The sun. [volume] (New York [N.Y.]) 1833-1916, 1914-03-01
Many Complain Of Tremendous Cost and
Labor Imposed Upon Financial Insti
tutions by Income Tax Law..-Unless
Unjust System Is Modified or
Abolished Administration Will
Suffer. Say Many

ay Many
ing stan, dilieent and wholesome" said
the treasurer OF one largo corporation.
into a sweat shop. It has disorganised
and demoralized my stan. And We see
no remedy for II but the abolition Of
this unjust system"
The shelves inside the coupon cages
are now piled high with patches Of
coupons and attached certificates. Tho
clerks are counting and examining
them. First they must SEQ that the
coupon and its description on tho Ger.
| tificate dxree. Your clerk, who reoog-
nlzes tho coupon Immediately from It's
color and knows its amount by looking
In the accustomed place for It. must.
on the contrary. hunt through the GER
tifcate to nnd where the writer and
owner Of II has listed tho amount Of
| the coupon.
He may find this item in the upper
left hand corner. 1t may 30 in the
very centre of the coupon. Or ne may
| hunt and hunt through the certificate
| several times before he finds II carefully
| tucked away over on the extreme left
hand side. effectually ambushed behind
uselessly written words. erasures. &c.
with n sigh Of relief and the air of
a discoverer he draws a pencil circle
around tho hgure to mako It stand
out to ahe next man that has TO ex-
anime II.
| A minute may have passed in this
operation. But finding tho amount OF
the coupons Ii tho least trouble in ex-
amintng the certificates. Your clerk
I in the homo corporation Office must
find out II the owner claims exemption
or not
Realize, gentle reader. that there are
over thirty different kinds Of certificates
in general use. all in deadly legal Ian
euage, whose meaning 10 as intricate
as the windings Of a cavern. whose iegi-
bility is further confused by scratches
Of pens and the ecrawling pcnmanship
Of 1875. 900 different authors in an equal
number of certificates. There Is no one
place on the face Of the certificate where
the quick eyed counter may know that
he will see certain Information.
He must look through the entire Ger
tificate. He must do It marvellously
quickly, and because quickly he often
has to glance through It several times
before he can find whether the owner
Is exempt or not. Even after no has
discovered "a statement in the Certifi-
cate under which he thinks exemption
may be claimed he has 10 lose time rea :
soning about It, II may be a new or
rare kind Of certificate to him. a SUBJ
)stitute certificate, for instance. by q
paying agent for a client, and II may
not be at once apparent that the client
Is a non president alien and Is therefore
exempt. Your patient teller may have
to stop his examination, consult the
law himself or go over to the table of
his superior and ask for advice.
He has consumed q vast amount of
time already in comparing certificates
and coupons and he has not even begun
to count coupons. Those who presented
the coupons are waiting for their pay
J ment checks. and IL they are the usual
lot or bank runners and brokers' mes
sengers they are shouting out at YOU
and the teller through the cage window
to hustle II up" and otherwise making
themselves merry and the room a babel
. Of noise.
Can You guess the amount of time
II has taken your teller to examine and
count say 1000 coupons with certifi
Gates attached? The treasurer tells
you.
THAT boy over there" he says. point.
ing to bright faced lad whose finger,
are now fairly dancing through a batch
OF 1000 or more coupons with lightning
. speed. rs our most rapid counter. Be.
TORE the days OF collection at the source
ne mad little trouble in counting 00(
. coupons in ten minutes. He timed him.
! seif the other day with the certificate,
ana the same number Of coupons.
!, IT took him three hours and tvent,
minutes, or Just twenty times as lone !"
But collection at the source has on,,
begun. ''''
IN the trust companies this trim,
comparison OF coupon and certificate /,
double checked; that Is, another telIe,
goes through the same wearisome coun
a again TO prove the first count and com
\ parisop. one counting Is relied ON fo
= the coupons, FOR they are comparatiyel,
y easy to count. But II q certificate q,
= "hich no exemption is claimed In re
corded by the teller as exempt or vic,
versa the accounts Of tho owner ana IN
:, paying agent will not agree ana IN
!. paying agent may be out.
,. IN the comparison OF the certificate
there was endless trouble at frs
through errors by owners in maxim,
them out. II the paying agents coul,
not accept them the certificates woul,
have to be returned. sometimes male,
: to San Francisco. sometimes 10 Eurons
and endless delay. wcarisome correspond
ence and discouraging vexation 10 IN
customer would result. The trouble O
errors has decreased In the four month
OF practice, but the field for errors IN n
large that they constantly recur.
We are still at the side of our coupo,
receiver at the window of the corpora
ton lie has separated his coupon
from his certificates in two piles. III
has made out statement of the amour
OF coupons presented by each person n
the window, the various bond issue
they represent. the amount of the ex
emption claimed and the non-exemptlo
and the tax to be withheld This zoe
over to the man writing checks for in
terest, who In thls corporation keeps
book with columns for total amount n
checks paid, the figures for the exemp
tions claimed and those for non.exemp
lions. on which the corporation mus
withhold the tax or pay itself IL tn
bonds are guaranteed tax free.
Il L..