Atlanta Georgian. [volume] (Atlanta, Ga.) 1912-1939, 1913-06-08
MUCH INTEREST
OVER MEETING
To TALK TAXES
Citizens to Confer Monday on
Federal Measure-ReaIty Man
Says "Let 1t Alone"

/ Several seeming "jokers" have been
found in the proposed Federal income
/ tax law, not the least ominous of
which is a clause which it is contend
ed will make losing" real estate firms
pay taxes on the money they have
lost This condition is not expected to
bring the Government any revenues
IN Atlanta, but realty men are inter-
ested in il nevertheless
The ears OF local building managers.
real estate dealers and property own
ers in general went up when the call
was sounded for a protest over the
provisions Of the measure now before
Congress. and the indications point 10
"A large attendance Monday at noon
in the rooms Of the Chamber OF Com
merce, fifth floor Of the Empire Build
ing. Charles Z. Glover was the first
local realty official TO scent the dan
ger in this proposed legislation and he
sent out notices Of the meeting in
the name of the Atlanta Real Estate
Board, Of which he is president.
The income tax bill has passed the
House of Repre- sentatives at Wash
ington and is now up to the Senate,
but before it reaches vote It will be
attacked from many sources.
A prominent Atlanta real estate
man had the following to say in ex-
l PLANTATION Of the feature Of the bill
which would compel tenants to with
| hold rents from landlords:
Example Cited in Argument.
Suppose we take the case of ten
ants in the Gambler Building, for
/ instance. For people renting office
space there to withhold fees from Mr.
Gambler to pay to the Government
would be rhanifestly unfair and abb
surd. Ii might be shown on investi-
cation that Mr.. Gambler didn't owe
the amounts withheld. In the mean
time, the tenants might move to 9TH
er sections, and various complications
would result"
The Real Estate Magazine, of New
York, has begun a campaign against
the proposed legislation. and in this
the editor sets forth his objections, is
follows:
I-Only a part OF the interest ac-
tually paid on the Indebtedness by a
corporation can be deducted from the
gross income. and a tax is required
to be paid on interest which is ac-
tually paid out.
THE receiver must pay a tax on
all interest paid by a corporation,
and a corporation must In turn pay
tax on a portion of this same in
tcrest. Thus the same money is taxed
twice.
3-Real estate corporations are not
allowed to deduct from their gross in
come the amount OF interest actually
paid out or accrued. but only an
amount which does not exceed six
per cent Of their capital stock, Under
| this arrangement a corporation con
Quoting a business at a loss would be
I obliged to pay tax on the money 4
/ lost
/ 4-The law dlscriminates between
; corporations of the same size engaged
/ in the same business.
5-Many manufacturing corpora
lions. Industrial and merchant whose
I Indebtedness is considerably greater
/ than their issued capital stock, will
4 be affected in the manner indicated
above.
! Baltimore Builders Protest.
A letter Of protest has been sen.
/ by the officials of Is office buildings
/ I'm Baltimore to Representative j.
/ Charles Linthicum and Senator j.
/ Walter Smith. The protest contains
I the following passages which fairly
/ represent the position Of office build
/ ing managers In the matter:
"The provision requires tenants
/ to withhold income tax from
/ permitting the less responsible party
I to the transaction 20 retain money out
| Of the income Of the more responsible
| party money which may finally be-
| come applicable TO the payment Of the
tax and some Of which may be re-
/ turnable to the person from whom II
! has been withheld We beg 10 state
that this provision would work great
! hardship upon the large office build
/ ings and would result in chaotic
state OF affairs in regard to the pay
ment and collection Of rents. We
/ therefore request that you take some
steps changing the provisions Of this
/ clause so the tax may be collected
from the responsible parties, who are
! the landlords"
In Favor of Bill.
There is another side TO this dis
cussion. however. and the bill prom
ises to find some local support A
leading real estate man declared that
the protest has been sent out by
/ Wall Street interests in an effort to
/ discover teChnicallties and to embar-
I rass the Democratic administration.
/ This dealer said:
The people who have passed the
! bill in the House are supposed to have
/ some sense. and nobody is going to
/ suffer any hardships through 1t.
| When the Democrats cut down on the
tariff they had To have some other
source Of revenue. and this income
| tax is one We ought to back them