The Richmond Virginian. (Richmond, Va.) 1910-1920, 1918-10-16
SENATORS PROPOSE
STAMPS ON CHECKS
Would Make Tax Two Cents,
Regardless of the Amount
Called For By Document.
HOUSE MAY NOT AGREE
Advisory Board for Internal
Revenue Office Knocked
Out After Applications
for Jobs Pile Up.

Washington Oct. ia new
section providing for "A tax of two
cents on MI bank checks payable
on sight or demand WAS written
into the revenue bill by the senate
finance .ommittcc today. The tax
will apply to the checks irrcspcc-
tive of their value.
The bill as passed by the house
I contained "A provision for Il tax of
| two cents on each 500 ON drafts.
checks or promtsSory notes pay
| able at some future date, but
! sight checks were excepted be-
! cause Of the very great OPPOSE
| ton from small communities tn n
| tax of this character. 1t Is prob
! able tho senate amendment Will
: be resisted by the hou~e.
The committee eliminated from the
! bill the section providing for the Gre
alton of an advisory tax board to as
sist the collector of internal revenue
in administering the tax laws The
bill made provision for the appoint
ment of 1--WE persons. each TO receive
an annual salary of $4,000 and ex-
penses. II was the attractive lure
held out by this salary allowance that
caused the committee TO strike the
section from the bill for it was stated
z
perfect deluge of applications has come
ffrom. persons desirous-yof obtaining
places on the board.
/ The committee felt that work OF
this nature should not be subjected to
political appointment. so after strik-
ing out the section providing for the
five jobs the committee decided 10
place a lump sum of something be-
tween S45. 600 and $50 900 AT the dis
pnsai OF SeEfstary Me.tA4IocA and permit
him 10 ehees.ar tas+- aten needed 10 as
sist the commissioner This action
was taken despite the fact that the
section creating the board was put IN
by the house committee upon the very
urgent ton of Commits
sioner Roper himself The section
raising the salary of Commissioner
Roper to 81 900 year was approved,
but the section setting aside $500
600 for the collection OF the taxes was
held up for further consideration.
j The committee approved the entire
stamp tax section with very little
change. The stamps are to he affixed
to all papers and documents. capital
stock issues, sales and transfers, sales
of produce on exchange. promissory
notes. conveyances. deeds and other
instruments, entry OF goods in custom
houses and withdrawal of same Tick
cts for steamer travel outside of the
United States. Canada or Mexico are
to be taxed to the extent of 81 ot a
ticket costing not over $50, to S. on
/ tickets costing more than $50. Proxies
for voting for election of officers or
/ transaction of business OF all corpora :
J tons except religious. educational,
charitable, fraternal or literary, or
cemetery associations. are to be taxed
ten cents each. powers of attorney five
cents, and playing cards eight cents
a pack Parcel post packages are 70
pay at the rate of one cent for each
twenty five cents of the amount paid
for transportation.
Fuel Administrator Garfield ap-
peared before the committee to urge
that the revenue legislation he made
as liberal as possible on the coal min
ing business so that production might
be stimulated as fully as possible
| -Huy liberty ROud~-