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wet Litem nor oe d q 7 moral or ethical reason why such taxation should be avoided. Nor does it appea) that there ie any real danger that this power to tax might be abused by the federal government. Furthermore, the present immnity is decidedly unpopular with the public, if the results of a recent poll by the American Institute of Publis Opinion are a reasonably acourate indication of public sentiment, Sevent; four per cent of those polled were in favor of taxing federal, atate, and municipal securities, and 8 per cent favored a constitutional amendment requir. ing state and municipal employees to pay federal income taxes, Turning to the eminently practical question of cost, there is no doubt that federal taxation of minicipal salaries and bonds would reise the cost of operating city governments, How mich costs would rise is a very debatab point. A number of authorities on municipal finance predict a rise of about 1% in interest rates on municipal bends if President Roosevelt's proposal is followed, There is great difference of opinion about how mich or in what pro- minicipal salary costs would rise. If, as is now being contemplated, the general exemption is lowered from $2,500 to $2,000 for a married person and from $1,000 to $800 for a single person, however, and mmicipal salaries were subject to federal taxation, it is generally agreed that there will be consid- erably stronger pressure for readjustment of municipal salaries. Higher municipal costs as such are nothing new, and nothing to get unduly excited about. But higher mnicipal costs without a corresponding oppor- tunity to obtain new revenues to finance such costa are good cause for complaint It is with just such a predicament that cities will be faced if municipal salar- =~ me mee fane ac ies and bonds ere subject to taxation, for municipalities, unlike the federal government and the states, cannot use the income tax to obtain new revenues to meet higher costes, Instead, mnicipalities met look either to a different form of tax or to the possibility of obtaining a share of state-collected or federal taxes,