The sun. [volume] (New York [N.Y.]) 1833-1916, 1916-01-27
~ DODGED C. o TAX"
4 POPULAR ~BRITISHBOAST
Method of Direct Collection Finds Sure Mark IN the
Salaried Man, While the Rich Often Escapes Even
a Dun-New System Wanted.

| wear and paid income tax on this basis.
A few wears ago he turned his business
into a and IL was then discov.
cred that il had been making Sloo'oo9
a year.
Governweut's Method Criticised.
rs,ner NJ. the result or the cause OF
mi. sro,. OF public opinion the Govern
, ment itself makes no effort TO deal nom
estiv with the taxpayer.
The revenue laws are involved n
complicated and II IL hard TOT tne p'al"
man to understand them. There arr
many and intricate rules for arriving az
the net Income for taxable purposes
The expert can obtain all sorts or deouc-
tions under the law. but the plain man
who does not know the ropes and makes
an excessive return receives no help from
The collectors. who are paid n percentage
ON their collections n whose instruc-
tions are to collect as much as possinie.
n the axpaye asks advice In making
out his return he Is told that II ie against
the rules to give II. and u he mas out
later that he has overpaid ana tries 10
recover he finds the process OF recovery
40 involved and expensive that he gives
IL ND in disgust and determines 10 get
square mex, time BY making n falso re-
turn. which, IN the circumstances. ne
feels perfectly justified In doing.
The system Of appeals from the ASSESS
men,s and the system OF assessment "
self also work TO the detriment or the
honest taxpayer. A rev years ago. az
Toast in one Of the city OF London par
,sbes. the collectors and surveyors
adopted a regular trying II on A mar
made his return and when he received
his assessment paper he was surprised
TO ind that something had been added
ON. In the case. say. OF a man on salary,
ne found that he was charged s25 Tor
tax on profits from the ownership oil
land. When he protested the collector
told him blandly "Oh. we thought yot
might own something and so you see We
tried II on
or course in this way they got hold oil
a number Of people who had been de
frauding them. but they also collected a
lot of taxes which were not owing be.
cause the taxpayers did not care TO face
All appeal.
Another resture Of the direct collec
ton OF tax which enables many persons
and most Of them wealthy persons a
that. TO evade the tax IL the system OF
which the assessment papers are sen
out. In practice the surveyor makes vi
his list from the voters lists.
Now In England no man can have
vote unless he has resided continuousl,
for AZ least a year in one place. AM
there IL In England a large class or per
sons of independent means who spen'
their time travelling from hotel to hote'
from pleasure resort TO pleasure resor
and have no fixed abode. They neve
$ hav. a vote. and as they never appear OF
tho voters lists they never receive an ir
: come tax paper or course X their In
!, come Is derived from dividends from
, ENGLISH companies their share OF the Ia,
, IL deducted at the source. but II IL Is de
, rived from foreign OF colonial invest
ments they may never he called on I
pay a penny.
one man whose income from foreig
, investments Is over $4,000 a year ha
never seen an income tax demand. II
9 spends the year travelling about to VAR
. GUS English and continental resorts an
n is never more han a couple Of month
. n any one place. lie is not a tax dodge
= for one can hardly dodge when he Is nc
, prrfued.
~ Seeming Poverty Escapes.
At the other end ~ the scale there az
e n lot OF people who escape the incom
: tax demand simply because they live |
- a poor neighborhood. There are Who'll
streets IN every large town where the Ia
4 collector never goes, because ne assume
e that the people who live I'm them are he
. low the taxable level. Many OF then. c
. course, are better able to pay than som
e of those who live in more expensiy
Il ne'ghborhoods.
\ good deal Of this last trouble will /
overcome ~ the new provisions In III
$ war budget reducing the tax limit I
= $3.50 \ year This Will take in most {
i the better paid and they wi
n he found through their employers RI
: turns, Nothing has been done, howeve
= TO reach the man with foreign inves'
a menis.