Evening star., 1941-12-03

death.
Nowhere in the measure will you
find even a hint that the Govern
ment recognizes what all citizens
know as unexpected expenses. Un-
expected expenses are costly extra
items which all Of us run up against
every month of every year.
There is no foreseeing these ex-
tracurricular burdens. They come
Winging out of the nowhere to roost
on your budget book and put you
right back in the tight spot from
which you thought you had escaped.
What the hawk is to the f1edgling
the unexpected expense is to the
nest egg.
There is scarcely any use for me
to name the unexpected expenses.
You know. how it goes. Uncle Ben
(who was so nice to you when you
were a child falls down stairs and
needs something to tide him over
until his leg gets on the mend.
Junior, who one day appears to
have the soundest teeth since Sea-
biscuit, comes up the next with a
mouthful of cut-on-the num-
bers that have to be straightened
Immediately.
The coat you planned to make last
all winter suddenly shows signs OF
becoming a vest and no more, and
must be replaced.
The living room sofa gives way in
the middle, the battery on the car
wears out and you suddenly dis
cover two holes in the kitchen
| linoleum.
Now a government that was in
touch with the people would leave
an opening in the income tax for
just such financial setbacks as these.
| There would be a deduction granted
to honest citizens who suffered from
/ these and many more.
Perhaps the trouble lies in the
fact that we always have wealthy
Secretaries of the Treasury. Maybe
we need a poor man in charge OF
our finances, and not the likes Of
Morgenthau and Mellon.
Mr.. Morgenthau, who has never
had to join a Christmas club in his
life, can hardly be expected to see
eve to eye with the great majority
Of us who have never had money
enough to join one. I'll bet YOU We
never had a Secretary Of the Treas.
ury who. when an unexpected ex.
pense came up had to get out his
little savings bank book and with
draw most of the money he had
tucked away for a rainy day. II
we ever had one like this I believe
the income tax measures would Be
a trife more lenient.
The unfair thing about the whole
setup is that the Government takes
care of its own unexpected expenses
by whacking US. 1t never just sits
back and says. We'll, this is some
thing I can't afford" Russia came
up as an unexpected expense so We
get tapped and tapped.
! That wouldn't be so bad il the
Government would let the citizens
do the same thing But what kind
OF hearing do you think you'd get If
you wrote Washington and said
something like this:
Dear Uncle Sam:
Il am going to be late with my
income tax installment this month.
We have had influenza in the house,
my brothers brother-in-l had to
have fifty quick and the car has to
have a new crankshaft."
You know the answer You'd get
the old chill and be told to get 1t on
the line even If you had to get a
stick and beat some co-signers out
Of the bushes.
We haven't had a 4S-State grin
since c. Coolidge was riding me-
chanical horses and posing in feath-
cred war bonnets to help keep the
Sioux and Creek vote for the Re-
publicans. II the Government wants
to create national smile that will
start at Puget Sound and end in
Biscayne Bay 1t will put a clause in
the income tax measure that will
enable a fellow to deduct for that
universal pain in the wallet-the
unexpected expense
distributed By McNausht synd,ease. Incl