Show Tax Sleuths Are Needed to 1 l' l Maintain Taxpayer Honesty President Truman has hns made another attack on the controlled can this congress congress this one relative to a slash ash ashIn in the recommended appropriation on for the theU U. U S S. S internal revenue b bureau reau Mr Truman signed the appropriation bill for the treasury and d post office departments department in which was waz included the internal revenue bureau appropriation but he assailed assailed- the bureau slash as false economy While there i is unquestionably some politics connected with t this is as with the presidents president's other attacks on congress there is iz isome some come real merit to this this' criticism The Telegram has been a staunch advocate of federal economy and generally the w work rk administrations administration's budget figures done by congress in reducing the and forcing sharp harp reduction in the inflated governmental pay payroll payroll payroll roll must be commended But there i is a a distinct possibility that the reduction of in hi the internal revenue bureaus bureau's budget may prove a costly saving savingS Secretary of the Treasury Treasur- Snyder has declared that it will willbe willbe ill be necessary necessarY because of this reduction to dismiss between and bureau and and this at a time when the agency already is behind in its work with a 8 backlog of suspected tax evasion cases Secretary Snyder claimed the elimination of these yes would result in a direct loss of at least least- in revenue this fiscal year That may be an ex exaggeration gf but even if the loss were only OI tenth one that muc much it would be a strong strong argument ment meat against this appropriation slash Nobody likes to pay taxes Millions of Americans pay them only because they cannot avoid it and it-and and th they y will evade and chisel b sel on their their- tax payments if they think they can g get t away with it ILls IUs It is the fact that internal revenue tax sleuths are on the job constantly trying to trip trig up tax evaders which keeps many p people paying the taxes they owe we They have pave no qualms about defrauding the government government but but they are afraid to do so because because be be- I cause they know it is hard to beat the tax collector and they know now that the penalty for or evasion can be severe President Truman put it very well in his statement when he argued that t the people e who have to support government nt through tax payments are entitled to adequate administrative I con controls to insure that the dishonest do not shift their share to the honest He further emphasized that taxpayer morale morale by by which he undoubtedly meant taxpayer would honesty honesty would remain high only if the odds remain strong that the would would-be would tax evader will be detected and punished We are re sure Bure that every American who honestly pays what he owes in tax taxes B to the government would gladly pay another dollar each year in order to be sure that everybody else pays his f fair ir share of the cost of government In fact it would be a very good investment for the honest taxpayer because tax evasion by the dishonest citizen costs the others who pay their taxes faxes without t evasion many millions ns of dollars a a year The more evaB evasion evasion eva eva- B sion on there is the higher the tax rate must be on those who pay If all evasion could be halted it would result in such a substantial sub increase in revenue evenue that a considerable reduction in the tax rate would be possible The Telegram believes fi firmly ly in g governmental economy economy- y- y but the economy must be in the right places It must eliminate waste and increase efficiency We must beware of saving pennies and losing d dollars Of course t the e damage jf f any has been done done and and and officials and empl yes of th the internal revenue rey bureau have a responsibility with the f funds rids which h are Wity to do the ver very be best they can out of the le least st available It It is s q quite possible that a weeding efficient may have a wholesome effect and nI nd enable the b bureau reau even with less m man n power to do an equally y good job in the internal revenue revenue revenue reve reve- We trust that will be true and that everyone nue bureau will do his his' utmost st to make it true |