Taxing & Spending

The preliminaries were done with. Last week the 80th Congress humped to its work. Floor dockets were light, but committees ground away furiously. Besides ERP, two matters got special attention.

One was taxes. Minnesota's dogged Harold Knutson was determined to get fast action on his bill to save taxpayers an estimated $5.6 billion. As chairman of the House Ways & Means Committee, Republican Knutson meant to give short shrift to an Administration bill calling for 1) a flat $40 across-the-board cut in income taxes, and 2) a revenue-balancing reinstatement of the wartime tax on excess corporate profits. Even among Democrats, the Administration bill found few enthusiasts. North Carolina's tough old "Muley" Doughton, ranking Democrat on the Knutson committee, refused to introduce it. To get this futile chore done, the White House had to go all the way down to the committee's No. 3 Democrat, John Dingell of Michigan.

But Chairman Knutson bumped into an unexpected obstacle. Treasury Secretary John Snyder, usually mild and conciliatory in his dealings with Congressmen, belligerently denounced the Knutson bill as inflationary, deficit-producing and, in short, "a major threat to the nation's financial integrity." Chairman Knutson reacted by subjecting his witness to a day-Jong badgering. Other Republicans were quick to realize that John Snyder was broadening a hint already made by the President: the Knutson bill, as it stood, would be vetoed. Good & scared, they began to talk of bringing the tax slash down to around $4 billion. At week's end, tax-wise Muley Doughton conceded that such a modification might well pick up enough Democratic votes to override a veto.

At another committee hearing, special attention was paid to the economic plight of U.S. postmen. Before a Senate Civil Service subcommittee appeared beauteous Mrs. Jeanne Bolen, mother of three and wife of a Washington letter carrier. In a few brief minutes of testimony, she showed the Senators what inflation is doing to all people on fixed salaries. She reported that even though she does all her own housework, her annual budget adds up to $3,274.71, including $49 for her husband's work shoes, but nothing for recreation or emergencies. Yet Mr. Bolen makes only $3,100 a year. Added Mrs. Bolen: "One of the boys asked for a pound of butter for Christmas. He didn't get it."

This file is automatically generated by a robot program, so reader's discretion is required.