What was the mellon tax

Daniel R. Crissinger Governor [Chair]. William P. Harding Governor [President]. Eugene I. Meyer Governor [Chair]. David F. Houston Ex Officio Chairman.

Roy A. Truman Dwight D. Eisenhower John F. Kennedy Lyndon B. Bush Bill Clinton George W. Help inform the discussion Support the Miller Center. University of Virginia Miller Center. Mellon, however, proved to be an unlikely friend to this controversial levy, coming to its defense in an hour of great peril.

In , a group of GOP stalwarts suggested that a national sales tax should replace the income tax. Mellon came to the latter's defense, insisting that it remain a central feature of the federal revenue system. He believed that a moderate income tax lent legitimacy to the revenue system as a whole. His argument carried the day, ensuring that the income tax would remain a pillar of federal finance. It seems fair to say that, just a few years after Woodrow Wilson fought to make the world safe for democracy, Andrew Mellon battled to make it safe for the income tax.

Mellon also believed that the income tax should remain progressive, albeit with lower rates than those enacted during World War I. Even more striking, he championed preferential treatment for "earned" income relative to "unearned" income.

As he argued in his book, Taxation: The People's Business: The fairness of taxing more lightly income from wages, salaries or from investments is beyond question. Surely we can afford to make a distinction between the people whose only capital is their metal and physical energy and the people whose income is derived from investments.

Such a distinction would mean much to millions of American workers and would be an added inspiration to the man who must provide a competence during his few productive years to care for himself and his family when his earnings capacity is at an end.

Not exactly the sort of argument popular among today's supporters of President Bush's dividend tax cut. Money Laundering. Financial Action Task Force. Protecting Charitable Organizations. Treasury Quarterly Refunding.

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