TAXES: The Big Bite

Monday, Mar. 10, 1952

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(6 of 6)

"I'll tell you what it is, all right," said her boss, a brooding, sandy-haired fellow named Marvin Ross. "It's political. It's those fellows in Washington. Take all our strippers. Maybe they're doing all right. But pretty soon they get a little old. They lose their builds. What have they got. then? Nothing! But the Government goes on taxing 'em as if it thought they could strip forever."

"Well," said Doreen in submission, "the country is in such a mess I guess somebody's gotta pay. I don't know how much more of it I can stand ... or what the hell they do with the money. But you gotta."

"You gotta," said Marvin.

And indeed 42 million Americans gotta, and it will be that way until a sizable number of them yell at Congress, "Take it off!" Or, more modestly and sensibly: "Take some of it off!"

^{* One out of every four tax returns contains "mistakes" and
nine out of ten of them are in favor of the taxpayer. Most interesting
recent error: a San Franciscan, questioned about overwhelming medical
expenses, explained that his doctor had directed him to have frequent
sexual intercourse to calm his nerves, and he had written off the cost
of "treatment" plus carfare to & from the scene of operations.
* At a later date this line of argument was countered by Anatole France's
gibe: "The law, in its majestic equality, forbids the rich as well as
the poor to sleep under bridges."
* In 1927, when Holmes made this
remark, he had a salary of $25,000; tax: $600. Present tax on that
income: $5,456. Either there is more civilization around, which is not
noticeable, or the price of civilization has increased ninefold.
† At the time, Government experts said she was overstating her payments by
$70,000.}