The New York herald., 1922-12-06
NEARLY HALF CHEAT
STATE INCOME TAX
Big Percentage of Persons
Subject to Levy Said to
Falsify Returns.
CITY AIRS FIRST CASE
Woman Held Despite Plea
She Did Not Intend to
Evade Law.
FORCES ARE INADEQUATE
Actress Who Charged Off Silk
Stockings Every Day Cited
as Typical Dodger.
FORCES ARE INADEQUATE

Twenty per cent. OF the persons sub
ject to taxation under the State personal
income tax law are lodging this obli-
cation deliberately. and similar or
even greater number are falsifying their
Income tax statements in deliberate vio-
la tion of the law.
These estimates were made yesterday
by Deputy State Tax Commissioner
James S. Y. WINS in discussing the case
OF Mrs. Jennie NJ. Robinson. 20 years
old, a dress designer OF 264 Fort Wash
ington avenue. who was arraigned in
Tombs court charged with violation Of
the State income tax law and held in
5000 bail for the Court OF Special Ses-
sions by Magistrate Nolan, The COM
plaint was made by Niles r. Becker.
Bureau. 23S Broadway. who alleged that
Mrs. Robinson failed to file return to
the State on her income of sG.175 In the
year 1920.
In support of his allegation Mr..
Becker filed an affidavit by Helen Gu
dert, bookkeeper for A. Traina & Co..
dress manufacturers of 1876 Madison
avenue, which indicated that Mrs. Robin
son, then Miss Jennie Moskowitz had
been paid that amount in salary during
the year 1920. Assistant District At
torney Purcell said that tho case was
the first of It's kind brought In New
York city.
Now Earns 800 Daily.
Sol Friedland of 2s1 Broadway. at
torney for Mrs. Robinson, pleaded not
guilty for her, waived examination and
said that the woman who now earns q
salary of 800 a day, had not intention
ally violated the law.
In making his estimate of the number
OF tax dodgers Mr.. Wins said that fewer,
than dozen persons have been reported
by the auditors for prosecution and OF
this number only a few actually have
been brought into court The great
trouble we have" he said, ''ls that our
corps of Investigators. not to mention
our clerical force. is entirely Inadequate.
We have only fourteen men covering
six counties, included in which is the
city of New York. Why, It would take
these fourteen men half year to cover
the Equitable Building properly. The
| Federal Government has 800 men cover
can get affidavits or other papers from
employers or other sources showingg
that the persons have deliberately at
| tempted to defraud We are going to
| prosecute vigorously. but OF course there
are many ways of concealing incomes.
"A good example OF what we are UP
against might be shown in n case which
I have under consideration. There is
an actress living on Riverside Drive who
has an income something like $4,000
| a year. and yet by various means she is
able TO cut her statement OF net income
-iown to about $4,000. One of these
means is the cost OF her silk stockings.
According to her income statement. she
wore out so many pairs OF stockings as
part OF the expenses Of her profession
We figured the matter up and found
that she was wearing out two pair OF
tockings to each performance. OF
course, II she were q dancer that might
be believed, but she has society part
which does not appear to be especially
hard on footwear. Besides this there
was an item of several hundred dollars
TO keep these stockings In repair. And
this lady with her $4,000 net income.
lives In n $4,000 apartment and comes
into my office wearing a $4,000 fur
coat.
Many Pinch OFF Part.
our greatest loss In tax dodging
comes not from those who avoid the tax
altogether but from those who conceal
the greater part OF their incomes. | am
unable 10 put any estimate on these
amounts but | should say they are very
large
THE Legislature does not handle the
tax collecting In a business way. II
would be very good business for them
TO Increase the number of investigators
as well as our Office force. Each of the
fourteen men l mentioned are turning
I'm eight times their salaries with ex-
penses. III We had 140 men, each would
do equally we'll. Last. year, with our
office force we succeeded by means OF
lacking up letters TO doegens. in OBJ
tanning $4,000 which would Have been
lost TO the State. With three times
that force we could increase that
amount TO Si50.0O0.
Setting the clerical hire at $1,000
for each person the return would be
about s5 for each dollar expended. IL
would be mighty good business. hut the
Legislature doesn't look at II that way.
They like to go before the people with
a record OF low appropriations. Even II
the return only paid for the Increased