Futility

For years students of taxation have fought "intangible" taxes, i.e., Federal and State tariffs on gasoline, theatre tickets, perfumes, cigarets, restaurant checks and long-distance phone calls. Their argument : U. S. citizens should be taxed openly, directly, painfully, if tax reforms are ever to be made. Politicians have merely grinned, gone ahead passing tax bills that make taxation seem painless.*

As if to prove the politicians' view that U. S. citizens don't realize how sharply they are clipped, last week a letter from Citizen Archie C. Milligan reached City Finance Director Vincent J. Murphy of Newark, N. J. :

"Please send me a tax bill. I ... have never received a tax bill. As I am earning good money ... I feel it my duty, etc." Director Murphy obliged Citizen Milligan in jigtime.

*The U. S. collected last year $1,983,810,000 in nuisance and excise taxes.

This file is automatically generated by a robot program, so reader's discretion is required.