The Glasgow courier. [volume] (Glasgow, Mont.) 1913-current, 1920-02-06
HEAD OF FAMILY DEFINED.

4 Z liz N ~ T.
bread winners for others are granted
special exemptions on their earnings
before figuring the income tax now
being collected, it is announced by w.
G.. Whaley, collector. Although a re-
turn must be filed by every unmarried
person, and by every married per-
son living apart from wife Cor hus-
band), who had a net income of $1,000
or more during 1919, recognition is
made in the law of the home burdens
carried by millions of such persons,
and relief from excessive taxation is
especially provided.
In addition to the ordinary personal
exemption of $1,000, an additional ex-
emption of 81, 200 is granted to "heads
of families" and there is also provid-
ed an exemption of 5000 for each de-
pendent under IS years of age or who
is mentally or physically defective.
The 5000 for each dependent may
be claimed by any taxpayer who is the
chief support of such dependent. This
is not confined to dependents who are
members of the family or relatives.
On the other hand it does not include
servants or others who are earning
their living. And it does not apply to
the wife or husband of the married
taxpayer, even though such person
NAV have become a total burden.
Must Qualify as Family Head.
1t should be remembered that the
person who claims exemption as "head
of a family" must qualify for it. Two
single persons who divide between
them, more or less equally, the finan-
cial and other responsibilities of a
household cannot claim that either M
is the head of a family. But if a
single person actually u the to-
tai responsibility Of the household
and is aided by having one Of his
brothers or sisters support himself
and contributing an amount that could
not practically be considered more
than his board, such trivial circum-
stances must not be allowed to inter-
fere with his clear claim for exemp-
ton.
A single person is the head Of a
family if by Dec. 81 he had become
the sole support of close relatives
(by blood, marriage or adoption), liv-
ing in the same house with him and
looked upon by them to exercise a
greater or less amount of control in
the matters affecting the support and
maintenance of the household.
Meaning of Sole Support"
The phrase "sole support" is here
used in the sense that there is no 9TH
err person to whom the dependents are
looking for a substantial portion of
their support. There may be anoth-
err source of income (such as interest
on bonds, divide1 IDS on stocks, p%ension)
which, if meager enough to still leave
the recipient dependent, should not in,
terfere with the claim for exemption
Such meager income of dependents, as
we'll as the inconsequential profit or
the board of any self-supporting mem
Der of the household, must, however
be included in the return of the heaC
of the household.
But a division of responsibility will
in every case exclude the parties from
the claim for the additional exemption
Article 3O2 of regulations As define:
that a head of a family is "a person
who actually supports and maintains
in the household one or more individ
uals who are closely connected will
him by blood relationship, relation
ship by marriage, or by adoption, ant
whose right to exercise family con
troll and provide for these %dependen
individuals is based upon some mora
or legal obligation"
Absence Not Essential.
Once the existence of the fact tina
a taxpayer is the principal cause TO
the creation or maintenance of a HON
is established it cannot be destroye'
by his mere temporary or unavoidabl
absence from it. If a father is LET
with a young child to whom he canno
give the proper attention himself, an
he places his child with relatives o
elsewhere, he should still be consider
ed the head of a family even if We
further force of circumstances woul
oblige him to live elsewhere; provide