American Falls press. [volume] (American Falls, Idaho) 1907-1937, 1918-03-15
MR., SIMPkINS PAYS
HIS INCOME TAX
BY ROBERT

tears. IL was a portrait of his father,
Colonel Simpkins. who had four times
been promoted for valor dl..ing the
Civil War and had died brayely on the
field Of action. Mr.. Simpkins' throat
ached now for two reasons First, he
r~everenced and adored the memory Of
his father secondly. his g and his
eyes and his game leg wouldn't let him
go to war himself. And as he observed
the martial bearing and uncompromis-
Ing gaze of Colonel Simpkins he saw.
In Imagination, the khaki-clad lads Of
the new generation marching forth and
crossing three thousand miles of sea to
fight, maybe die. for liberty.
Mr.. Simpkins peered around to make
sure that neither Bess nor John (whO
were at the teasing ages of sixteen
and %seventeen) were where they could
see him, then he Strengthened and
threw his right arm up for a salute.
But his equity shoulder twinged, and he
groaned. He couldn't ever salute.
Damn y said Mr.. simpkins, and
with his other hand fercely twirfed his
white m%ustachios.
He turned and limped into the H.
brary and sat down creakily before the
mahogany desk on which were lying
the blanks for his income tax state
ment, blanks which he had rather
grumpily got from the Internal Reve-
nue. officer only that day after lunch
con on his way home from the club.
Mr.. Simpkins' income for 1917 had
amounted to JUST about $4,000. and he
had been rather snappv on the sub
ject Of taxes ever since he had discOv-
cred that the more income a man has
the greater the percentage Of it he
pays in taxes. He could think of sew
eral men who. like himself, were mar
ried and had two children, and yet,
although their incomes were nearly
half of his. they would pay only a
small fraction of the amount he paid.
He gloomily drew the blank nearer
and began filling in the information
that It asked for.
AS Mr.. Simpkins' income was $4,000
he had to figure out the amounts pay
able on each Of the successive smaller
classes of incomes in order to arrive
at the total due from himself. He
passed over the first class who must
pay taxes, that is. single men making
over LOCO. His calculation for mar
ried men then showed up as follows
First. they pay . per cent. (under
the 1916 law on all income over
$4,000. deducting 5000 for each Of their
children under eighteen years. In Mr..
Simpkins' case this was S212. which he
put down in the payable" column.
He saw next that. under the 1917
law, married men pay an additional ,
per cent. on all over S2.OOO-with the
same allowance for children. This
added 1922 to his payable column.
He then observed that for every
$500 jump in his income over 5000
he had to pay a Surtax, the percentage
growing larger with each jump. This
was $500 more added to his burden.
And on top of all this came an "E1
cess Profits" tax of S per cent. on all
Occupation income over $4,000. max
ing S720 more.
The total, then. he must pay was four
teen hundred and thirty-four dollars.
"Whew r. exclaimed Mr.. Simpkins
angrily "There'S Young Henry VIII
kins who married Jake Johnson'S girl,
he makes $1,000 and he doesn't pay a
cent "i'taNeS / guess lhlS IS ms Nur
as We'll as NINE.
thinking ol Young itehry WILKINS
ne remembered thai Mrs. wilkins went
every afternoon Z" make hanaageS TOR
the l'ed cross ana tlat Henry VINO
was q lawyer was aldlhg me local
brail h"'tu WIN ll~ MISSIONARIES.
wei. ne admitted 20 himself
"tadj makes q dl'efence.
lie thought neXt OF Judge Nliiough-
ny. whose income was ABOUT N3'uoO-
lie nly pays So commented Mr.
SllnpSlhs' not quite SO ahgrlly TINS
time ana then q thought sJruck MN
and he SAT up RICHLY IN his chair.
U0T MlIINuUnNN IS son nNU been