Evening star., 1937-04-16

shall not be subject to the provisions
of this act, unless resident Of the
District of Columbia
Who is resident Of the District OF
Columbia? The bill describes him as
follows: When a person domiciled
without the District o. Columbia
maintains place Of permanent abode
within the District and spends more
than three months Of the taxable year
within the District of Columbia, he is
a resident for the entire period during
which he maintains said permanent
place Of abode"
One Lucky Cabinet Member.
That is confusing, but, taken to-
gether with the specific definition OF
those exempt from the tax, some in
teresting possibilities are presented.
OF all the cabinet officers, only one
of them, the Postmaster General, is
appointed for "a definite term of
years" 1t happens, also, that Mr..
Farley, the Postmaster General, main
tains his permanent residence in New
York He would be exempt from the
tax on two counts.
But the status Of his fellow cabinet
members is left somewhat in doubt.
They are not exempt from the tax be-
cause they are not appointed for a
definite term of years. And as non-
residents they would apparently be
subject to the tax, regardless Of their
permanent place of abode"
The Controller General might be
exempt from the provisions Of the
tax, because he is appointed for
definite term Of years, although
the demands of his Office mean
that when he is appointed he will
be resident of the District Of Colum-
bia for at least is years. But An act-
ing Controller General would be sub
ject to the tax.
Many Senators and Representatives
have bought residential property for
their occupancy in the District or in
Maryland or Virginia.
Take the case of Senator "a" He
has bought comfortable home in
Chevy Chase, D. c., and has lived
there for years.
Senator "B." on the other hand, has
bought beautiful home in the hills
of Arlington County and has lived
there for years.
II Senator "A" was found to have q
permanent place of abode" in the
District by reason Of his Chevy Chase
property and its occupancy. he would
be subject to the tax even though q
member Of Congress.
But his colleague, Senator B.
would be exempt from the District tax
because he is a member of Congress
and maintains his permanent place Of
abode in Virginia. In Virginia he
would be exempt from the tax be-
cause he is Federal employe Yet
both the senatorial incomes are de-
rived from the same source.
Both Senators AS and BIS secre-
taries would pay the tax, no matter
where they may live. And so would
other Government employees.
Confusing as to Residence.
When it comes to "domicile" and
place of permanent abode" and other
such definitions relating to residence
for tax purposes, the laws of the States
and the decisions of the courts are
hopelessly confused, and there will be
added confusion here because of the
peculiar conditions relating to the Dis
trict.
Returning for moment to the curl
GUS exemption Of CongreS6men and
other officials elected or appointed"
for given term of years, the effect
OF such exemptions would be to allow
the higher-salaried Government en-
ployes to be free of the tax. while
leaving their less fortunate brethren in
the lower brackets as meat for the tax
collector. (See table,
Local Tax on Federal Workers.
Some competent experts on income
taxation have raised the question in
discussions with The Star Of the va