Evening star. [volume] (Washington, D.C.) 1854-1972, 1903-08-11
LAST DAY OF GRACE.
Declarations Under Personal Tax Law
Must All Be Filed Tomorrow.

Mr.. H. H. Darneille, the assessor of the
District, has called attention to the fact
that tomorrow Is the last day on which
declarations Of personal taxes can be re-
turned without charge or penalty. The as
SCISSOR gave notice July ID that for thirty
days, according to the personal tax law
the assessors office would receive declara-
tons Of personal taxes for the fiscal year
10000. Since that time the declarations
have flowed into the office In an uninter-
rupted stream. During the past week the
papers have been received at the rate Of
about thousand per diem. Today the
number has run far in excess of that
| amount Hundreds of persons visited the
office of the assessor this morning and af-
ternoon for the purpose of filing their
papers.
I'VE desire to have all the persons able
under the law file their declarations within
the thirty days allotted by law said Mr..
Darneille today There are a number of
people who should come under this head
who either fail to remember the advantages
of SO filing their papers or who wllfully
neglect to do SO. This latter class Is
troublesome to the office. although. in the
long run, we discover the delinquents and
bring them to book. The force employed
for the purpose Of making the compulsory
assessments has been kept SO busy during
the past year that none of them has had
chance to take the annual vacation al
lotted him by law. It appears to me that
people would prefer to place their declara-
tons on file here during the period returns
are allowable, rather than risk the chance
of the assessor discovering their remissness
and imposing the penalty Of the law in the
form OF 10 per cent increase in the
amount OF the tax to be paid.
People seem to have peculiar ideas re-
garding the personal tax, anyhow. Some
people do not seem to regard 1t as their
duty to file declaration, but rather take it
as an evidence Of independence and take
chances on the authorities finding out their
delinquency We have the ways and means
of discovering who Is and who Is not trying
to evade the burden of the tax, and we
deal accordingly. There are, Of course,
some persons who really forget to file dec
laratfons, or who do not recognize the ad-
vantage to be gained. This does not help
them In the least. however. I am required
by law to give notice of the time when GER
tihcates and affdavits will be returnable,
and this year by authority OF the Commits
sioners caused to be published a notice
ing OF the personal tax law and when GER
tifcates would be receivable. The last no.
tice was published July ID. and stated that
certlncates OF declaration would be receiv-
ed In this Office for thirty days.
The time Is up tomorrow. and then we
Will get to work and locate those who have
evaded making the declaration. We send
our inspectors. and when a report Is re-
celved that certain persons have taxable
property which has not been declared we
send out the assessors and an appraisement
Is made and an assessment levied. All per-
sons should. however, send In their certif-
Gates. This would save US a great deal Of
of money"