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McCORMICK MESSENGER, McCORMICK, S. C., THURSDAY, JULY 15, 1937 A SOMEONE’S PICKING YOUR POCKET! f ’ It’s the Hidden Tax Collector—He Respects Not Even the Real Necessities of Life, and How He Wallops Your Budget! / What the salesman doesn’t always tell you: The cost of a used car 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. By WILLIAM C. UTLEY 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 stpps 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 taxep 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 48 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 for 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. 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 cost $27 a month are burdened with taxes amounting to 10.2 per cent, or $2.75. The hidden taxes which eat away at an $80 monthly income are Slight ly less in proportion, since it is assumed that such an income does not ordinarily permit the owner ship or operation of an automobile. Here’s the way the tax collector fares with that one: % of Taxes Amount Cost Found of Tax in Per Month in Cost Dollars Food 7.1 $1.92 Shelter .... 18.00 25.3 4.55 Clothing ... 9.00 8.0 .72 Fuel and Light . 6.00 9.3 .57 Transportation (Streetcar) . 4.00 11.0 .44 Recreation 2.00 10.0 .20 Insurance 2.6 .05 Sundries & Mis- cellaneous .. 12.00 10.2 1.22 Total .... $9.67 Annually ...$960.00 12.0 $116.04 Taxes on $200 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: Cost % at Taxes Per Found Tax in Month In Cost Dollars Food 7.1 , $3.41 Shelter 25.3 9.61 Clothing 8.0 1.76 Fuel and Light . 14.00 9.5 1.33 Transportation (Auto 21.4* bought new) . 20.00 4.28 Recreation ... . 6.00 10.0 .60 Savings #• • Insurance .... 2.6 .31 Sundries & Mis- cellaneous . 35.00 10.2 3.57 Total $200.00 Av.lJs.4 24.87 Annually ..$2,400.00 12.4 $298.44 *Also Includes license, and gas and oil sales taxes. ••Tax ratio to total time and demand deposits In banks studied was .2 per cent. However, the effect of this tax would obviously not be to increase the savings depositor’s outlay, but could only affect him by reducing the Interest yield on his savings. The moneys and credits taxes levied by many states are paid directly by depositors, with wide variation in rates and in minimum exemptions. “After arriving at general tax ratios for the various lines of goods and products represented by the concerns studied,” says the report, “further studies were made of in- You’ll never recognize ’em, ma- dame, but hidden taxes will account for 8 per cent of what you pay for that dress! dividual 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 it would if there were no indirect taxes concealed in it. Rent Boosted by Taxes. If the man of the house buys a suit oi clothes for $25, a portion of that amounting to $2.62 helps clothe the tax collector. If the lady spends $5.00 for a pair of shoes, she will never be happy to learn that she could have bought them for $4.58, 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 are mounting approximately as fast as rental rates are recovering.” Average Motorist Taxed $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% per cent of the nation’s entire tax revenues during the fiscal year ended June 30, 1937, according to the study. In a detailed advance estimate, the report sets total federal, state and local tax collections at $12,872,- 000,000 for the fiscal year just ended. General property taxes contribute $4,718,000,000, and income taxes—•, federal, state, hnd 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 ing resale or trade-in at the end of the third year for $350, the motor ist’s average tax cost becomes $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 its fourth to seventh year of service contributes an average of $35 an nually in taxes, the study shows, if he operates his car a modest 6,000 miles per season. ® Western Newspaper Union. IMPROVED UNIFORM INTERNATIONAL UNDAYl chool l.esson By REV. HAROLD L. LUNDQUIST. Dean of the Moody Bible Institute of Chicago. © Western Newspaper Union. Lesson for July 18 LESSON TEXT—Exodus 3:13-16; 4:10-16; 5:1. GOLDEN TEXT—The Lord will give strength unto his people.—Psalm 29:11. PRIMARY TOPIC—When Moses Was Afraid. ' JUNIOR TOPIC—Moses Made Ambassa dor. INTERMEDIATE AND SENIOR TOPIC— God Stands by His Workers. YOUNG PEOPLE AND ADULT TOPIC— Strong In the Strength of God. Never in a hurry! Who? God. He needed a human leader to bring his chosen people up out of the bondage of Egypt and he spent 80 years getting him ready—40 years learning all the wisdom of Egypt, and 40 years learning the lessons of God, patience and humility, on the back side of the desert. Infinite and omnipotent is God, and he may move with faster-than- lightning speed. But usually we fintl him working out his blessed pur poses, normally, quietly, but always “on time.” Our lesson brings before us the meeting with God which preceded the appearance of Moses as the head of the nation of Israel in its mighty conflict with Pharaoh. We find him first proceeding with com mendable care but then going on in unfortunate humility which amount ed almost to unbelief and which re sulted in the substitution of his brother Aaron as his spokesman, but eventually we do see him going about his difficult task with resolu tion and courage. I. Justifiable Caution (Exod. 3:13- 16). Neither God nor man dare entrust a high and difficult commission to a foolish man who brusquely “rushes in where angels fear to tread.” The fact that one feels fully and unhesitatingly qualified to take over such a responsibility is almost a certain indication that he is not the man to assume it. The ambassador must have cre dentials. God’s representative has them. When “they shall say”—what an important and difficult situation that creates. The one who speaks for God must expect not only the scornful bitterness of God’s en emies, but also the unbelieving questions of those he seeks to serve. “What shall I say?” asks Moses, and God answers that he may say that “I AM” had sent him. This name of God reveals him as the eternal, independent, self-sufficient, self-existent, immutable, personal being. Consider, Christian brethren, whose we are and whom we serve. Here indeed is “inspiration in ex cess of duty,** real equipment for Christian life and service. But Moses seems to be unable to see beyond his own human infirmity even in the light of such a glorious revelation, supplemented as it was by miraculous powers, and we find him showing an » II. Unjustified Humility (Exod. 4: 10-12). When God calls a man he knows his limitations—why then should one plead them as an excuse for not serving? The excuse of Moses that he was not a fluent speaker has been the stand-by of unwilling work ers all through the ages. When asked to lead a prayer meeting, teach a Sunday School class, conduct a young people’s meeting, thousands have lamely thus excused them selves and missed a blessing. The perfect answer of God in v.ll merits attention. God made your mouth and mine. He gives us the power of speech. He asks not the eloquence of polished rhetorical pe riods, or the flights of man’s imag ination. He wants but the incom parable eloquence of his oton words on our lips. Dr. Richard Ellsworth Day in “Bush Aglow” rightly points out that this was the secret of the power of D. L. Moody. III. Unnecessary Substitution (Exod. 4:13-16). Loving and patient is our God, but there is a boundary line to that patience. Moses went too far in his humility and reflected on the ability of God, who promptly substituted Aaron as the spokesman. Gracious was He in thus provid ing a helper for Moses. But one wonders what Moses missed of blessing and power because of his slowness of heart. IV. “And Afterward” (Exod. 5:1)/ Commissioned, bearing creden tials from the infinite and eternal “I AM,” and with a strong and elo quent brother by his side, Moses stands before Pharaoh to say in God’s nahae, “Let my people go.** Preparation and the holy privilege of fellowship with God are to make us ready for service. While it is fdlly to go unprepared, it is double folly to prepare and then fail to go when God commands. Morning and Evening Prayer It is well to let prayer be the first emploj'ment in the morning and the last in the evening.—M. Luther. As He Sees Us As we come to know ourselves through and through, we come to see ourselves more as God sees us. The Counters of Wise Men Words are the counters of wise men, and the money of fools.— Bobber Complete Play Ensemble No. 1335 Whether you swing a racket or watch the play from the side lines, you’ll enjoy this complete summer enserhble. The dress with swing skirt has a side closing that can be fastened with buttons or with one of the long slide fasten ers in contrasting color. Fore most, it’s a dress easy to get into and short enough for lots of ac tion if you’re an expert and take your game seriously. This play ensemble is equally smart on the beach. You can take off the dress as easily as you would a wrap an4 sun in your shorts with halter tfc match. Pattern includes design for all four pieces. It’s the new est idea in a play ensemble and as simple as your a. b. c’s to make. Try it in acetate sharkskin, seersucker or broadcloth. Barbara Bell Pattern No. 1335 is available for sizes 12, 14, 16, 18 and 20. Corresponding bust measflrements 30, 32, 34, 36 and 38. Size 14 (32) requires 5% yards of 35 or 39 inch material for the four pieces. Send your order to The Sewing Circle Pattern Dept., Room 1020. 211 W. Wacker Dr., Chicago, 111. Price of patterns, 15 cents (in coins) each. t © Bell Syndicate.—WNU Service. ' , I Worms expelled promptly from the bn man system with Dr. Peery’s Vermifuge “Dead Shot.*' One single dose does the trick. 60c. All Druggists. Dr Peery’s | vermifuge Wrights Pill Co.. 100 Gold Street. N. Y. City Sentinels of Health Don’t Neglect Them t Nature designed the kidneys to do a marvelous job. Their task is to keep the flowing blood stream free of an excess of toxic impurities. The act of living—-li/e itself—is constantly producing waste matter the kidneys must remove from the blood if good health is to endure. When the kidneys fail to function as Nature intended, there is retention of waste that may cause body-wide dis tress. One may suffer nagging backache, persistent headache, attacks of dizziness, getting up nights, swelling, puffiness under the eyes—feel tired, nervous, all worn out. , Frequent, scanty or burning passages •nay be further evidence of kidney or bladder disturbance. The recognized and proper treatment Is a diuretic medicine to help the kidneys f et rid of excess poisonous body waste. Ise Doan’s Pills. They have had mors than forty years of public approval. Are endorsed the country over. Insist Ob Doan’s. Sold at all drug stores. Doans Pills WNU—7 28-37 Hot Weather is Here Beware of Have you ever noticed that in very hot weather your organs of digestion and elimination seem to become torpid or lazy? Your food sours, forms gas, causes belching, heartburn, and a feeling of rest lessness and irritability. Perhaps you may have sick headache, nausea and dizziness or blind spells on suddenly rising. Your tongue may be coated, your com plexion bilious and your bowel actions sluggish or insufficient. Biliousness! These are some of the more common symptoms or warnings of biliousness or so-called “torpid liver,’* so prevalent in hot climates. Don’t neglect them. Take Calo- tabs, the improved calomel com pound. tablets that give you the effects of calomel and salts, com bined. You will be delighted with the prompt relief they afford. Trial package ten cents, family pkg. twenty-five cts. At drug stores. (Adv.) Time Is Foolish What a foolish thing is time! And how foolish is man, who would be as angry if time stopped as if it passed! As You Trust Trust men, and they will be true to you; treat them greatly, and they will show themselves great.— R. W. Emerson. 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