Speech #850032314

It chooses to help send our people abroad and penalize them if they travel at home. The United States Government. also alone among the enlightened governments of the world. maintains repressive laws pertaining to the admittance of visitors from other countries. In our anxiety to keep out undesirable alien immigrants. we have unwittingly built a fence around the United States which presents a very inhospitable barrier to those who would visit us of their own free will to spend their money with us and gain some first hand information about this country. These two major obstacles to the development of travel which have been created by acts of the United States Government should be removed. The tax on the transportation of persons should be promptly repealed. The immigration statutes should be revised to encourage people from abroad to visit the United States of America. The removal of the tax on the transportation of persons would deprive the Government of an estimated $190 million in revenue during 1957. But since a great deal of the travel via the public carriers is performed by businessmen traveling on expense account. the tax on travel is deducted from their income tax.