EXCESS PROFITS TAXATION IN 1941

The problems of business taxation are twofold: from the governmental standpoint, the problem is to obtain sufficient revenues at a minimum of cost and with the least resistance; from the business standpoint, the problem is to obtain lighter taxation where possible at a minimum of cost and with the greatest simplicity and uniformity. The excess profits tax has been devised by the economists of the several nations with the object of bolstering national taxing systems in extraordinary periods which demand abnormal revenues. With the advent of the excess profits tax, the desire for simplicity and low cost in taxation was smothered under the relatively complex provisions and administrative difficulties which accompany such a tax.