I don't believe this cartoon was promoting a "war tax" specifically, but rather that it emphasized that paying taxes was a patriotic way to support the country.
I agree with yglesias:
... the cartoon does drive home the basic points that war costs money and things that cost money require taxes. Taxes were a hard sell then and they’re a hard sell now. But the way the sale was made in ‘43 was to convince people that the war was worth the cost. These days, politicians seem to feel that the public would refuse to pay for the war if asked plainly. So instead of asking, they try to obscure the cost.
Dear heaven. It's like it's from another world.
ReplyDeleteWho banned this, and why?
Found this in an article about taxes reproduced from the Omaha World Herald at taxpolicycenter.org:
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From Donald Duck to AMT
During World War II, the Treasury Department asked Walt Disney to produce "The New Spirit," a propaganda film that promoted paying the new "victory tax," the nation's first broad-based income tax.
In the short film, a radio announcer asks Donald Duck whether he will do his part for victory by paying his taxes on time.
As the film shows American factories churning out giant guns and menacing bombers, the narrator booms, "Taxes to bury the Axis! Taxes to sink the Axis!"
An enthusiastic Donald Duck chimes in, "Taxes to beat the Axis!" He fills out his 1040 and writes a check, which he hand-delivers in a dash from Hollywood to Washington, D.C.
The cartoon helped encourage millions of Americans to feel patriotic in joining Donald to pay income taxes for the first time. Previously, only about 15 percent of Americans had been subject to income tax.
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If the video you posted was banned, could the one described above have been the revised version? Sounds like it wasn't quite so heavy-handed.
I think this may be the banned one - at least that's how it's labeled in its YouTube blurb.
ReplyDeleteI think the other one is here -
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=dfwZNomxsNg
First, paying taxes is not patriotic. It is the law.
ReplyDeletePatriotism is always a voluntary thing: some people feel it, some people don't. And while I'd love more people to appreciate our country, it isn't a requirement and that is ok. It is not ok to not pay taxes. Besides, if you associate paying taxes with patriotism then no one can ever say "enough is enough - it is time to control our spending" because paying more taxes would mean that we are simply being more patriotic. Hell, why not hand over our whole paychecks??? We'd be really patriotic then!!!
Second: war DOES cost money requires either raising taxes or reducing spending. But the same must be said with regard to all of our social programs, entitlements, the ridiculous and ineffective stimulus packages, and the health care bill. In fact, all of these added together would simply DWARF defense costs.
People need to keep this in mind. There is a LOT of cost obscuring going on right now. (I laugh every time I hear a leftist claim that the health care initiative will be "budget neutral." Now THAT would be quite the trick!)
Deana, the health care bill will be budget neutral. The proposed House bill was scored by the Congressional Budget Office to reduce the deficit by $104B over 10 years as compared with the status quo, and the initial proposed Senate bill by $127B. Both bills achieve this with a combination of spending cuts and increased taxes to offset the additional spending.
ReplyDeleteWell said Deana. Terry, the health care bill would only be revenue neutral for 10 years because it would not go into effect for several years. Add to that the fact that the bill the Budget Office scored was several iterations ago.... You cannot give free stuff to millions of people and have it not cost anything. Math doesn't work that way. Of course, I guess it IS revenue neutral for non-taxpayers.
ReplyDeletehave you seen the old Hitler/Nazi disney flicks on YouTube? wild.. Somebody told me about them and I didn't believe them-till I saw them
ReplyDelete