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groups to reduce taxes or to obtaii* 

 exemptions from the tax rolls at a 

 time when federal deficits are still 

 mounting., We believe that the, only 

 justifiable changes in taxes under pres- 

 ent conditions, are those necessary to 

 provide a high level of production and 

 employment. 



We favor keeping the personal m- 

 come tax base as broad as practicable 

 through the retention of low exemp- 

 tions and the avoidance of a general 

 federal sales tax. The income from all 

 future issues "of government bonds 

 should be taxed like other income. 



Corpoirations should be exempted on 

 that portion of their annual earnings 

 distributed to the stockholders as divi- 

 dends where such dividends are taxed 

 in the hands of the stockholders. A 

 reasonable propprtion of corporate 

 earnings retained should be taxed on 

 a graduated scale. 



Federal excise taxes should be large- 

 ly limited to amusements and taxes on 

 the so-called luxury goods, including 

 alcoholic liquors and tobacco. The 

 transportation tax on the movement of 

 goods should be repealed. 



The federal gasoline tax should be 

 reduced to one cent a gallon and 

 should not exceed that amount. This 

 tax should be paid only on gasoline 

 used for transportation and all of the 

 money so raised should be expended 

 for construction and maintenance of 

 transportation facilities. 



The federal government should de- 

 clare a definite public policy in regard 

 to replacing taxes lost to local govern- 

 ments through the acquisition of prop- 

 erty by the national government. 



The federal social security taxes 

 should not be increased until a study 

 of the entire problem is made. Taxes 

 for unemployment compensation 

 should be levied upon employer and 

 employe alike. 



The American Farm Bureau Federa- 

 tion will continue to support the right 

 of income tax exemption to those 

 farmer cooperatives which do business 

 with farmer members and otherwise 

 comply with the restriction of the ex- 

 emption provisions of the present law. 

 The federation also will continue to 

 support the right of non-exempt farm- 

 er cooperatives to make distribution of 

 their margins or savings to members 

 without subjecting such cooperatives 

 to taxation on patronage refunds so 

 distributed. 



PRICE AND WAGE CONTROL 



The American Farm Bureau Federa- 

 tion was one of the first organizations 

 representing a large segment of our 

 society that insisted upon the control 

 of inflation and has consistently sup- 



lANUARY. 1946 . 



Closely iollowing the reading oi the AFBF 

 resolutions during national convention in 

 Chicago Dec. 17-20 are (left to right): lAA 

 President Charles B. Shuman, Vice Presi- 

 dent Floyd E. Morris ond Secretary Paul 

 E. Mathias. 



ported measures for this purpose. We 

 again reaffirm our position in favor of 

 an aggressive program to control infla- 

 tion. 



As a guarantee against runaway 

 prices, we recommend that the purpose 

 of price control legislation be effec- 

 tively administered until June 30, 1946, 

 and from then on only on those com- 

 modities for which the supply is not 

 enough to meet the demand. 



We reaffirm our opposition to sub- 

 sidies in lieu of fair prices at the mar- 

 ket place. Subsidies should be re- 

 moved as rapidly as possible and price 

 ceilings adjusted accordingly. 



We do not believe that the removal 

 of wage controls in an indiscriminate 

 manner is in the best interest of the 

 nation. Wage increases must not be 

 such as to necessitate price increases. 



We insist that a monetary fiscal and 

 tax policy be adopted which will con- 

 tribute to correcting the basic causes of 

 inflation. Agriculture is at full pro- 

 duction and insists that steps be taken 

 immediately to get full production in 

 other industries. 



INTERNATIONAL TRADE 



We recommend that this nation 

 adopt a positive foreign trade policy 

 to expanci on a sound basis the volume 

 of trade and exchange among all na- 

 tions consistent with the standard of 

 living this nation must maintain. 



We believe the development of an 

 aggressive foreign trade policy is one 

 of the "musts" of our postwar pro- 

 gram. 



We insist that our foreign trade pol- 

 icy be conducted on a sound basis. It 

 must be realized that this nation has 

 to be willing to import goods and 



services from other nations if we are 

 going to export our products and our 

 capital. We recommend that the ap- 

 propriate agency of government give 

 careful study to means of increasing 

 our imp>orts of products and services 

 which will be consistent with the best 

 long-time interests of the nation and 

 will not unduly disrupt our economy. 



We favor the gradual reduction of 

 trade barriers. All nations of the 

 world should have access to essential 

 raw materials. We reiterate our sup- 

 port of international commodity agree- 

 ments and recommend that the pro- 

 gram be expanded to deal with other 

 commodities for which there are likely 

 to be world surpluses. > 



The American Farm Bureau Federa- 

 tion again repeats its urgent request 

 and reiterates its willingness to sup- 

 port an international trade conference. 

 America must aggressively support 

 such a conference and insist that this 

 conference take time to deal effectively 

 with trade problems. 



CREDIT AND RURAL HOUSING 



We urge the early enactment of the 

 Flannagan bill to place under the di- 

 rection of a single independent na- 

 tional policy-making bi-partisan board 

 all farm credit agencies now under the 

 Farm Credit Administration, the Farm 

 Security Administration, and all gov- 

 ernmental direct lending agencies mak- 

 ing loans to farmers or farmers' co- 

 operative associations. We reiterate 

 our previous recommendation urging 

 close cooperation of the veterans ad- 

 ministration with the Farm Credit Ad- 

 ministration and farm organizations in 

 order to safeguard veterans against ex- 

 ploitation through unwise loans and 

 against the purchase of farms at in- 

 flated prices. 



We view with concern the growing 

 tendency to expand greatly the number 

 and scope of Government lending 

 agencies and to bring about undue de- 

 pendence upon Government credit. It 

 is time to call a halt to this alarming 

 trend. 



We recognize the need for improve- 

 ment of rural housing, but we believe 

 this need can be met by utilizing exist- 

 ing credit agencies and private credit 

 facilities. The improvement of hous- 

 ing is the primary responsibility of 

 land-owners, local people, and local 

 credit institutions. It is unnecessary 

 and unwise for the federal govern- 

 ment to embark upon a gigantic pro- 

 gram to promote housing construction 

 through the establishment of a new 

 system of government loans by the 

 Secretary of Agriculture or through 

 the over-extension of government lend- 

 {ContinueJ on page 16) 



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