Dear Uncle (1953)

Sponsor: Harding College
Production: John Sutherland Productions
Music: Eugene Poddany
Voice Actors: Frank Nelson, Herb Vigran.
Direction: Carl Urbano.
Producer: George Gordon.
Animation: Arnold Gillespie, Emery Hawkins, Phil Monroe
Released: 1952 (Estimate).
Technicolor

John Sutherland Productions' animated short "Dear Uncle", sponsored by Harding College, and directed by Carl Urbano, is one of the rarest films to find (mainly complete!), produced by John Sutherland (the other two are Fill'Er Up! and The Devil and John Q, and there will be probably others).

This short is about raising taxes for all American citizens (workers, industrialists and farmers). It begins with a newsboy delivering newspapers through the streets of what we assume is Washington DC. First, he delivers the newspaper to a construction worker, then to an industrial entrepreneur, and then to a farmer who transported his products. And everyone complains about the unpleasant news they read.

Finally, he delivers a newspaper to a famous American icon, none other than Uncle Sam, who has just left his "house" (the Capitol), and then it turns out that the news that everyone disliked was the tax increase. . Next, the three disgruntled characters (worker, businessman, and farmer) meet Uncle Sam as he strolls through a city park, reflecting on the newspaper's news about tax increases, and bombard him with accusations about taxation, alleging these actions are abusive.

Patiently, Uncle Sam, explains to everyone the reasons for these taxes and why they are increasing. The rest of the film is basically about the patriotic reasons for the existence of taxes, how much it results in benefits for the country, and the influence of these benefits and social security. It also explains what most citizens do not see in the costs of the country and the products sold, the hidden taxation (or built-in surcharge) that results from the collection of taxes on services added to the products and/or services provided to citizens.

In short, the movie is a superb class in economic management, public administration and state economics, showing mainly that the one who generates the most costs for the State, which affect the final costs to the citizen, is the citizen himself, and because of that, they have to pay their taxes, because that's the only way the country moves as a whole.