The Washington herald., 1917-12-16
in DOOMSDAY
BOOK IF YOU
AREPAID
Treasury Department Com
piling Volumes That viii
Gage Tax Collections.

Will your name be in the great
American "Doomsday Book" which
the Treasury Department is now COM
piling as the basis OF its pachinery
for tax collection?
II you received 500 or more this
year in wages, salary. interest. divi-
dends, rents, or profits on speculation.
your name will be there. And what
is more, along with your name will
be an exact record OF the amounts
you received from each OF these
sources.
When william the Conqueror took
control OF England he found nearly
all his unwilling subjects dodging
their taxes in scandalous fashion. So
in 10S5 he set about making a COM
plete list OF all land and other prop
erty-holders in his kingdom. with a
record Of everything they possessed.
Doomed Tax Dodeers-
This great record the English sp-
propriately called the ''Doomsday
Book" because they knew Il spelled
for the tax dodgers.
Uncle Sam is now building up his
own Doomsday Book. so as to end
evasion OF Federal taxes. When COM
pleted IL will be a msrVeloUsly exact
record Of the financial condition Of
every taxable person and corporation
in the United States It will be a sure
trap for the people who try TO dodge
their war taxes.
In the last revenue bill there are
two sections. lis and III, which
most people never heard Of These
sections provide the material for
Uncle SANS Doomsdsy Book. Every
corporation is required. on demand
Of the Treasury Department. to- fur
! nish q complete list OF its stock
holders and their names. addresses.
number OF shares held and amount
Of dividends paid. Every broker is
required to file with the treasury a
list Of all transactions for customers,
whether speculative or for invest
ment, showing the amounts of their
profits and losses-not only stock
speculationS but dealings in grain
and cotton futures, and all kinds OF
ansactions.
Dragnet of Liability.
Furthermore-all persons, corpo-
rations, and partnerships. including
lessees. trustees. receivers and en-
ployerS. are required TO make a
complete return of all amounts OF
$500 or more paid during the year
In wages, salaries, interest, rent,
premiums. annuities or any other
form of compensation TO persons,
corporations or partnerships In
the case Of interest on bonds. mort
cages, etc. a return is required re-
gardless OF the amount
This means that every corporation
must furnish the government with
complete list of all employees who
receive in wages or salaries $500 a
year or more.
As these returns come in they are
card indexed. with q card for every
person whose name appears.
All amounts a person receives
from all sources are brought to-
gether in one place.
Thus. for John Doe. there must
be half a dozen cards-one showing
that he received $4,000 salary from
the P. D. Q. Corporation; another
showing he owns some steel stock
which paid $1,000 dividends last
year; another showing he owns
lands for which he received $500
rent; another showing he dabbled
in stocks last year with Skinnem
& Soakem, brokers. and cleaned up
S1,50O in coppers; and another show
ing he received $1,000 royalty on a
patent.
Doing His share.
When John Doc goes TO make Up his
income tax return this year he
may want to forget some Of the items
He may think We'll. nobody knows
about that little flyer in coppcrs.
guess ! will leave that out. Nobody
will be any wiser. and just look how
much tax have 70 pay without that.
Surely am doing my share OF paying
for the war
But our Uncle sam will know, He
may not know within six months or
year. because the filing and index
ing OF the millions Of cards Is 4
colossal task. But he is going TO fi,.-
ish that Job sooner or later. Then
a clerk will take John Does sworn
tax return, 20 TO the card file and
get out all the cards that show pay
ments to John Doe. He will com
pare these with the tax return and
find that John left out that 81 500
profit on stock speculation. He will
report that to the district attorney.
and some morning John Doe will find
himself in court facing a charge OF
| defrauding the government with =
prospective penalty OF 5000 fne and Q
year in the Federal pen.
1t may be two or three years before
John Doe is caught, but Uncle Sans
revenue agents never let up.