John Lee at William and Mary posted to the TaxProf listserve, and Paul Caron posted on the TaxProf blog, an interesting historical item gleaned in his research on 'Death and Taxes' and Hypocrisy, 60 Tax Notes 1393 (Sept. 6, 1993). Professor Lee kindly permitted me to repost the "Mellon Ditty" and excertps from his comment about its origins here, as well.
I think the ditty is particularly interesting because of my concern, expressed in various postings on this blog, that "reforming" the federal income tax system by replacing it with a national sales tax or some other form of consumption tax would relieve the tax burden on the wealthy by regressively shifting it down to those who can bear it least well. As you will recall from this A Taxing Matter post on Mellon's tax reforms, Mellon specifically wanted to lower taxes on the rich. That downward shift in the tax burden was not lost to the writer of the ditty with the pounding refrain of "Tax them just all you can: this is, friends, the Mellon plan."
Tax the people, tax with care,
Tax to help the millionaire;
Tax the farmer; tax his fowl;
Tax the dog and tax his howl;
Tax his hen and tax her egg;
And let the bloomin' mudsill beg.
Tax them just all you can,
This is, friends, the Mellon plan.Tax his pig and tax his squeal,
Tax his boots, run down at heel;
Tax his horses, tax his lands,
Tax his blisters on his hands;
Tax him just all you can;
This is, friends, the Mellon plan.Tax his plow and tax his clothes,
Tax his rag that wipes his nose;
Tax his house and tax his bed,
Tax the bald spot on his head;
Tax the ox and tax the ass;
Tax his 'Henry,' tax the gas;
Tax the road that he must pass
And make him travel o'er the grass;
Tax him just all you can;
This is, friends, the Mellon plan.
Tax his cow and tax the calf,
Tax him if he dares to laugh;
He is but a common man,
So tax the cuss just all you can,
This is, friends, the Mellon plan.Tax the lab'rer, but be discreet,
Tax him for walking on the street;
Tax his bread and tax his meat,
Tax his shoes clear off his feet.
Tax the pay roll, tax the sale,
Tax all his hard-earned paper kale;
Tax his pipe and tax his smoke,
Teach him government is no joke;
Tax him just all you can,
This is, friends, the Mellon plan.Tax their coffins, tax their shrouds,
Tax their souls beyond the clouds;
Tax 'small' business, tax the shop;
Tax their incomes, tax their stocks;
Tax the living, tax the dead;
Tax the unborn before they're fed;
Tax the water, tax the air,
Tax the sunlight if you dare;
Tax them all, tax them well,
Take it all, don't leave a smell;
Tax the good roads, tax the stones,
Tax the farmers, tax their loans,
Kill their credit, raise their rates,
Tax the cities, tax the States;
Save the profiteer his gold,
Tax the poor, tax the old;
Tax them just all you can,
This is, friends, the Mellon plan.
John's comments to the ListServe were that the ditty was "not a criticism of the income (or estate tax), but mostly of the regressive excise taxes where were more burdensome on the masses, and at times raised more revenue, than the 'class income tax' which was paid by 2 1/2 million individual taxpayers when there were roughtly 45 million workers. In 1924 Mellon was in the process of persuading a Republican dominated Congress to lower the top income tax rate from 50% in 1921 (a cut from 70% and change in 1920, a bracket reportedly onlly reaching Henry Ford) to 25%. ... The real point of the ditty was Mellon wanted to increase excise taxes and lower income taxes."
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