The Washington times. [volume] (Washington [D.C.]) 1902-1939, 1924-03-08
RAP INTERNAL
REVENUES !.
ABUSES
Industrial Conference Board
Makes Many Charges
in a Report.
BY international News Service

mand Tor drastic reforms In the
administration Of the Federal in
come tax laws, supported by a re-
cital Of alleged abuses ascribed
to the lack of competent men in
the Bureau of Internal Revenue,
to policy Of secrecy in thousands
Of rulings and to irritation to
business interests in forcing bank
ruptcies and the loss of millions
of dollars, are made in a report
issued today by the National In
dustrial Conference Board for the
information Of Congress and the
public. !"
Report By Business Men.
The report was prepared by a
COMMITTEE Of leading business men
and economists. and is the result of
several months of special study of
the Federal system of tax admins.
tration. This study, the report
asserts, has revealed conditions
which have $50 antagonized some
| taxpayers that they are led to in.
dulge in similar tactics Of delay and
opposition which under other cir,
cumstances they would have hest.
tated to adopt" The report is to
be widely circulated among leading
industrialists Immediately
Appointment Of a Congressional
Commission to investigate the
labuses complained Of is demanded in
the report. Stress is laid upon the
fact, as first developed by the con.
ference board in advance of the
Mellon plan last Fall, that the ma
TONS tax bill still eats up one
eighth Of the income received by
every man, woman and child in
America, and that 1t has doubled In
the slast ten years.
The practice of officials of the
Government leaving Federal service
and becoming tax experts" to ''prey
upon taxpayers largely as a result
of conditions which they themselves
have helped bring about" IS also
condemned.
Referring to the Mellon plan now
before Congress. the committee
points out in its report that it
touches only in part the simplifica-
ton of the income-tax machinery
Other major problems remain, it is
asserted, and the whole tax struc-
ture requires intensive study and
| investigation by competent body.
only in this way" says the report,
can the country secure that thor.
ough revision of the Federal tax
system which is needed in the in.
terest OF the national welfare"
| Although no announcement has
been previously made of the work
of the committee, it has been under
stood in Industrial and financial
circles for some time that the re-
port would signalize demands upon
the part of the business interests
of the nation to remove the taxa
ton problem from political hands
| as far as possible. The National
Industrial Conference Board, which
| issued the report, is the research
| organization Of a large number of
the leading Industrial and manu-.
| featuring associations of the coun-
try, and the report, 1t is announced.
received the approval of the board
membership before 1t was made
available for Congress.
SimplificatiOn Is Vital.
Commenting upon the Mellon
plan, which it praises SO far as it
goes, the report demands changes
and Simplification of the admins.
trative machinery and procedure.
ut should be the aim Of sound ad.
ministration," says the report, Ito
! accomplish this end with a mini.
mum of irritation to the taxpayer
and minimum of ineQuity as be.
| tween taxpayers.
dissatisfaction with our present
administration Of the income tax
Is heard on all Sides" saws the
report, which adds that the com.
plants are justified. Business
firms are sometimes confronted
with assessments that are many
times the tax as finally determined:
but the final determination of, the
tax often takes years, and in the
meantime the threatened tax makes
impossible extensions and improve.
ments which are necessary. Such
procedures frequently entail heavy
costs to the taxpayer for legal and
auditing services and in time and
effort expended in reviews and
hearings"
The excess profits tax "intensi.
fled the confusion and multiplied
the difficulties" besetting the tax
burden on business, and irritation
OF the business community, 1t is
declared, was, Of course, inevitable.
1.-THE wonder is not that there
was crudeness and inequity, with
attendant dissatisfaction" says the
report, but that there was so much
that was admirable"
Seven Proposals.
"The time has come" it is as.
serted further, when taxpayers
may rightly insist upon a better
administration than has been the
case heretofore" Seven major
recommendations for reforms are
then outlined by. the committee,
which Is composed of the following:
Charles A. Andrews, chairman Of
Merrill & Oldham, Boston Prof.
Thomas s. Adams, of Yale Univer.
sity, economic adviser to the
Treasury Department and to the
House Ways and Means Committee:
Magnus w. Alexander, managing
director Of the National Industrial
Conference Board, New York; Paul
Armitage, of Douglas, Armitage &
Mccain, New York; Wilson Comp.
ton, National Lumber Manufac-
| turers' Association, Washington: A.
L. Green, Farr Alpaca Company,
Holyoke, Mass; A. e. Holcomb,
American Telephone and Telegraph
Company, New York: Charles
Cheney, Cheney Brothers, South
| Manchester, Conn.,: L.. r. I,oroo
Delaware and Hudson Company,
New York; III. G. Mckenzie, Ameri-
can Farm Bureau Federation, Wal