The Barre daily times. (Barre, Vt.) 1897-1959, 1920-05-11
LUXURY BUYING on BIG
SCALE IN NEW YORK
Going On At the Rate of 81 100000
600 a Year, Judged BY the Amount
of Luxury Taxes.

New York, May ll.--Luxury buying
in New York is now going on at the
rate of 81 ,200,000,000 a year judged by
the amount Of luxury taxes aggre-
eating Sl0,j00,00 a month-which are
being collected by William Fl. Edwards.
United States collector of internal rev
enue for Manhattan In February, ac-
cording TO the collector. the govern
ment received from his office $1,000
600 more in luxury taxes than was paid
in any previous month in the history of
the department. The month of April
probably will exceed them all. The
receipts, he says. have been mounting
higher for six months.
what some people call the orgy OF
spending has not exhausted Itself,
said Mr.. Edwards to-day. but my
men. in their talks with merchants and
Others who pay the great bulk of the
taxes, have been told that the peak
OF extravaganza seems to have been
reacher and that a period of Tetreneh'
ment is close at hand.
owe hear lot about the income and
excess profits tax which falls due IN
the spring of every year and about the
hardships of meeting it but the fact Is
that the steadiest tax, and one which Is
least felt by the public of which we
hear very little. is the luxury impost.
The poorer chap, who buys his girl an
leo cream soda. doesn't grimble at tho
penny or two tax any more than does
the rich youth. who presents his
fiancee with an diamond tiara or a
Nzs.A.~ d nc no
item is SO small as compared with the
expenditure.
"A kings ransom was spent for
candy last December but the biggest
revenue came from dealers in jcwelry.
furs and automobiles. The theatres
showed that in January they did an
unusually prosperous business. When
persons start to economic they rs
ually cut out amusements but in Jan
uarv. in the borough of Manhattan
alone. S7s3, sol.43 was paid in taxes.
Multiply that by ten and you will get
some idea of how much father kniclI-
crbocker and his guests are paying to
be- entertained at just the theatres.
There are no indications of any panic
In these figures The man who said:
Always be bull on the great L. ). A
seems To be indicated.
AN interesting thing about the lux
urv tax is that more revenue rs being
derived from ice cream sodas and other
small sales, which carry a penny or
two of tax. than there is from the sale
of motor cars. diamonds and other lux
uries Druggists paid large SUN on
expensive perfumes and cosmetics.
Every manufacturer, producer or i'm
pcrter Is required to make such returns
as viii clearly show each taxable
transaction in the sale of certain goods
and these are verified by revenue Of
hcers. Section o04 Of the revenue act
OF 1918. provides that on and after
Nav !, 1919. the tax Of 10 per cent
shall be levied and collected on lux
uries. including many kinds of exPen-
siye articles in daily use. In the sale
OF these articles the dealer acts as
collection agent for the government.
other taxes are paid in the form OF
stamps.
"one of the reasons for the falling
of in the receipts Of income and eN-
erss profits taxes this year was the
deduction which The taxpayer made for
sums which he paid to the government
for luxury. proprietary and other tax
g.. Here is an illustrations; Let US
saw that a man takes his wife to the
theatre twice a week. lie pays SO each
time he goes for two tickets. The tax
on each of the seats is 30 cents. On
four seats a week he pays sl.20 and in
one wear S62 40. He Is privileged 20
deduct that from his net income be-
fore computing his income tax. The
same rule would apply to any other
tax he may have paid TO the govern
ment during the year. A person. how
ever. Is required to prove that he actu-
ally expended the money for luxuries
If any question is raised on ms re
turn. There have been comparatively
few attempts at evasion. In fact, the
amount received by this Office in lux
urv. and other taxes j. a monument to
the honesty Of the majority Of the peo-