New-York tribune., 1910-02-18
No PUBLICITY BUREAU NEEDED.

The discovery Of q defect in the cor
poration tax section of the Payne tariff
law which will prevent the employment
of clerical force sufficient to arrange
the tax returns of corporations for
public inspection is fortunate. The pro-
visions of the corporation tax section
were evidently intended TO give full pub
icitv to the original and amended re-
turns OF corporations, and the expense
of such publication was to be borne out
of the general appropriation Of sl0o,-
600 granted by Congress for the enforce
ment of the corporation tax provisions
OF the law. 1t now appears however,
that a law passed in August, 1882, regu-
lating the employment of clerks in the
departments and bureaus in the District
Of Columbia requires the specific crea-
tion by Congress of new Offices TO be
filled in those departments, and until
such clerkships are established no pub
liciry division can he organized TO take
charge OF the tax returns.
The publicity clauses Of the corpora
tion tax scheme were seriously objected
10 at the time the section was intro
duced in the Senate and those objections
have never been satisfactorily met. The
Tribune held then, and still holds, that
il was unwise TO cOmplicate the col
lection of the tax on the net earnings
of corporations with q provision which
threa tened TO disclose the private affairs
of q corporation TO hostile use by busi
ness rivals We considered that an un-
necessary burden was being put upon
corporations entirely willing to pay their
taxes but naturally reluctant 10 have
their business exposed to the gaze of
outsiders The Tribune said on June
pc, 1909:
Corporations may properly be divided
into two clasSes-thoSe affected with q
public interest and those not so affected.
Publicity for the first class is demanded
in the general interest: but publicity
for the second class serves no public
purpose. There is no useful end to be
promoted by requiring purely private
enterprises to file in public records state
nents Of their financial condition, their
losses, earnings and profits. If the gov
ernment is satisfied that the return is
honest and can collect a tax on that re-
turn, the transaction ends so far as the
public is legitimately concerned. Private
and selfish interests may be promoted
through the inspection or publication Of
business secrets, and those to be bene-
flied chiefly by disclosure of the status
of small commercial and manufacturing
corporations are the powerful combina-
tions in every line of industry which are
trying to crush weak rivals and build
UP monopolies. 1t is a serious
defect in the scheme as II stands at
present that Il exposes all sorts of legiti-
mate private enterprises to the self
ish and often sinister scrutiny of bust
ness rivals We can see no public gain
in the wholesale destruction of business
privacy
If the tax returns under the new law
are 10 be treated in the same manner
as internal revenue fax returns, access
20 them being properly guarded, cor
pvrations fearing an invasion of their
privacy will have little reason TO COM
plain. 1t would be entirely satisfactory
if Congress should refrain from creating
special publicity division for the
handling and inspection of tax returns.
and those returns should thus be left a
matter Of confidence between the Treas
ury and the taXpayer