BIG AMERICAN INCOMES.

New Zealand Herald, Volume LXIV, Issue 19727, 29 August 1927, Page 12

BIG AMERICAN INCOMES.

NEW TAXATION RECORDS. LOWERING OF THF. RATES. In the calendar year 1925 no fewer than 207 persons paid Federal taxes in the United States on net incomes of more than £200.000. Of these 96 were in New York In the same year the gross incomes of all corporations was £22,738,416,643. Both of these are new records and go a long way toward substantiating the contentions of Mr. A. W. .Mellon that the lowering of the income tax rates would uncover larger incomes and result in a larger returu to the Government. In the year 1921, while taxes were still at their peak, only 21 persons reported incomes in excess of £200,000. With the first cuts there was an increase to 75 in 1924, and with a still greater cut, reducing the maximum surtax to 20 per cent., there was a sharp rise to 207 in 1925. Figures for 1926 are expected to show a still greater increase, as the Federal revenue, despite a further tax cut, has exceded all expectations, and a surplus of about £130,000,000 is forecast for the fiscal year ending July 1. Of course, some of this increase is due to the great prosperity that the country has had for the past five years. Two persons reported incomes of more than £1,000.000 in New York, believed to be Messrs. John D. Rockefeller, jun., and George F. Baker; two in Michigan, believed to be Mr. Henry Ford and his son; one in Pennsylvania, believed to be Mr. Mellon himself; while there was one in this class also in Illinois and one in Oklahoma. Twenty-two women are among those reporting incomes of more than £200,000, while three of them reported incomes of from £600,000 to £BOO.OOO.