The citizen. (Honesdale, Pa.) 1908-1914, 1910-10-28
TAX DODGER KIPP.

After MIR. Kipps unwarranted at
tack upon Congressman Pratt in his
letter of acceptance wherein he
charged him with being the agent
and tool of the Special Interests"
(meaning the corporations) the Re-
publican County Committee of Brad
ford county at the request of the To-
wanda Republican club, investigat-
ed Mr. Kipps record along that line.
I The report of that investigation has
been made public and it has swept
candidate Kipp off from his political
feet as though struck by cyclone.
1t uncovers one of the most braz-
en- and successful schemes to evade
taxation of modern times. The re-
port goes to show that Mr.. Kipp is
the President of ten large corpora
tions in the United States and Can
ada, that he is a director in many
others, and that all told his holdings
in the stock and bonds of these cor
porations amount to more than one
million ($1, ,000,000) dollars; and be-
sides this, he has upwards of $780,
| 600 in Western states where the rates
of interest are higher than here, and
after showing that every dollar in
vested in the stock and bonds of cor
! sylvania, and all bonds issued by
Pennsylvania corporations and all the
money invested by him in mortgages
in other states is subject to the pay
ment of a four mill state tax, three
! fourths of which would be returned
| to the county of Bradford, it makes
| the amazing statement that during
all the years Mr.. Kipp has resided in
| Towanda he has never paid one cent
of taxes upon his money at interest.
! Just think of it, handling all his
great wealth right in the county of
/ Bradford and not even paying one
| penny in taxes, when he should have
! been paying thousands of dollars.
! What do the farmers and business
men of this Congressional district
think of it? If the farmer has few
hundred dollars at interest he knows
that the assessor and the tax collec-
! tor both find him, but neither can
find Kipp. He goes scott free.
The scheme is this: He neglects
or refuses to fill out the blank fur
nished him by the assessor, and keeps
his money invested where the as
SCISSOR cannot find it. Very simply
but very effective. Most people think
they are in duty bound to fill out
| the blank and swear to it, and so
they are. Particularly is that the
case where one has money at interest,
but Kipp escapes the performance of
all such little matters as these. He,
the millionaire, simply don't do it.
The report further shows that
! Congressman Pratt, the Republican
candidate, although by no means as
wealthy as Mr.. Kipp, has made his
Of OF int 10 ,lNy
and this present year returns over
$4,000 in money at interest, three
fourths of the state taxes upon
which will be returned to the coun-
ty of Susquehanna where he resides.
Further comment is unnecessary.
Mr.. Kipp has been hoist by his own
petard" He has been proven guilty
of the very offense which he charged
against Col. Pratt, and the record
that Mr.. Pratt has come out of the
burning without the smell of smoke
upon his garments.
The report invites Mr.. Kipp to go
before the assessor for his district
or the county commissioners and fill
out a blank and swear to it as pro-
vided by law just the same as most
other people do. Will he do it? Not
! much. The money he saves each
year by evading the payment of his
taxes gives him a nice little cam
paign fund to expend in running for
office
The expense of his tax lodging
scheme has created a sensation all
through the district and a feeling
of indignation against him and his
methods is rapidly spreading and de-
stroying all possible chance for his
election.
Moral: Pay your taxes and write
your own letter of acceptance.