The Topeka state journal. [volume] (Topeka, Kansas) 1892-1980, 1921-12-07
THAT MIsFIT TAX BILL.


Congress again is in session and it
appears not at all improbable that it
will be driven by popular clamor to
undertake = revision of the revenue
law passed just before adjournment
While the tilI made reductions in GER
tain tax schedules, it seems to be no
more understandable than the old
law and the cost of collection prom
iaes to remain as high as ever.
Already lose who have given the
new law careful attention point out
that the meaning of disturbing num-
Der of provisions is shrouded in mys-
terry hy ne language employed, and
that more questions even than in the
old law NUT be left to Interpretation
and, ruling by the revenue depart
meht.
How sch situations work out is
shown by the steady increase in cost
i of collecting the taxes for 1921. Ac-
cordin5 to the annual report OF the
bureau of internal revenue, tax re-
ceipts of the government during the
fiscal year decreased nearly a billion
dollars a. compared with the previous
year. while the cost of collections in
| creased 80 ,nts for each 800.
The cost administering the inter
nal revenue laws for the year was, in
round numbers, $4O,OOO,OOo, or 81
cents for each 500 collected, COM
pared with SIS cents for the preceding
! year. Some of this extra cost was due
to administration of the prohibition
and narcotic laws, but outside of these
the expenses were over $33,O00,o00, or
an equivalent of 70 cents for each
J 500 in tax-s collected.
The leport blames the increased
cost mainly to reduced collections and
increased expense in enforcing the
regulatory laws. There was also. it
says, an dditional expense, by reason
of the enlargement of the income tax
organization, in order to facilitate the
completion of the audit of the 1917
and 1918 returns, and to enable the
office to adjust a ,arge volume of con-
| tested claims that had accumulated.
The force last year of the internal
revenue bureau was about $500 men.
THE obscure and complicated charac-
| ter of tax provisions has kept the Du-
reau three or four years behind on
checking up, and now it has been
compelled to enlarge its force.
! This is striking contrast with the
! cost of { elections of the sales tax in
Canada, which the mayor. of Ottawa
infor. ed the visiting congressman
took a force of only forty men in the
whole province. The New York
American quotes him as follows:
My fore consists Of but forty
men We use various government Of
! fees thruout the country, so the cost
/ of collection is almost nil.
We use the 100 so-called superior
tax offices in the country. and in very
small places the customs officer col
/ lects the tax and turns it over to the
nearest superior tax office.
Because of our simple method of
checking up, there is no fraud. We
know instantly what tax is due from
manufacturers. wholesalers, jobbers,
I etc, and we know what every pro-
Queer in the country is doing.
! Take IS pair of shoes. The manu-
| factureF pays IL per cent, that is
/ tx cents. The wholesaler or retailer
pays a similar amount. The amounts
are so small that often the tax charge
is absorbed in the actual cost of goods
| to the wholesaler or retail purchaser.
| The consumer, then. pays only
! certain fixed sum and he is not fright
ened when he is told the price of an
article is so much. plus a sales tax.
/ This encourages purchases.
I have talked to and received re-
| ports from some OF the biggest cor
/ porations in the United States with
| Canadian branches. and they all as
| sert that there never was a tax so
| easy to collect and so fauItless both
| from their own standpoint and from
an administrative viewpoint, I have
not yet come across a single business
man or firm that has not said the
sales tax is fair.