Page:Economic Reform Policy by Envoy Dodge (Dodge Line).pdf/23

 7. IMMEDIATE RELEASE 15.4.49 (before.)

Emphasis todate [sic] has been on a maximum of government expenditures instead of on a minimum. Under these conditions there can be no other result than an increased tax burden.

In insisting on the removal of the deficit-financing the most vicious type of general taxation has been eliminated. Actually, everyone has been paying two types of taxes. One type is composed of legal taxes, the other is the indirects taxation reflected by uncontrolled and continuous government deficit financing.

The Government Expenditures

Government expenditures remain high. Planned expenditures are all shown for the first time. Subsidies are revealed for the first time. Where there is concern about the level of taxation the level of expenditure should also be noted. It is government expenditures that determines tax requirements.

There has generally been no "slashing" of expenditures. Most expenditures actually are higher than last year. The saving on expenditures has been primarily in restricting their further expansion. The reductions are from extremely high original estimates of proposed expenditures, which were inappropriate to the general financial means available. This is an accomplishment only in that it modifies past practice. There is still much to be done and much that can be done to reduce expenditures.

The Government Subsidies

Since the end of the war large amounts of U.S. goods have gone into the foreign trade account but this fund shows no balance because the imported goods have been sold at so much less than cost. This process has obscured subsidies from the view of the public.