Evening star., 1925-09-02
TAX PUBLICITY,
ISSEEN AS FIXTURE
Congress Not Likely to Order
Repeal at Behest OF
Directors.
BY DAVID LAWRENCE.

However much the taxpayinE public
may dislike the publicity of income tax
returns, he would he a venturesome
prophet who predicted that the pro
vision of the law would he repealed.
on the contrary. there Is every reason
IN believe that the publicity Of income
tax returns has come to stay.
While President Coolidge and the
administra tion generally want the pro
vision repealed. the sentiment Of &C T.
cress is still the other way. The rea-
son for this is that the proponents Of
repeal have not been able to show
what real harm has been done by pub
licity. Many persons who would pre-
fer secrecy are the minority of the
taxpayers, because from reports re-
ceived here it is evident that the small
taxpayer is rather indifferent about
the publicity given.
Benefit of Law Questioned.
There is nothing To show, on the
other hand. that inCome-taX publicity
Is of direct benefit 10 the Government.
Even so, Congress would not be dis
posed to repeal a law which fails to
achieve benefit that can he proved.
Congress on the whole, regards the
interesting reflex of what people of
wealth are really acquiring from year
10 wear. The best analogy il the in
formation made available by the Gov
ernment and various States with re-
spect to corpora tions. Much of the
data is of no direct value. hut II is
obtained and recorded year in and
year out for some possible use as yet
undetermined.
Of he NJ CONGRESS-
who favor the ret teRtion Of the law
say that it Is a good thing to know
what various individuals and particu-
larry corporations are earning. Labor
unions are naturally interested and
while business concerns can prove
that income tax figures have been
used against them it means again,
Congress has refused TO become stir
ed up about it.
Furore Soon Dies Down.
Probably the greatest furore over
publicity was that of year ago. but
when Congress came back from re-
cess a canvass showed only hand
ftt of members who cared enough
about il 10 make fight. As for the
administration it will have its hands
fun keeping the radical elements in
Congress from SucCe eSsfully opposing
the reduction of surtaxeS.
In the future. as in the past. the
publicity provision will become a
trading point. SO long as the harm
done is relatively ST. little that Con
gress regards it indifferently. the in
ference will be that there is benefit in
retaining the publicity clause and
Congress will he guided by that prin-
ciple.
Another reason why the law will
stay is that as rates are reduced from
year TO year the number of Ia axpayers
paying diminishing amounts will in
crease. Small Taxpayer are not clam
oring for the repeal. If. as assumed.
the large taxpayers will make more
money under lower rates. then it is be
Iieved that the publicity of returns
will never show the total amounts
sarned
Tendency Toward Conceatment.
Human nature tends toward con
cealment of what might he regarded
as sfexcessive earnings. Even today the
publicity provisions are being evaded.
in that incomes are heing distributed
through corporations whose legal
names are little used and not immedi-
ately recognizable by the public. The
total tax amounts to the same thing
but in the printed lists IL may be di-
vided into five or six parts. Measures
of this kind will protect the large cor
porations and make the publicity pro-
vision less effective
As the opposition from large corpo-
rationS diminishes there will he rela-
lively little pressure to repeal the law.
The number of individuals who pay
large taxes is not large enough 10
force a change in public sentiment.