The New York herald., 1922-12-17
The Bootlegger's Letter
Which Contained No Cash

"Then we have the tokester--the
man who is making game of US. Got
a very fine return the other day
without any money--from an Italian
IN New York who said he had male
$3.50 000 gross in the bootlegging busi-
ness. He showed n gross income of
S239. 900 for bribes 10 Federal prohibi-
tion officers. At the bottom OF the
return he put. God bless Uncle Sam
and the prohibition fool Blu: in the
place where the tax should be com
puted he put, Tax TO be paid after
death.
THE man who wrote this letter put
his name and address on it and APP
parcntly expected a reply:
LET me know If I should charge
depreciation on my wife's good looks
We grow old. you know. and some
dimes her kisses cost me money. Mav
] take out such sum as expenses? can
YOU also tell me il tho State COLLECTS
income tax on regular "hooch" sold
in New York city for from IS TO $50
a bottle and - cents to 81 "A drink?
Surely there must be a profit in hooch
at such fancy prices
Then there was the fellow who sent
us his shirt he didn't even have &
laundered lie sent il in by parcel
post with n little note saying. 'YoI
have taken everything else; you might
just as well have this
"The taxpayers who are annoyed l"-
cause I'VE don't believe their absurd
propositions. or because we insist on
following the rule laid down by the
Supreme Court of the United States or
the Court Of Appeals in the consuuc-
ton of some section. write us some
of Tho lovelicst letters OF vituperation
you ever saw. They are going to wipe
out tho income tax. usually they ARE
going 10 vote against the Governor.
whichever Governor it happens to be.
or they are going TO protest TO the
Governor and have the staff of tho in
come tax bureau fired. We started at
one time to keep a file OF copies Of
those letters but they got so common
they were not interesting. The tax
payer who is usually the hardest ON
us is the one who has had "A deduction
disallowed IN 1919. has claimed the
same item in 1920 and has had IL dis
allowed, and has gone on and claimed
lllt rttiil' AAIiAA Ut AF-Af anu HAS Nff'l
subjected 70 a penalty. That is the
fellow that is going TO vote the Coz
crnor out OF office and arrange With
the new Government TO hang. draw
and quarter the whole income tax tu-
reau.
But there are e9h per cent. who
are decent and OF them there are quite
"a number who arc willing 20 express
their appreciation. Letters come 20
my attention all the time in which
different units OF the bureau are
thanked for the courtesy and dispatch
with which they have handled cases.
Those things help TO cheer us up
They counteract some OF the black
thoughts that grow on us as we audit
absurd returns. unreasonable returns.
crooked returns and read letters OF
vltuperation and threat from dissats-
fed cranks. Now you know how 1t T.
how discouraglng Il is 10 work
along. getting all the knocks and
kicks that are coming your way and
20 have only rarely n word OF thanks
or encouragement. I think the very
fact that the publican gets so little
appreciation when he does satisfac-
tory work IS responsible In very large
part for the bureaucratic attitude. As
said in tho beginning. the public
thinks harshly OF the publican. but
that isn't a patch on what the pub
licau thinks OF the public. Now If the
public would be a little moro liberal
in their attitude toward the publican
very likely the publican would be
more kindly in his feeling toward the
public and they would get along bet
ter together