16% 1-1/2%
" " " " 10,000 20% 3-1/2%
" " " " 15,000 25% 5%

(If we add the so-called "occupational" tax, our total taxation on
incomes of $10,000 is 6-3/4 per cent., and on incomes of $15,000,
9-3/4 per cent.)

In other words, our income taxation is more democratic than that of
any other country, in that the largest incomes are taxed much more
heavily, and the small and moderate incomes much more lightly than
anywhere else, and incomes up to $2,000 for married men not taxed at
all.

3. It is true, on the other hand, that on very large incomes as
distinguished from the largest incomes, our income tax is somewhat
lower than the English tax, but the difference by which our tax is
lower than the English tax is incomparably more pronounced in the case
of small and moderate incomes than of large incomes. Moreover, if we
add to our income tax our so-called excess profit tax, which is merely
an additional income tax on earnings derived from business, we shall
find that the total tax to which rich men are subject is in the great
majority of cases heavier here than in England or anywhere else.

4. It is likewise true that the English war excess profit tax is 80
per cent. (less various offsets and allowances) whilst our so-called
excess profit tax ranges from 20 per cent. to 60 per cent.

But it is entirely misleading to base a conclusion as to the relative
heaviness of the American and British tax merely on a comparison of
the rates, because the English tax is assessed on a wholly different
basis from the American tax. As a matter of fact, Congress has
estimated that the 20 per cent. to 60 per cent. tax on the American
basis will produce approximately the same amount in dollars and cents
as the 80 per cent. tax is calculated to produce in England. (I know
I shall be answered that we have twice the population of England and
twice the wealth. But it must be borne in mind that a far larger
proportion of our wealth is represented by farms and other
non-industrial property, and that a far larger proportion of our
people than of the British people are engaged in agricultural pursuits
which are not affected by the excess profit tax. I believe it will be
found that the total wealth employed in business in America is not so
greatly superior to the total wealth similarly employed by Great
Britain.)

_The American excess profit law so called taxes