Press Release, Veto Message from President Harry S. Truman to the House of Representatives

284 HOLD FOR RELEASE HOLD FOR RELEASE HOLD FOR RELEASE JULY 18, 1947 CONFIDENTIAL: To be held in STRICT CONFIDENCE and no portion, synopsis or intimation to be given out or published until the READING of the President's Message has begun in the House of Representatives. Extreme care must therefore be exercised to avoid premature publication. CHARLES G. ROSS Secretary to the President TRUMAD TO THE HOUSE OF REPRESENTATIVES: NARA I return herewith, without my approval, H. R. 3950, entitled "An Act to reduce individual income tax payments." The provisions of this bill are identical with those of H. R. 1 except that this bill would not become effective until January 1, 1948, whereas H. R. 1 would have become effective on July 1, 1947. I returned H. R. 1 to the House of Representatives on June 16, 1947, without my approval, stating that it represented the wrong kind of tax reduction at the wrong time. This is still the wrong kind of tax reduction and this is still the wrong time to provide for tax reduction. The present bill is not consistent with sound fiscal policy. As I have stated to the Congress on previous occasions, while business, employment, and national income continue high, we should maintain tax revenues at levels that will meet current expenditures and also leave a surplus for retirement of the public debt. No other course is consistent with realistic and conservative management of the fiscal affairs of the Government. Since H. R. 1 was disapproved, there has been no lessening of the need to make substantial payments on the public debt. Maintaining the integrity of this debt is one of the primary obligations of the Government. I repeat that, if we do not reduce the public debt by substantial amounts during a prosperous period such as the present, there is little prospect of material reduction at any time. I also pointed out in my message on H. R. 1 that necessary Government expenditures are still high. We are meeting tremendous obliga- tions growing out of the war. The national defense establishment still requires large sums. Our responsibilities for international' rehabilitation have an important bearing on our efforts to secure lasting peace. The recent refusal of certain nations to join in common endeavors to establish conditions of world stability increases the difficulty of our task and exposes us to greater risk. Until we are better able to estimate the cost of our investment in world peace and collective security, it is unwise to make so large a cut in our Government's future income that our ability to meet our needs would be impaired.