The sun., 1919-02-27
Docs the Income Tax Law Need ,
Tongue as Well NJ Teeth?

Not with the coming Of peace DO
the aphorisms of the dead wall disap-
pear. These sententious bits Of liter
AZURE, used with more or less sue
cess in every campaign Of the period
Of belligerency seem to have become
attached to the affections Of officials.
What was helpful to the army and
navy in the days Of enlistments. to
the phllanthropic organizations in
their drives, and to the Treasury De-
partment in all the Liberty Loan cam
paigns, Is to be used next by the In
ternal Revenue Bureau ito stimulate
early and full payment" of income
taxes Samples IRE out:
You stand up FOR the national an
them. Now stand up and pay your
income tax
IF you didn't serve over there you
can serve over here by paying your
income tax"
Quality may be lacking, but the
willingness to arouse Is there. The
curious thing about the use Of these
apothegms-"slogans" Is what some
insist upon calling them-is that there
should be need to arouse. The use of
aphorisms intended to stimulate en-
listments was natural enough until
selective service arrived; but there
were no draft Slogans" The value
Of epigrammatic appeals for money
uttered by the relief organizations
was obvious. for there was no law on
the books which would bring out con-
| trlbutions. The notices Of the vari.
GUS Liberty Loan campaigns were to
have been expected, for nobody could
be compelled to buy a bond.
But why the epigrammatic appeal
to the citizen who falls within the
! provisions of the income tax law? Do
! the teeth of the statute need the
tongue of persuasion behind them
When your Wall Street man sees q
poster on a fence telling him that
! Uncle SAM still has big Job ahead
OF him; help him by paying your in
! come tax now" he smiles, for he
knows that unless he has paid al
least a quarter of his tax by March
Is Big BILL EDWARDS will sit on him
The terse words of the revenue act
providing punishment for all who dc
not obey II, have been apothegm
enough for him. Perhaps the idea Is
TO bring about the payment on March
Is of the whole tax by large num-
Der of persons. The citizen knows
| however, that the Government will
struggle along between instalment
days: and he figures that If the plal
Of part payments was not financially
safe 1t would not have been used. He
has n statute behind his conscience
II he pays the whole reckoning or
March IL or before, it may be in or
der to get rid of further bookkeeping
The epigrams of the Internal Revenue
Bureau seem to say to him, however
Congress never intended to permit
instalment payments by those whc
can pay in full; are you one?"
What will be the next aphoristIc
campaign of the Government in the
enforcement of law? Possibly thu
forty-eight States will be asked {,
adopt concurrent epgrams for tn,
easy use Of that concurrent power
mentioned in the constitutional amend
ment relative TO Rum. II the Inter
nal Revenue Bureau believes it car
make the collection of income taxe'
less painful by means of chatty, init
mate little talks from the siGnboards
surely there are possibilities along tn,
lines of Sobriety Slogans. We may SO,
something in this tone:
"rEber on and enter dryness with
out a shiver."
"H2O is all the CO."
You may as we'll stop now"
The publicity expert Of the League
of Nations might take heart from tn,
popularity Of slogan" advertising.