New-York tribune., 1869-02-26
THE INCOME TAX.
correspondent, signing himself Inter


Revenue" asks:
Doe. IN. la. rsours that man ~ho pay gold
watch shall also make retain inoOme tess dn
thousand dsars Or equseu. GnustsabIe on the part 0f
the Assessor makes itr ... =
The law certainly does require just what the
Assessor asks Internal Revenue" to do; and,
in our Judgment, very justly requires it. The
Act of March Q, 1857, Sec. fiS, enacts "that 1t
"shall be the duty of all persons OF lawful age
" to make and render list or return, on or be-
fore tho day prescribed by law, in such form
"and manner as may be prescribed by the Com
" missioner of Internal Reuenuc, of the
amount of their income, gains, and profits
"' 's' and the Assistant Assessor shall re-
"ouire every list or return to be verified by the
"oath or affirmation of the party rendering it /;
"and may increase the amount of any list
"or return, if he has reason to believe the
"same is understated, &C. The Commissioner
of Internal Revenue has prescribed a form
which requires detailed statement of the in-
come OF taxpayers aud the sources whence IL
is derived whether from business, from salary,
from interest on bonds and mortgages, from
rents, from bank, railroad, or other dividends,
from interest on Government securities, &C.
The watches, spoons, carriages, and billiard
tables arc returnable upon the same blank
with the income list and the one oath covers
both income, watches, and the other enumerated
articles in Schedule A. SO that, had internal
+" Reyenuen read the oath which he
was required to sign (and it is not
n bad idea sometimes to read what
one swears 10, even before Government
Officially he would have seen that he had sworn
not only to tho possession of one watch, but
also that the "preceding' or foregoing" was
a true particular, detailed, and exact account
Of his income, profits, or gains, from any and
all sources whatever, for the year mentioned.
The law should be complied with because 1T
is law, if for no other reason. But there are
other good reasons While the law taxing
incomes remains upon the National statute
books, it is right and proper that both
it and tho regulations should be so
guarded as to insure, as nearly rs
possible, the assessment and collection of
all the taxes due to the Government
from that source. 1t is superfluous, per-
haps, TO say that this could not be done If tax
payers were permitted to assess themselves,
especially without the solemnity of an oath;
and this is implied in the brief note of our
querist. For, if one may determine without
making n sworn return that he is not taxable
at all, another may with equal propriety deter
mine for himself to what extent no Is taxable.
We have, perhaps, as exalted an opinion OF the
integrity of mankind in general rs that of the
average of people; but at the same time we
realize that we must wait for the "goOd time
Coming" perhaps, "a little longer" before
taxpayers will come up voluntarily and pay
their proper share Of the revenue necessary
to sustain the Government and mend its credit.
Once adopt the rule Of accepting as sufficient
the mere unsworn verbal statement Of q citizen
that no has no taxable income. and what
amount of revenue would DO realized from
that source, think You, Dir. Queristi There are,
no doubt, some honest people in tho world
sufficiently honest TO pay their just taxes, even
though there were no pains or penalties at
tached to failure to do So but it is sad to
believe that they are exceptions to the general
rule. The prevailing ethics Of taxpayers in
regard to their duties to tho Treasury are
frightful to contemplate. The public would be
astounded to know how many and what
classes of people deliberately evade their taxes
whenever opportunity offers .............t
An incident related TO us by an Internal
Revenue officer will illustrate the elasticity in
the matters OF taxation OF the conscences of
wealthy merchants, who hold their head high,
who are considered "good" on Change, who
scrupulously fulfill their promises as business
men--men on whose unwitnessed promises one
would implicitly, and could safely, rely. As
the story runs wealthy merchant, wearing a
broad brimmcd hat and shadbellied coat, in
response to an official notice. sent in an un-
sworn return Of his income in round numbers
80 many thousand dollars. The Assessor was
not satisfied with the return, and politely re-
quested the gentleman to call and amend
or explain his statement When 1t came
to a. question of swearing to his income,
he did not think that was necessary, and was
not really prepared to swear that his income
was exactly as stated in the return, but lie
thought it was less. lie had stated round
sum, which he was quite sure covered his
income and something more. Tho Assessor
insisted upon the oath, and gently intimated
that he might like to look at his profit and
loss account ,whereupon he said he would
examine that himself, and render an exact