Evening star. [volume] (Washington, D.C.) 1854-1972, 1907-03-23

ten will not indicate a fifth Of her real In
| come,
The first thought of the young daughter
in-law is typical of the French bourgeois
mind-admittedly refractory" to the dec
| laratiOn.
She brought her husband $4,000 dot"
| to which his mother added a just S20,0Oo-
did you never hear of a young mans dot!
, In gilt-edged stocks and bonds, kept for
| them by the securities department of the
| Bank of France. they produce $1,000 an
| nually. His name is Fernand Buying and
| selling automobiles for his pleasure-like
| David Harum swapping horses-Fernand
| earns the handsome average of 5000
! year extra-all done in and out of garages,
| no office rent. no commercial license, no
| clerk hire. So his young wife, laughing,
| says:
"Of course Fernard will pay his share!
| Income from personal property is to pay
| 4 per cent. Well per cent year on our
| 81 600 from the Bank of FrG zee is S64-not
| much more than we pay now, when you
| take account of the percentages the govern
nent is already shipping off our income.
| We never get-really get-what is coming
| to u.s.
But waitr' said ION all total revenues
| above 81 900 there will be the compile
| mentary rich mans tax; for $1,000 1t Is
SIS more.
| "Ah? ah?" she dreamed a while; then,
| ''Fernand, regret that s15-the price of a
| new hat and four pairs of gloves"'
| Ana Sne spent man an lying lile
proposition, utterly refractory to the posi-
| bility of Fernand's ever paying the 31a per
cent on his $1,000 year which the income
| tax will ask on all profits of industrial
and commercial professions" above an ex-
emptiOn of $3.50 year! Or the $50 com
Elementary" tax required of his true total
| income.
.sHow will they discover he has made
| money buying an auto?" she dismissed the
question. adding severely: Really, do they
want TO take the bread from our mouths?"
The Proposed Inquisition.
| Which brings us to the proposed inquisi-
| ton The vast system of continuous in
| vestigation that is TO distinguish the
| French income tax from all others is to
| have its basis in the registration of deeds
and mortgages. personal property transfers,
| Judgment notes. partnership agreements,
| wills and administrations of decedents' es-
tateS ali existing tables of commercial
licenses and the inspection of banks. credit
establishments and dividend and bond-pay-
ing concerns!
| | can imagine the state inspectors trying
to locate the 5000 year of the coloneps
widow, Up to his deCe2Se they had kept
all their seCurtics-regularly unregistered
in fireprOOf safe at home. touching
the coupons and dividends by intermediary
of branches of the Credit LyOnnais So
cete Generate or Compton d Escompte-
and even by mail-some here, some there,
and that no one learn too much about their
affairs.
Now 1 shan't dare keep them at home
any more!" wept the inconsolable widow
the day after the funeral; land so en-
joyed cutting off the coupons!
So SIZE put everything with the securities
| department OF the Bank of France; but
now, in view of that austere institution
| presumed fidelity to the state in case the
! income tax becomes a law, she has given
| notice of withdrawal.
| Inc dear lady is much troubled Possess
ing no real estate. she has always very
much escaped taxation; partly by going In
| for untaXable French government bonds
| and the securities of government railway
lines and partly by taking advantage OF
| the great confusion in this legislation to
| choose untaxed little taxed purely
| French values. Rich-paying foreign bonds,
like the Italian per cents before CONVEX
sion. paid her trifie under per cent after
| the governments rake-of imposed by the
ing had the difference in her hands, she
has not felt 1t as tax. And so on.
When the income tax law passes she Will
be liable simply to pay. first, per cent
| year on her $1,000, which comes to $3.50
To this she ought to add the compile
| mentary tax on incomes over s., 900 which
| in her case comes to S196. Total, S476
| year,
IF / remain with the securities depart
ment of the Bank of France they'll inform
on me-" she worries. She knows perfectly
| well-because the government has given
out a scheme of it's plan-that even should
she deal with three different banks her
totals will find their way to the tax col
| lectors through the systematic bank In
! spection that rejoices Jaures and Pelletan
And woe to the bourgeoise who gets into a
dispute with the fisc!
What does this 1000 francs check to
| Vasseur & Mallet, stock brokers, repre-
Whence came this 5000 francs de-
posit."
i The Widows Plan.
| Having nothing else to do. she pondered.
| Reader l will back the French bourgeoise
widow up against any tax collector in the
| world. Alone she found the combination!
Il always have liked Switzerland in sum-
| mer!' she said yesterday. When, next
July. 1 pass through Geneva. why should
not simply touch whole years revenues
through one of their good banks?'
OF course the same combination had al
| ready been discovered-and by thousands
Since the first financial inquisition scare
over billion francs Of good French money
| is said to have been deposited with Swiss
| and Belgian banks-by whom 1t is lent out
| at higher interest In Germany! And this
quite apart from the other speciality of
keeping foreign securities in the burglar
proof vaults Of Brussels and Geneva!
Brussels Is only few hours railway
| jaunt! has become a common joke. And
they add: "A little trip like that four
times year improves the health and en-
| larges the mind!
| Does the knowledge of all this discour-
\ age the reformers? Not at all! Camille
| Pelletan, in numerous newspaper articles.
! gloats over the promise to take 10 per cent
| a year from the real revenues of a rich
man!
And Jaures triumphs at the final possi-
| bility of showing to the $500 900 wage
| earners under $500 year what vast wealth
is drawn annually by the exploiting upper
| middle classes,
| If too many of them send their fortunes
| to Belgium capital will begin producing
| greater profits at home-when they will
| hasten to bring back their fortunes!"