War Taxation Some Comments And Letters

"War Taxation: Some Comments and Letters" is a book by the renowned German born, American investment banker Otto Heinrich Kahn. Written during the First World War, Kahn examines American policy on taxation and opines that then new measures to raise taxes for funding the war effort, particularly on the wealthy are not well thought out. He warns that this would precipitate a situation of capital outflow to nations such as Canada with lower tax rates. Kahn also addresses the widespread speculation that "appears to prevail amongst not a few people the strange delusion that America's entrance into the war (First World War) was fomented by moneyed men, in part, at least, from the motive and for the purpose of gain."

Excerpt from War Taxation: Some Comments and Letters The recent publication of a little pamphlet entitled "Some Comments on War Taxation" elicited numerous interesting comments by the readers. The points to which these comments mainly related were the statements contained in the pamphlet that: First. If our neighbor Canada continues her present policy of not taxing incomes, or if she imposes only a moderate tax while rates of income taxation in America are fixed at oppressively and unnecessarily high rates, there can be little question that the ultimate result will be an outflow of capital to Canada, and that men of enterprise will seek that country. Second. Moneyed men not having their capital engaged in active business, if they are so constituted that their consciences permit them to evade their share of monetary sacrifice, can put their funds into tax-exempt securities. About the Publisher Forgotten Books publishes hundreds of thousands of rare and classic books. Find more at www.forgottenbooks.com This book is a reproduction of an important historical work. Forgotten Books uses state-of-the-art technology to digitally reconstruct the work, preserving the original format whilst repairing imperfections present in the aged copy. In rare cases, an imperfection in the original, such as a blemish or missing page, may be replicated in our edition. We do, however, repair the vast majority of imperfections successfully; any imperfections that remain are intentionally left to preserve the state of such historical works.

Book Excerpt: ...drawing from the field of constructive investment to the greatest extent possible.So much is this the case that I incline to the belief that taxation so graded as to result in a maximum average of say 33-1/3 per cent. would produce at least as great a revenue as a maximum average of 50 per cent.It is one of the oldest principles of taxation that an excessive impost destroys its own productivity.The flood of securities which would be coming for sale in order to escape extreme income taxation would create a grave condition of demoralization in the investment markets of the country, with the resulting inevitable effect upon the country's general business, and upon its capacity to absorb Government loans.IVThe tax recently enacted by Congress imposing a burden of 8 per cent. on business profits over and above 8 per cent. on the capital employed, regardless of whether such profits have any relation to war conditions or not, is unscientific and unsound...

Book Excerpt: drawing from the field of constructive investment to the greatest extent possible. So much is this the case that I incline to the belief that taxation so graded as to result in a maximum average of say 33-1/3 per cent. would produce at least as great a revenue as a maximum average of 50 per cent. It is one of the oldest principles of taxation that an excessive impost destroys its own productivity. The flood of securities which would be coming for sale in order to escape extreme income taxation would create a grave condition of demoralization in the investment markets of the country, with the resulting inevitable effect upon the country's general business, and upon its capacity to absorb Government loans. IV The tax recently enacted by Congress imposing a burden of 8 per cent. on business profits over and above 8 per cent. on the capital employed, regardless of whether such profits have any relation to war conditions or not, is unscientific and unsound. ( Read More

"Government Ownership of Railroads, and War Taxation" by Otto H. Kahn. Published by Good Press. Good Press publishes a wide range of titles that encompasses every genre. From well-known classics & literary fiction and non-fiction to forgotten−or yet undiscovered gems−of world literature, we issue the books that need to be read. Each Good Press edition has been meticulously edited and formatted to boost readability for all e-readers and devices. Our goal is to produce eBooks that are user-friendly and accessible to everyone in a high-quality digital format.

American Tax Resisters gives a history of the anti-tax movement that, for the past 150 years, has pursued limited taxes on wealth and battled efforts to secure social justice through income redistribution. It explains how a once-marginal ideology became mainstream, elevating individual entrepreneurialism over sacrifice and solidarity.