Douglas daily dispatch., 1927-03-22
INCOME TAXES in
ARIZONA EXCEED
FORMER RETURNS

revenue office on Monday and Tues
day for payment of income taxes.
keeping the entire office force on the
/ alert until the small hours of The
morning, has written prosperity for
Arizona. The tax returns will exceed
by thousands Of dollars those received
last year, John r. Towles United
! States collector OF internal revenue
Tor. the district OF arizona said yester-
day.
Tuesday midnight brought to a
close probably the most satisfactory
filing period experienced by the office
I9in this state" Collector Towles stat
ed "This years collections were
handled by much smaller force and
at less expense than before and the
receipts are proving to be larger.
,, While it is TOO early to know just
exactly how much the gain will be, it
5fs almost certainsth that it will be sub
.stantial. When it is all said and done,
, "A rizona will have done it's share to
Esreal success.
Arizona Ahead
Even after the gain has been as
+ .
certained, the figures Will show only
part of the gain which the state
could fairly claim. For example, this
year thousands of dollars in taxes
We're collected in New York and other
eastern states that were formerly paid
here One corporation alone will pay
more than $4,000 in the east that was
formerly paid here. In spite of all this,
this years income tax viii be ahead
eof that collected last year and Arizona
will lead many other western states,
New Mexico, Idaho, Nevada and Wy
oming for example It will also top
the Dakotas.
Returns Unfair to State
"To get some idea of what this
payment of taxes in other states mean,
consider the year ending June 80, 1926
when the collection in this state was
$1,9S2,79O, and II per cent increase
over 1925. OF course, we are going to
top that period this year, but that is
not the whole story 1t is estimated
that about $15,0O0,000 in taxes are
being paid in New York and other dis
tricts by mining companies, railroads,
chain stores and other enterprises
operating in Arizona where their earn
ings were made. If it We're possible to
readily segregate the amount of tax
es paid ON incomes in this state the
increase in the size of the tax paid
would be interesting. OF course, it
makes no difference to the governs
ment where the taxes are turned in
but it spoils a goods comparison and
might give }outsiders. an 8, idea that
Arizona is not as busy or as thrifty a
state as it is. The Joke of the thing
is. that we prepare a great part of
the returns filed in other states.
Arizona Doing It's Part
i"The treasury department recently
estimated that with the income tax
i1s, the surplus in the treasury would
be about S60O,0O0,O00. 1t is crafty
ing to know that Arizona is doing
it's share in contributing to that great
sum which Will go to bringing about
reduction in federal taxes orr in.
the national debt.
Burden Shifted to Corporations
Collector Towles said that corpora
tions are paying the great bulk of
the taxes in Arizona A raise in the
corporation rate of taxation from Is
to 1875 per cent has done some to raise.
their taxes and the raising the amount
of exemptions for the working men
and the small salaried man has low
cred their taxes, thus bringing about
shifting in the burden from the
poor man or the man of moderate
means to the corporations, he said.
i
that $1,000 was the amount exempt
ed for the single person and $4,000 for
the married person. Two hundred
dollars exemption was allowed for
each dependent The new law raised
the exemption for the single person
to- $500 and for the married $4,000.
Exemptions on account of dependents
was raised from 5000 to $500 for each
dependant The effect of this is that
this year the single person was tax
ed only a few dollars and the mar
ried ones in many Instances escaped
tax altogether he remarked.
Public Responds
The collector said that this year,
more than before, the general public
responded to the call to file returns
early. 11G Sdiu lIldl dIIIOuSu lie utlO
not been able to do away with the
rush to file during the last few days
of the filing period, it had been less
ened much.
Most of the people took advantage
of the offer to come in early and get
personal attention This year L con-
Quoted little educational campaign
by touring the state and telling the
people what the internal revenue Of
flee was and what it could do for
their advantage. 1t brought splendid
results. Next year [ am going at it'll
stronger than this year and / think
it will not be long before late filings
will be a rarity. 1 must not forget to
say that the press has been of ines
timable assistance in this campaign
Of educations and in many other ways
in assisting the revenue office. Splen-
did cooperation fwm the office of the
secretary of the treasury, Andrew Mel
Ion and from the office of the com
missioner of internal revenue, d. H
Blair did much to make the matter of
tax collection in Arizona much less
Of n +ocl1 +I,oD If cou1d have hean