa. stare It Is
Cm!
% *f Tasea
F*r
Fas >4
Taa la
Maalk
to Cato
Dallars
Food $48 00
7.1
$3.41
Shelter 38 00
25 3
941
Clothing 22 00
8 0
174
Fuel and Light . 14 00
Transportation (Auto
8.8
133
bought new) . 20 00
21 4*
428
Recreation .... 4 00
10 0
60
Savings 800
Insurance ..... 12.00
Sundries k Mis-
• •
M
••
.31
cellaneoua .. 25 00
102
257
Total 8300 00 Av.12.4
24 87
Annually . $2,400 00
12.4
1280 44
********* **********
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STAR
DUST
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•Al«o Include* Ucenae. and (as and
•Q tale* Use*.
•*Ta* ratio to total time and demand
deposits to banks studied was .1 per
cent However, the effect of this tax
would obviously not bo to Increaoo the
tsvlnf* depositor • outlay, but could
wt him by roducing tho Interest
only affect
bis savins*. The moneys and
credits taxes levied by many • tales are
paid directly by depositors, with wide
variation la rates and to minimum
exemptions.
“After arriving at general tax
ratios for ths various lines of goods
and products represented by the
concerns studied,” says the report,
“further studies were made of in-
You’ll never recognise ’em, ma-
dame, but hidden taxes will account
for 8 per cent of what you pay for
that dress!
divjdual products in certain lines—
in the case of food products, bread,
pork, beef, sugar etc. The results
of these studies gave an additional
series of checks though, necessarily,
individual items varied rather wide
ly in some cases from the tax,pro
portions arrived at for the general
group of goods.”
The loaf of bread for which you
pay a dime bears in its cost .64
of a cent in hidden taxes, the study
disclosed. Beef prices contain in
direct taxes amounting to 8.14 per
cent; pork prices, 8.04 per cent
A five-pound bag of sugar costs a
nickel more than H would if there
were no indirect taxes concealed in
tt.
Beal Bseetei by Tsxee.
If the man of the house buys a
suit at dothee lor $29. a portion of
that amounting to $2 62 helps clothe
U the lad!
were it not for the inevitable taxes.
The great proportion of indirect
taxes to residential rental costs was
investigated with the aid of real
estate companies in 48 cities; -rec
ords on representative local prop
erties were taken at random from
their files.
A total of 7,964 single and multiple
family dwelling units were covered
by the final averages. These re
vealed that taxes represented 28
per cent of the current rental rate
of the one-family dwellings studied;
19.2 per cent of the rental rates of
the duplexes and 13.6 per cent of
the rental rates of the apartments.
“The notably lower ratio of taxes
to apartment dwellings is due,” says
the report, “first to the fact that a
portion of the apartment rental dol
lar represents fuel, water, rent, jan
itor service, etc.; second floor
space is more intensively occupied
in apartment buildings, and third,
apartment rental rates have in gen
eral recovered somewhat faster than
house rental rates. In many com
munities, however, tax rates art
mounting approximately as fast as
rental rates are recovering.”
Average Motorist Taxod $48.
The automobile today has passed
the stage where it may be classified
as altogether a luxury. But it’s a
free luxury for the tax-grabber; in
fact it’s soft picking for him. Mo
torists paid an average of $48 apiece
in taxes, direct and indirect, con
tributing a total of $1,349,000,000 or
10 Vt per cent of the nation’s entire
tax revenues during the fiscal year
ended June 90, 1937, according to
the study.
In a detailed advance estimate,
the report sets total federal, stata
and local tax collections at $12,872,-
000,000 for the fiscal year just endad.
General property taxes contribute
$4,718,000,000, and income taxes—,
federal, state, and local—$2,629,-
000,000 according to the study, with
the owners of twenty-eight million
motor vehicles ranking a strong
third as a source of revenue.
Gasoline and oil taxes, totaling
$884,000,000, make up the bulk of
motorists’ current tax contribution.
Combined federal and state taxes
on gasoline average slightly over
five cents per gallon, for the coun
try as a whole.
The purchaser of a new low-priced
car pays $101 in taxes, direct and
indirect, during his first year of
ownership, according to the study.
He pays approximately $64 in
taxes as a part of the original pur
chase price, the study shows. This
figure includes $3.30 estimated tax
content in the freight costs, $14.41
in excise taxes, and numerous di
rect and indirect taxes which ac
cumulate in material and produc
tion costs to an estimated amount
of $46.10.
Computations Conservative.
If the motorist operates his car
7,200 miles a season, his gasoline
and oil sales taxes will total ap
proximately $23; with an average
cost for his new car license of
$14.50, a motorist thus contributes
some $101.50 in. taxes during his
first year of ownership.
If, however, the $64 of taxes con
tained in the original purchase price
is. averaged down to an annual de
preciation basis of $10.42, assum-
F ing resale or trade-in at the end of
the third year for $350, the motor4
ist’s average tax cost become*
$48.14 annually for the three years,
the study shows. This figure is com
puted on the very conservative op
erating basis of 7,200 miles per sea
son, the report points out
The owner of a used car In tta
fourth to seventh year of service
conlributee aa average of PI an
nually la taiae. the etudy shows, tf
Zasu Pitts
Gary Cooper
For Discriminating People
* jMLovie • Radio *
* *
***By VIRGINIA VALE***
F ANS had to wait two lonfcl
years for the Marx Brothers’
new picture, “A Day at the
Races,” but it was well worth
waiting for. It is almost too
funny, the laughs coming in|
such quick succession that you
are still shouting over one comic I
scene when the next hits you.
This picture tops their previous I
masterpieces of hilarity by several
lengths. Groucho is, as usual, the
wise guy but when he goes to the
race track he is a gullible custom- ]
er for Chico’s sales talk on tips
on the races. Chico performs one
of those piano solos .that makes
enough tough little boys want to
become piano virtuosos so they can
copy his tricks.
And Harpo is even greater than
usual. He talks—in pantomime only
—at great length, and it is a toss-
up whether his pantomime or Chi
co’s efforts to translate it into words
is funnier.
Planned for fall is a household
hints program starring Zasu Pitts,
if she can ever stop
making pictures
long enough to ap
pear on an air pro-
g r a m regularly.
Putting this pro
gram together is a
job for a magician,
for while Zasu is al
ways a comedienne
to her public, at
home she is just the
w o r 1 d’s greatest
housekeeper and
cook. Nobody could
write funny lines about Zasu’s cook
ing if they had ever sampled it,
and her new kitchen which she de
signed herself is a model of inge
nuity, beauty, and efficiency. As
you may have read, Zasu has been
working on a cook book for the last
year or two.
Lily Pons’ last broadcast of tho
season before leaving for Hollywood
to make “The Girl In the Cage” for
RKO was a big night for her. She
was elected tho best-dressed star
of tho radio studios, aa honor for
merly divided between Helen Jep-
son and Gladys Swarthont. Meet
singers taka sack honors in their
stride, bat not tho volcanic and ap
preciative Lily.
Motion picture producers have
just about given up hope of interest
ing their public in Shakespeare, but
broadcasting companies have decid
ed the bard’s stirring lines are just
what the public wants. John Barry
more’s NBC program has proved
a tremendous success since the first
Monday night a few weeks ago
when he presented a foreshortened
version of “Hamlet.” For its com
peting hour, Columbia has signed
up an impressive array of talent.
Everybody would like to havo an
employer like Walter Wanger. He
thinks that every workman ought to
havo three months n yoar la which
to get away from his Jab. His
hired help art supposed to relax
im Dress tons but Ja
Bennett, Sylvia Sidney, and Henry
Fonda are all going on tho stage
daring their vacations, Madeleine
Carroll la going yachting off the
coast of Groat Britain, Charles
Boyer and Pat Patterson are going
to Franco to make a picture.
Any time Henry Fonda and Gary
Cooper want to stop acting and open
a traveling art ex
hibit, they have
plenty of lucrative
offers. Both are can
did camera fans,
and when they have
a few minutes lei
sure between scenes
they stroll around
whatever studio
.they are working in
and snap pictures of
players off guard.
They have some fine
snaps of stars snooz
ing in chairs, of directors watching
scenes with obvious disgust, of ro
mantic co-stars glaring at each
other between scenes. But they
won’t sell them!
ODDS AND ENDS-Shirley Tempi* it
learning to yodel for her next picture,
"Heidi" . . . Dick Powell end Frenchot
Tone are jutt two of the many playert
who long to make Westerns . . , Carole
Lombard hat tampered with the color of
her hair to the extent of making it e
deep, golden blond. The new color thowt
up better in Technicolor . . . John Gem-
bling, who for twelve years hat routed
the radio audience at six forty-five end
bullied them into doing morning exor
cises, sits in an easy chair tehila ha bob
lows at hit audiamca i
exorcist . . . Connie BomvaU hot bar fret
big tcraan roU im Columbia's m lft AU
Yours." J. a Nugant, stage vataran, it
aha us it, which loads So a lot of fnandly
tkmsre is basng
to bu fathar's as
N'
OW is the time for all smart
women to come to the aid of
their wardrobes. Sew-Your-Own
wants to lend a hand, Milady:
hence today’s trio of mid-summer
pace makers.
At The Left.
A trim little reminder that care
ful grooming is an asset any
where, anytime, is this frock. It
features simplicity. Its forte is
comfort. Make one version in cot
ton for all purpose wear, another
of sports silk for dressy occasions.
You’ll praise the cool cut of its
short sleeves and softly rolled col
lar. Yes, Milady, you’ll enjoy
making it.
la The Center.
Here you have a light and
breezy ensemble that’s the per
fect attire for Society. It has cos
mopolitan dash, refinement, and
engaging charm. Once more
you’ll be the subject of compli
mentary tea table talk with your
delightfully slender silhouette.
Make it of sheer chiffon or more
durable acetate. You’ll have a hit
in either.
At The Right.
The little lady who likes unusual
touches in her frocks will go for
this new dress and pantie set. It
has the chic of mommy’s dresses
plus a little-girl daintineas that is
more than fetching. Wrap around
styling makes It easy for even the
tiniest girl to get into and ifs
quite a time saver on ironing day.
A splendid idea is to cut this pat
tern twice and be assured of little
sister’s all summer chic.
The Pattens.
Pattern 1237 is designed for
sizes 34 to 48. Size 36 requires 4%
yards of 35 inch material plus
% yard contrasting for collar.
Pattern 1333 is designed for
sizes 38 to 52. Size 38 requires 7)$
yards of 39 inch material. The
dress alone requires 4% yards. To
line the jacket requires 2Yt yards
of 39 inch material.
Pattern 1322 is designed for
sizes 4, 6, 8, 10, and 12 years.
Size 6 requires SV« yards of 25
inch material plus 5% yards of
ribbon for trimming as pictured.
Send your order to The Sewing
Circle Pattern Dept., Room 1080,
211 W. Wecker Dr., Chicago. Hi.
Price of patterns, 19 cents (In
coins) each.
MALMIl
COLDS
Taeotita JQtcip*
oft the Waak-~~-
Freezer lee Cream.
1 quart milk
1 package Ice cream powder (vanilla,
strawberry, lemon, maple, er cboc
late* flavor)
Add milk very gradually to ice
cream powder, stirring until dis
solved. Pour into freezer can;
place in freezer and pack mixture
of cracked ice and salt around
can (use 9 ports ice to I part
salt). Turn slowly for 9 minutes,
then rapidly and continuously un
til frozen. Makes IVfc quarts ice
cream.
Any of the following may be
substituted for milk in this rec
ipe: 1 quart rich milk or light
cream, 1 cup cream and 9 cups
milk, or 2 cups evaporated milk
and 2 cups milk or water.
*Wlth chocoUte Ice cream powder, add
% cup sugar.
rST
nn
(to, m eoH StoseR H. T. Ctor
Flits
(■Stefs
■sqiiita
Now get “high tear
FAL IT KnXS and
WI odor. 4 atom of
•iINSECTICIDE
CHEW LONG Bill HAW TOBiCCI)
LIFE’S LIKE THAT
By Fred Neher
kit mm.
BUBBLES
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