The Truth about taxes

Tax season. That time of year when we settle up with the U.S. Treasury, via the Internal Revenue Service, and scratch our heads at where it all went.

Local, school, personal property, municipal, state and the big one, federal, all chip away at our earnings and Social Security/pension payments. It isn’t pretty, and given our nation is $31.4 trillion in debt, and growing, it is not going to get better for most of us. Despite our 1776 revolution over taxes and other issues with the British, we’ve managed to go down the same road, on a much grander scale.

A favorite short subject from my 16mm film collection deals with taxes. It was produced by the Wendell Willkie campaign in 1939, and it appeals to the working man. That’s surprising, considering this particular political party’s penchant for giving tax breaks to the wealthy these days. But this post isn’t about politics, it’s about saving a piece of Americana.

The print, which I’ve had in my collection for close to two decades, is slowly succumbing to vinegar syndrome; the acetate base is shrinking, making projection an exercise in film and projector destruction. I scanned the film several years ago, as soon as I became aware of the syndrome. Capturing the soundtrack was especially challenging because of the shrinkage, which produces some distortion of the sound. Resynchronization was another issue once the picture and sound elements were captured. I’ve uploaded it to The Feather Cottage Youtube Channel for all to enjoy.

Willkie didn’t win. In fact, he lived only five years following his unsuccessful run. But he and his committee left behind a motion picture relevant to our day. And makes us long for a national debt the size of what we had in 1939.