This 1965 color film (the 2nd, revised edition of an earlier 1948 black and white offering) provides a brief classroom overview of the rationale behind taxation in the United States, listing reasons for taxes to be collected as well as questions to be applied when considering potential tax reforms (TRT: 10:43).
Opening titles: “A Coronet Film, Federal Taxation (Second Edition), Educational Collaborator William J. Schultz, Ph.D., Professor of Business Administration, The City College of New York” (0:10). A splice. A man in a suit reviews income tax return documents in an office. Poll workers at an election polling place (0:29). The United States Capitol. A printed edition of the Constitution of The United States is opened to Section 8. A red circle highlights a passage about taxation (0:43). Soldiers assemble prior to World War I. Soldiers rush Pacific beaches during World War II (1:23). Defense manufacturing (1:51). “General welfare” is illustrated by elderly citizens playing shuffleboard, a woman unloading groceries for children. A disabled woman (2:11). Teenage boys are instructed in the operation of a rotary saw. A chemistry lab. A Mudtown Urban Renewal Project: “T.C. Williams High School and 29 New Homes” under construction (2:38). Automobiles on a highway. A sign: “Your Highway Taxes at Work” on I-64 near Richmond, Virginia (3:02). A man fills out income tax forms. Closeups on examples of income, interest, and stock gains earned (3:17). Itemized deduction fields and tax tables (4:00). A business office shows men and women at work. Lawyers and accountants review documents. A high-rise office building. Industrial buildings (5:29). An Esso gas station with an attendant at the pumps. 6-packs of Richbrau Beer and tobacco products: “Heine’s Blend, Half and Half, Kentucky Club, Carter Hall, Blend of the Month” (6:00). Other tax assessment forms pile up (6:16). A young man fills out tax forms pan to overlaid titles: “Fair to taxpayer? Adequate for budget needs? Consistent with economic goals? Economical to enforce and collect?” (6:28). An adult man, and an older man in an office represent higher tax brackets. A book printing “The Budget” of the U.S. Government (7:09). A group of men in suits in an office. A line graph tracks unemployment. Economists review a map (8:25). Women of the I.R.S. open envelopes and stamp documents. A stack of punched cards. A computer system using magnetic tape memory drives (9:05). Mockups of magazine articles. A community meeting (9:52). “The End” (10:30).
Coronet films, frequently satirized for their wooden acting and often dry approach to educational content, operated from 1934 to 1984, producing hundreds of 16mm classroom shorts. They are best remembered for their contributions to the “social hygiene” movement of the mid-20th century.
