Sales Tax
a tax levied on the gross turnover of all sales. It was first largely advocated in the United States during 1921, being first proposed there as a general substitute for the complex system of taxation growing out of the various wartime enactments, and afterward in particular for the purpose of raising additional revenues for the payment of the so-called soldiers' bonus. A sales tax has been in operation in the Philippine Islands since 1905; and in Mexico even longer. It was introduced in France in 1920 and to some extent in Canada in the same year. The French tax is general on all goods bought for resale, with a few exemptions. The Canadian tax is levied on sales made by manufacturers, wholesalers, and importers, but exempts retail sales and sales of agricultural products and other necessities. The principal arguments in favor of the sales tax, as set forth by its advocates, are its general simplicity both in in regard re to determination of amount due and in administration and collection; its productiveness and reasonable steadiness and certainty; its just distribution, in being proportioned to the actual transactions of each class in the community; and its democratic plainness and directness, in contradistinction to the multitude of existing taxes whose intricacies lead to confusion on one hand and to exemption and escape on the other.
The opponents of the tax base their opposition on the arguments that the tax would lead to burdens being imposed on the buyers of goods the nues collected by the Government, in that the buyers of goods far beyond the reveeach fractional amount of tax levied on SANTO DOMINGO. On December 23, 1920, the United States Government announced a plan of withdrawing its forces from Santo Domingo after an occupation of five years. The plan provided for a commission of Dominicans to draw up proposals for certain reforms which, after approval by the Military Governor, should be confirmed by a constitutional assembly. On April 12, 1921, a petition of Dominicans requested President Harding to restore the sovereignty of Santo Domingo and on June 14, 1921, the new Military Governor, Rear Admiral Robinson, issued a proclamation to that effect. By the new plan of withdrawal the American forces were to evacuate the republic in eight months, provided a responsible Dominican government had in the meantime been established and that Santo Domingo would agree to validate all acts of the American military government, especially a loan made for public works; would agree to the continuance of the American Receiver-Generalship of Customs; and would establish a competent civil guard. The Dominican spokesman, backed by public mass meetings and demonstrations, refused to accept the conditions laid down. The United States Government later modified these conditions and ordered elections to be held in August. But a Junta of Electoral Abstention was formed, by which all electoral plans were boycotted. A Senate committee in December, 1921, reported against the immediate withdrawal of American marines from Santo Domingo, no other government existing in the island.
SCOTLAND. The population of Scotland, by the census of 1921, was 4,882,- 157, an increase of scarcely 2½ per cent. over the population of 1911. The census of burghs over 30,000 follows:
Dundee...
Aberdeen. a sale would be added in multiplied amounts to the selling price; that in some lines of business activity where there are constant and rapid turnovers, a tax on each turnover would soon become prohibitive; that a sales tax would speedily result in giving a self-contained or in- Glasgow. tegrated business a marked advantage Edinburgh over all smaller businesses specializing in particular products or stages of production, and so would lead to monopoly centered in highly integrated corporations; and finally that the application of the tax in the complex structure of modern society would not be simple, as maintained by its advocates. Taxes on sales of particular articles have always been levied, such taxes usually being limited to final sale for consumption or use.
Paisley..
Greenock.
Burgh Motherwell & Wishaw.
Clydebank.
Coatbridge.
Dunfermline.
Hamilton..
Kirkcaldy.
Kilmarnock Ayr......
Falkirk.
Perth..
Population 1921 1911 1,034,069 1,008,487 420,281 424,046 168,217 176,351 158,969 163,891 84,837 84,455 81,120 75,140 68,869 65,895 46,515 37,548 43,909 43,290 39,886 29,213 39.591 39,601 39,420 38,644 35,756 34,728 35,741 32,986 33,312 33,574 33,208 35,854 SHANTUNG AGREEMENT SHANTUNG AGREEMENT.
WASHINGTON CONFERENCE.) SHIP STABILIZING. (See GYRO- SCOPE.) SMOKE PRECIPITATION (See Disagreements between Great Britain and France as to the final disposition of Silesia led to a tense international situation, but on August 12 both sides agreed to refer the matter to the League of Nations. The League Council named an international commission, consisting of representatives of Belgium, Brazil, China, and Spain, to submit a plan of settlement (September 1). The commission reported October 20, and its plan was approved by the League and the Council of Ambassadors. Silesia was partitioned between Poland and Germany, but was to remain for fifteen years under the rule of a mixed commission intrusted with the duty of making the necessary readjustments in a way to cause least inconvenience and hardship. SIBERIA. New Far Eastern Republic established March 29, 1921, to include all Siberia east of Lake Baikal. Anti- Japanese in aim, wherefore Vladivostok and the Maritime Province were forbidden to join. Japanese occupation of these places and of northern Sakhalin continued. First occupation in 1918, in cooperation with American forces acting to relieve the Czecho-Slovaks fighting their way home from Russia through Siberia. The U. S. forces were with drawn in 1920, and Secretary Hughes at the Washington conference endeavored to obtain a definite promise that Japan would withdraw at an early date, but without success. (See WASHINGTON CON- FERENCE; SIBERIA.)