Evening star. [volume] (Washington, D.C.) 1854-1972, 1929-06-23
BY WALTER n. ATKINS.
@HE rule Of tax honesty Is obeyed
by an overwhelming majority
Of American taxpayers.

Z NO less an aubnOTICy GIldT
David II. Blair, for the past
eight years Commissioner of Internal
Revenue. vouches for that assertion.
And Mr.. Blair knows the American
tax conscience.
His appraisal of the ax-mindedness
OF the people is that OF qualified ex,
pert. For in eight busy years he has
Hlrned into the United States Treasury
$4,000, 100000 internal revenue tax
money.
He has bossed the job of auditing
$4,000, 900 tax returns. The Treasury
points with pride to the fact that 99la
skper cent of these have been finally
CLOSED on the Governments books.
There is much to interest us in the
confident assurance that the other fell
low is also square in his tax dealings
with the Government
AS taxpayers and business men and
women you are deeply interested, too,
in getting a better closeup view of the
task of collecting the stupendous sums
needed to run the Government.
Business Methods Prevail.
Safeguards and procedure, as ade-
0uate in their scope as human in
/ genuity can devise, have been set up
to assure maximum compliance with
Federal tax requirements. real
achievement in injecting more modern
businesslike methods into this great
Government activity stands to the last
ing credit of Secreatry OF the Treasury
A w. Mellon and to Mr.. Blair, his
chief adviser in Federal tax matters for
anearly q decade.
1t Is fine to know, from such unim-
Npeachable authority, that taxpayers as
class are on the level with the Gov
eminent. Those who are not on the
level have learned to their sorrow that
Il tc ho hest TNnlicU in transact
;tions with the Government, as In all
business matters.
To be sure, there are tax evaders.
but such cases are rare exceptions to
the general rule of tax honesty. Be-
cause it is the exception, the glaring
case of tax law disobedience gets the
fig headlines,
/ what Mr.. Blair has seen from his
intimate inside vantage point-and
what the public cannot SEES the
great mass Of confidential tax records
in the Treasury files, with an almost
inexhaustible store of knowledge as to
the taxpayers income sources. Here
is provided the index to the average
taxpayers honesty.
In literally hundreds of ways 1t Is
thus possible to determine whether or
not taxpayer, big or little, attempts
TO cheat the Government.
A glimpse at the inside workings OF
the Federal tax-collecting machine,
which Mr.. Blair gives us, shows con-
vincingly that after we have made our
! tax return and paid what is justly due
I the Government can be relied upon to
see that the other fellow also meets
his full tax obligation. Further, our
confidence In Government is strength
| ened by the knowledge that tax laws
: are being executed with highest eff
: cheney, with uniform fairness and i'm
partially to all the people and for their
! welfare. Certainly, accomplishments
! in Federal tax law administration to
facilitate collection of public tax money
the administrations of the past eight
! years.
Questions which Arise.
Assured that the other fellow is pay
Eng the Government what he owes,
/ your interest probably Is aroused also
In these among other questions:
What are the Governments safe
| guards against tax evasion? What has
been done to bring the taxpayer and
Government closer together? To what
! extent has red tape been siashed? How
system? What OF the effect of the
! decentralized system of collecting Fed
eral tax money!
Mr.. Blair met these questions, and
many more, with characteristic frank
ness the other day. as We talked at
the Treasury TIE had just turned over
the affairs OF his ONCE to his success
! sor, Robert H. Lucas of Kentucky:
cleared up his desk and prepared for
a vacation. one of the few he has had
since taking over the revenue helm
at the outset of President Harding S
administration.
The Governments attitude toward
& l. - -
1t was made clear. A higher ideal of
public service has grown up and a
relationship of helpful cooperation
established bewteen the taxpayer and
the Government.
Fear Not Factor.
Federal taxes are not - collected
tax laws are not administered in that
1.-THE righteous taxpayer can look the
tax collector squarely in the eye and
= tell him I'm glad to see you
IF the unrighteous taxpayer suffers
from the lashes Of his own conscience
he must realize that he has brought
it upon himself by his own wrongdoing
and it is unfair to hold the Internal
Revenue Bureau responsible for suffer-
ing Of this kind
THE revenue agent is the taxpayers
friend, but he is a human being. If
he is met in the right spirit. he will
come to the taxpayer and help him
work out his problems. II the tax
payer has made mistakes against him
self these will be pointed out to him
The revenue agents sole purpose is to
get the correct answer to the indivi-
duafs tax problem. He should always
be accepted in that spirit.
I'm complicated transactions repu-
fable Ia ND Mt
most helpful to the taxpayer and to
the Internal Revenue Bureau.
But many taxpayers, to their Sor-
row, will testify that the $3.50 expert
who promises to save his clients most
of their taxes, and get favors for them
that other taxpayers cannot get, has
LED them into enormous expense, into
untold grief. and, in many instances
into the very door of prison.
Such practitioners deserve extreme
punishment. But the taxpayer who
too willingly follows, knowing in hi
heart that he Is wrong, cannot expect
to escape, and he has no right to cen.
sure the bureau for the suffering he has
brought upon himself"
A fraudproof system of tax auditing
and for detection of tax delinquents
functions with rare smoothness. It ]:
next to impossible to beat the Govern
n1ent out Of taxes The revenue intel.
ligence corps is the best ever recruited
by the Government The hunt fol
aevaders knows no stopping when ia,
lodging is suspected.
Is Few Escape Detection.
There are literally thousands Of
chstks on q taxpayers honesty. The
Government knows how to determine
astaxpayer's liability from its vast mum
Der of confidential information records
For instance, 100000 information
-renorfS, are sent to the bureau eact