Twelve for Justice

Twelve of the Board of Tax Appeals, which has been created by the new Revenue Act, assembled together for the first time. Garrard B. Winston, Under Secretary of the Treasury, and Acting Secretary in Mr. Mellon's absence, addressed them with pellucid words. He told the Board what was expected of it.

Until the present time, he explained, when a case that was at all doubtful came before the Revenue Bureau, it was decided against the taxpayer. The Bureau could not decide against itself and then bring suit against the taxpayer. So the poor taxpayer had to pay the assessment, just or not, and then sue to recover it. If the taxpayer won, he had settled, at his cost, the doubts of the tax-collectors.

Under the new system, in a dubious case, taxpayer and Treasury both present their views to the Board of Tax Appeals. If the Board decides in favor of the Treasury, then the taxpayer must pay first and sue afterwards, as at present. If the decision is in favor of the taxpayer, he pays what he thinks he should and the Treasury sues.

Mr. Winston added a few golden admonitions for the Board:

"If your Board permits its docket to become congested, the Government is delayed in the collection of its revenue and in order to operate must find revenue elsewhere. For the next few years, back-taxes are a very material part of the Government's receipts. During the last fiscal year they probably ran as high as $400,000,000. . . You should not permit yourselves to be lost in involved and tedious law suits. Make yourselves an administrative body to settle taxes. Give speedy decisions. To delay is to deny justice -both to the Government and the taxpayer."