AMERICAN TAXES

Wanganui Chronicle, Volume LXXXI, Issue 19048, 27 June 1924, Page 10

AMERICAN TAXES

Those who cross the sea, said Horace, change their sky but not their disposition. Nor, in these days, do they escape income tax. The Englishman living in the United States is justly required to contribute equally with the American citizen to the upkeep of the Government which guarantees him the blessings of law and order (says a writer in the Daily Mail). The annuaJ collection has just been made. Every resident in America has to compute his annual profits and losses to hand to the district collector of “internal’' (not “inland”) revenue. In America you do not wait, after giving in your return, for an assessment and a demand note. You assess yourself, and you pay “right away”— either the whole tax or, if you prefer, the first of four quarterly instalments. You take an oath before the collector that you have made a true and complete return. Your papers then pass under the scrutiny of the central offices of the Bureau of Internal Revenue. Your returns are not computed on any three years' average. You pay on your actual net income for the last calendar year. The deductions allowed are much more liberal than those at Home. In the first place, you get a personal exemption of lOOOdol, if you are a bachelor, or of 2500d01. if you are the head of a family or a married man, Jiving with your wife. You may strike off 4»i0dol. for every child under IS or other dependent person incapable of self-support. The deductions that can be* claimed for business or professional expenses are very much the same as those permitted in England. But there are other forms of relief that come to the Engdishman in America» as a welcome novelty. -- You may deduct, for instance, a loss ’sustained by reason of fire, storm, shipwreck, or other casualty, whether it is connected with your occupation or not. Thus, if your automobile is destroyed by fire or your summer bungalow is damaged by a storm, you may deduct the loss thereby sustained, in so far as it has not been covered by insurance. 1 josses by burglary or theft or embezzlement are also deductible. You may further substract from your total whatever taxes, other than Federal income tax, you have paid during the year. These include taxes on personal property and real estate, as well as the local taxes that in England we call “rates.” The fees for automobile licenses are regarded as taxes, and may therefore be deducted, also Customs duties paid on articles imported for your own use. If you are a benevolently disposed and public-spirited person, the Government rewards your virtue. You may deduct any contributions you have made to funds organised for religious, charitable, scientific, literary, or educational purposes. Every church constitutes a religious organisation within the meaning of the Act. No deduction is allowed for a gift of alms to an individual. It must be made to a charitable society or organised fund.