Evening public ledger. [volume] (Philadelphia [Pa.]) 1914-1942, 1922-03-15
CROWDS AND THE INCOME TAX
AND THE DAYS OF RECKONING
A Revenue System That 10 Cumbersome,
Costly and Trial to the
country's Patience

WrERE do they come from, those mar
w vclously efficient. bland and good l.
humored clerks in the income tax Office
They tighten intolerable burdens for the folk
whose minds weren't made for mathematics.
and they do marvels with figures without half
trying, and behave meanwhile like cheerful
friends of all mankind.
They are philosophical. little more
philosophical than the Income taxpayers
themselves. who in these days Of reckoning
present an extraordinarily reassuring and
significant spectacle as they count out their
money and squint meticulously over unwieldy
forms and make all sorts Of sacrifices in
obedience to that instinct for orderly co.
operation--an instinct beyond analysis--that
is the final proof of enlightened citizenship.
Nolstead laws. tomfoolery in Congress.
wild and futile experiments in patcrnaism.
the congressional bias and blundering Of
which the income tax system is merely ad-
ditional proof have not shaken or impaired
the average mans faith and confidence in
The Government or lcssencd his feeling Of
responsibility toward It. 1t is The Govern
ment. 1t wouldn't be decent to lie to it,
to withhold from it'anythng that YOU can
give SO runs the composite. unspoken
opinion of the great American majority.
Doubtless few persons cheat and lie and
evade in the presence of the income tax
collector. But they are very few. This Is
partly because Government departments
manage somehow TO be amazingly efficient
and more largely because the average man
cannot lose and does not want to lose the
sense of something like reverence with which
he has been accustomed to regard that alb
stracton, that reflection of his own better
self. which is The Government.
Those who lightly call the income tax day
crowds the Liars Club are superficial OBJ
servers. The patience and whole hearted
ness of the publics reaction to the demands
of harassed Treasury have made Euro
peans wonder. You have only to listen in
the crowded Offices in the Federal Building.
1T says here that you We got to put every
cent You make in and "Aw go on; you
cant get by with that with The Government.
Trying to make believe that you spent 500
for silk shirts" or They need the money,
I guess, or they wouldn be asking for it.
What's per cent of S1S00:'
So it goes to the scratching of bad pens.
There are no billionaires, no corporation
lawyers in the crowds at the Postoffice. The
people are of the plain rank and file. They
are magniticently social. minded without
knowing it. No wonder the burden is made
to fall heaviest upon them. They have al.
ways borne most of the burdens They are
the hope and dependence of the land-of all
lands. They are Sons of Martha. And they
are Martha's daughters.
The question that presents itself violently
to any sensible person who stands by to
watch the spectacle of income day is
this: How far can Congress safely or de-
Gently 60 in imposing unequal and unneces.
sary hardships on these best of Americans
on the people who do most Of the working
and paying and worrying for the country?
For the present income-tax system is not
only inequitable and even unfair. 1t is a
nuisance which clever and patient adminis-
tration can only slightly relieve.
1t puts the greater part Of the tax burdens
upon people who are either too decent or too
good -natured to descend to the ugly business
of cheating and evasion. Moreover, there
are clauses in some Of the tax forms which
without the aid Of lawyer or an expert
accountant.
1t is not too much to say that the whole
scheme of special revenue, as Congress has
devised it. is wrong. A great many persons
who were prosperous last year are not pros
porous now. Yet they are liable TO all the
awful penalties reserved for income tax
evnders, even if they are unable to beg or
borrow the money to pay the tolls assessed
against their vanished prosperity. For such
As these Congress exhibited no concern. It
went to the limits of ungraciousness when it
so devised it's laws that income taxes come
due in the seasons when it Is hardest to
pay--a few days before Christmas. few
days after the end Of summer VACATIONS,
Tax laws ought to be simplifed. Taxes
should be directly levied in some way or
another that will relieve relatively moor
people Of sudden drains on their diminishing
incomes. Even sales tax would be prefer
able to the present costly and fearfully com
plicat"d and cumbersome system. What is
needed is n system under which the average
man could pay his dues bit by bit and day
by day and without the Quizzins and oues-
tioning of Government agents or the hard
ship of periodical heavy expenditures which,
often enough, he cannot afford.
Congress will have to change the income
tax laws. There are limits even to the
patience, the good will and the good hrpor
Of the average American.
----------