| Show THAT INCOME TA i UTAHS PROSPECTIVE CO TRIBU TOIlS HOLDING OFF RETCRXS They Will Evade thc Tax Until the Decision of the Supreme Court of the United States is Handed Down i Many are the efforts being made to break the income tax law and the indications I in-dications are that the great majority of the prospective taxpayers of this territory will refrain from making their returns until aft l the decision of the United States supreme court unless of course that decision should couse be delayed until after the 15th day of April the date of limitation As a result of this very evident determination determina-tion to refrain from giving any detail ton tails of their business until they are forced to do so by the provisions of the act comparatively few of the reports have to dateb ep received by the local revenue officials The latest move made by the eastern people who do not desire to pay the tax Is the securing of a legal opinion from i Thomas Harland of New York who successfully defended the late Samuel J Tildena income tax suit and who was deputy commissioner of Internal In-ternal revenue when the war measure income tax laws were in force The learned gentleman declares the income leared tax Inoperative in his opinion a digest of which Is 1 as follows The first point is that deputy collectors collec-tors cannot lawfully discharge the functions attempted to be imposed upon them by the present law Those duties are essentially the same as those Imposed upon assstant assessors by I I the acts of 1862 and 18S4 In 1865 Congress Con-gress passed an act vesting the appointment ap-pointment of assistant assessors In assessors and Attorney General Speed asessors immediately rendered an opinion to the effect that assistant assessors thus appointed could not lawfully act inasmuch inas-much as the constitution of the United states authorizes Congress to vest the appointment of inferior officers in the heads of departments and not In inferior in-ferior officers like assessors Deputy collectors are appointed by the collec colector therefore cl ° arly are not of leers of the United States and cannot lawfully perform tne official duties at mpted to be imposed upon them by the recent law What then are the duties of the collectors the law makes It their duty to call upon every axpayer at his residence or place of nisiness and no taxpayer Incurs any liability to a penalty for falling to make return until he Is thus called upon And moreover the law give the taxpayer tax-payer the alternative when thus l called on tomake hfsreturn eitherto deliver to the collector a return of his Income or to disclose to the collector all the details of his business and if the taxpayer chooses this course it then becomes the duty of the collector to make the return from the particulars particu-lars thus disclosed The duty of the collector is then not discharge by smply leaving a blank at the taxpayers tax-payers residence for his personal attendance at-tendance is required in order that ha may unite out the return There are now some sixtyfive collectors collec-tors ot internal revenue in the entire United States and while about as many more might t > 5 appointed there can be no appropriation to pay those appointed In excess of the number now existing Xow for Instance one collector col-lector has clnrge of the states of Maine Netv Hampshire and Vermont If that collector shuld undertake as the lnw required him to call at the resdence or place of business of every person presumably liable to pay a tax peron i need no argument to show that it would be impossible for him to do the work Under this state of the law I cannot doubt that the authorities In Washington will deem It wise to suspend sus-pend proceedings for the collection ol the tax |
