Albuquerque morning journal. [volume] (Albuquerque, N.M.) 1903-1926, 1922-07-27
ARE YOU SUPER
OR SINGLE AS
MILLIONAIRE?
BY FREDERIC J. HAsKIN.

may mean one thing or
it may mean another. To the av-
erage person millionaire is
man who is the fortunate possessor
of 100000. To some of those
who study the statistics of income
published by the internal revenue
bureau of the treasury a million
aire is not one who possesses
81, 100000 but one who has an in
come of s1.000,00O a year or more.
Such man must possess fortune
OF many millions of dollars.
The vicissitudes of these super
millionaires, most of whom were
created by the war, is an interest
ing story There may be some fic-
ton in it, also. 1t is difficult to
determine whether the statistics
reflect actual vicissitudes of for
tune or Tjugglery of figures, but the
figures must be taken at their face
valuei and the assumption made
that they constitute a true report.
IF that be true, the super-million-
aires of the United States came
and went in the war years as sum-
mer insects come and go, but there
are many still buzzing around.
In 1914, the first year in which
the great war in Europe changed
the face of the world and turned
the channels of business, D there
were so persons in the United
States who reported incomes of
1000, 900 a year or more. The
internal revenue bureau has no
higher classification than this, but
it is said that if the classifications
were carried upward, it would be
found that there are incomes of
$40, 100000 year and more.
BY 1915 the crop of super-mil-
lionaires had doubled. There were
100 persons who returned income
of 100000 year and over. In
1916 the number had reached
zoo. This was the peak. nj 1917.
the figures had fallen to 141;. but
in 1918 1t was 81; in 1919, s.; and
in 1920 there were but SO Ameri-
cans reporting incomes of $1,000
600 a year and over.
When They DwindIed.
Observers of these matters see
n coincidence in the fact that the
great incomes began to dwindle in
the same year that the United
States entered the war and laid
heavy taxes and surtaXes on in
comes. The figures are supposed
to give, not the taxable income
merely, but the total net income.
That is, these amounts were re-
turned whether taxable or not
The point is made that the great
incomes did not actually fall off
when the United States entered the
war so sharply as has been indi-
Gated, but that by some mysteri-
Gus manipulation. they were kept
out of the returns. That may be
fact and it may be that the bene-
ficiaries of these vast incomes,
realizing that a large proportion
of their funds would be taken by
the income tax collector, began in
1915 to distribute their property to
heirs or to dissipate it in other
ways.
The 100000 fortune seems to
be about the most steady. OF
these, paying incomes of $780,
900 a year, there were 233 in
1914; 3S6 in 1915; 726 in 1916;
703 in 1917; 401 in 1918; 522 in
1919, and S07 in 1920. A steady,
healthy growth Is shown up to
the peak in 1916 and then fall
ing off; but result at the close
of the period showing a substan-
tial gain in this class over 1914.
The other net gains over 1914 are
notable also.
There were in 1914, lat possess
sors Of $3,000.O00 and in 1920,
1863. Those with S4,OOO,0O0 estates
in 1914 numbered Go while in
1920 there were 70. Those with
$5,OO0,000 numbered ia in 1914
and 1913 in 1920. The highest
single class of all for the period
was that composed of persons
with $1,000,000 in 1917. There
were $500 in that class alone in
1917. the year the United States
entered the war.
The possessors of these great
fortunes are the persons who
pay the bulk of the government
taxes. While the average tax
paid by the man with a $4,000
income in 1920 was but $3.50.
the average tax paid by the sin
gle-millionaire was $39,519.71 and
the average tax paid by the
super millionaire was S1,490,-
457.12.
In the aggregate the large num-
per or small salaried persons re-
ceived more income than the
super millionaires. In 1920 the net
income of persons with incomes
ranging from $1,000 to $4,000
year reached the gigantic aggre-
gate of $4,05O,066,61S while the
group of super-millionaires had
to content themselves with an
aggregate income of only $77,O7S,-
1873. But the income of $4,000
o66,61S received by the relative
~ poor people had to be divided
among 2,671,950 while the super
mililonaires had their s77,078,139
TO divide among only SO.
While the $4,000 income class
which received an aggregate in
come of $4,05O,066,6lS paid a
total tax of only $36,S59,7S2. the
super-millionaire class with an
aggregate income of only ST.
07S,139 paid the greater sum of
S49,lS5,OS5. That the rich people
OF the country bear by far the
greater part of the tax burden
IS shown by the fact that all the
income classes from $1,000 a year
up to $4,000 year paid but $26l.-
ooo,oOO in 1920, while the classes
ranging above $4,000 a year all
the way UP to the super-million-
aires paid total OF $S0S.O0O.
ooO. These figures are for 1920
winch was a year of high wages
IN the lower classes, but a poor
year for millionaires. The explain
alton is found in the fact that
the average rate of tax in the
$4,000 class was but 1.l9 per cent
IN 1870 compared to GAGS per
cent for the super millionaires.
II the normal definition OF a
millionaire is used, the statistics
are astounding. Assuming that a
millionaire Is one who has an estate