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![handle is hein.tera/cmmpdus0001 and id is 1 raw text is: [No. 1]
COMMUNICATION FROM THE PRESIDENT OF THE UNITED STATES
RELATIVE TO TAX DEFERMENT AND TAX EXEMPTION BENEFITS
TO THE MARITIME INDUSTRY, TOGETHER WITH A REPORT TO THE
PRESIDENT ON GOVERNMENT ASSISTANCE NECESSARY TO MAIN-
TAIN A MERCHANT MARINE ADEQUATE TO THE COMMERCIAL AND
NATIONAL DEFENSE REQUIREMENTS OF THE UNITED STATES,
SUBMITTED BY THE SECRETARY OF COMMERCE, AND A SUPPLE-
MENTARY REPORT SUBMITTED BY THE TREASURY DEPARTMENT
ENTITLED SCOPE AND EFFECT OF TAX BENEFITS PROVIDED
THE MARITIME INDUSTRY
THE WHITE HOUSE,
Washington, January 16, 1953.
The SPEAKER OF THE HOUSE OF REPRESENTATIVES.
My DEAR Mr. SPEAKER: In approving the recently enacted long-
range shipping bill, Public Law 586 of the Eighty-second Congress, I
expressed my disappointment at its failure to provide a really thorough
adjustment of existing maritime subsidy programs. I was particularly
disappointed in its failure to deal with those provisions of the Merchant
Marine Act of 1936 which extend liberal tax privileges, amounting to
indefinite tax deferment, to companies receiving operating subsidies.
The conference committee which handled this legislation recognized
that further attention would have to be given to this matter of tax
benefits by the next Congress, and expressed the view that:
* * * the Department of Commerce and the Treasury Department should
immediately begin to gather all information relative to the extent and effect of tax
deferment and tax exemption benefits to the maritime industry. * * *
Concurring as I did with the committee on the need for a th)rough
analysis of the problem, I requested the Secretary of Commerce and
the Secretary of the Treasury to revise and supplement studies which
their Departments had previously prepared. I am transmitting here-
with the studies of these Departments, entitled respectively, Amer-
ican Merchant Marine and the Federal Tax Policy and Scope and
Effect of Tax Benefits Provided the Maritime Industry. I hope that
these studies will be of value to the Congress in its further consideration
of this subject.
After reviewing these reports carefully, I am more firmly convinced
than ever that the tax benefits which now are provided to this industry
are unsound. As a hidden, indirect, and uncontrollable form of assist-
ance, they are basically inconsistent with one of the original purposes
of the 1936 act, which was to place maritime aid on an open and direct
basis. I feel sure that the Congress in 1936 could not have contem-
plated that these tax benefits would eventually assume their present
importance. For example, it could not then be foreseen that corporate
tax rates would reach their present maximum level of 70 percent.
MI
26083-53-No. 1-1](ViewImageLocal?handle=hein.tera/cmmpdus0001&div=1&collection=&method=preview&ext=.png&size=3)