THURSDAY, MARCH 23, 1961
MEDFORD MAIL TRIBUNE. MEDi'ORD. ORE.
Internal Revenue Service Plans on Modern Machines To Snare Tax Dodgers
. . .. i i
Washington - (UPll - Most
people struggling to figure out
their federal income tax be
fore the April 17 deadline
don't know it but they are
part of the end of an era.
Not that Uncle Sam is junk
ing the income tax. or even
lowering it. Not a bit. He's
going to make evading it more
dangerous.
Starting next January, the
Internal Revenue Service be
gins using electronic memory
devices, high speed computers
and other marvels of modern
day processing.
These will replace cumber
some manuals and business
machine methods, thumbing
through files, hit-and-miss
seeking for taxpayers who
have moved to a new address,
and other tedious tasks.
Initial use will be for sev
eral southern stntes-the Caro
linas, Alabama, Mississippi,
Florida, Georgia and Tennes
see. Business returns in these
areas will be processed elec
tronically In 1002, and lndi
vidual returns the following
year.
From the taxpayer's point
of view, tho most important
thing about the introduction
of "automatic dula process
ing," as the experts call it, is
that it will make it more dif
ficult to cheat by not report
ing income.
In short, you're not going to
like the new system if you
"forget" to report stock divi
dends - or to file a return at
all some years. The electronic
brain to be installed in a new
National Computer Center at
Marlinsburg, W.Va. has been
designed to discover your "for-gctfulncss."
Automatic data processing
will permit a more meticulous
review of returns than ever
before. Now, the Service's
50,000 employes can give only
limited scrutiny to the returns
nearly 61 million taxpayers
are filing for 1080. All returns
are checked for mistakes in
arithmetic but in the more
complicated returns only some
computations are checked. A
limited number of returns are
sifted more thoroughly for
omitted income. (How the lat
ter are chosen is a closely
guarded secret. But it is ad
milted that chances of audit
go up with income and deductions.)
Electronic processing will
subject returns to closer, more
exhaustive tests of accuracy
and completeness. It may also
free Treasury agents from
clerical duties so they can
spend more time on lax en
forcement. By 1970 there will be an
estimated 72 million tnvnnv.
ers, about 20 per cent more
than now. A similar increase
may occur in the total number
of documents handled by In
ternal Revenue each year -now
a monumental 400 mil
lion. It is all the Service can
do to keep up with this ava
lanche of paper. Indeed, as
many taxnavers know. lhi
Service often falls months be
hind.
Eventually, the Service ex
pects to have nine data pro
cessing service centers
throughout the nation. They
will have machines which
will transfer the information
on tax and information re
turns to magnetic tapes.
Fed Into Computer
The tapes will be shipped to
Martinsburg, where they will
be fed into a big computer -the
national tax brain. Using
its master file of accounts on
every taxpayer in the nation,
the computer will:
-check the arithmetic of the
returns and compute taxes due
the government or refunds
due the taxpayer.
-keep track of taxpayers
who move from one collection
district to another. This will
help locate people who have
unclaimed refund checks as
well as discover people who
claim a tax refund for one
year when they still owe taxes
for a prior year.
-provide a consolidated tax
account showing each taxpay
er's standing with Internal
Revenue at any time.
-decide which returns
should be audited by agiAits,
because of suspiciously heavy
deductions, suspiciously little
income or for other reasons.
-match information report
ed on various forms with what
the taxpayer reports. For ex
ample, the Service gets infor
mation reports from corpora
tions on payments of $10 a
year or more in dividends and
interest payments of more
than $600 a year. It also gets
employers' reports on wages
and salaries paid and taxes
withheld. These "information
return" flow into Internal
Revenue offices by the mil
lions. Now, few "information re
turns" are matched with tax
returns to see if the taxpayer
is reporting all his income.
Often "information returns"
are received in one office and
tax returns in another. Ulti
mately, automatic data pro
cessing is expected to permit
100 per cent matching.
To facilitate matching new
returns with old ones and
with information documents,
each taxpayer probably will
have his own account number, pie have them. It is asking
The Service is considering Congress for authority to as
using Social Security num- sign numbers to taxpayers ac-
bers, since most working peo- cuums.
fi
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High Court Holds
Truck Differential
Law Constitutional
Salem - (UPll - The Oregon
Supreme Court ruled Wednes
day that the law differentiat
ing between log trucks ana
other types of trucks is con
stitutional.
A decision written by Jus
tice Kenneth O'Connell re
versed an order of the Doug
las county circuit court ac
quitting Carrol Marion Pyle
of a charge of operating a
truck loaded in excess of
weight limits provided by
law.
Pyle had moved a commodi
ty other than logs, poles and
piling. The axle load on his
truck was 2,100 pounds over
weight and the overload pen
alty was $63.
A log truck carrying the
Machines Possess
Thinking Ability;
Power To Perceive
By JOSEPH L. MYLER
Washington - IliPD - A sci
entist writing about dogs says
they hive . marvelously per
ceptive senses but can't think.
A couple of scientists writ
ing about electronic comput
ers say these machines can
think but lack perception,
Now comes the Mark 1 per
ception which, while It prob
ably could not be trained to
fetch the paper, possesses both
thinking ability and the ca
pacity to perceive, recognize,
and classify patterns.
The proposition that ma
chines can think is defended
by Dr. Oliver G. Selfridgc,
mathematician at the Massa
chusetts Institute of Technol
oev. and Dr. Ulric Ncisser, a
psychologist at Brandcis uni
versity.
Improved on Thinking
In an article published by
Scientific American, they told
of a machine which once im
proved on the thinking of the
human geniuses A. N. wmic
head and Bcrtrand Russell.
This machine is known as
the "logical theorist." It was
created by a group from the
Carnegie Institute of Tccnnoi'
obv and the Rand Corp. Ac,
cording to Selfridgc and Nels
ser, it found proofs for many
of the theorems In "Prlnclpia
Matliematlca," a monumental
work in logic by Whitehead
and Russell.
"At least one proof," Self'
rldec and Ncisser reported,
"is more elegant than t h c
Whltohcad-Russell version
But the trouble with com
puters is that, though they can
think and In many respects
outnerform Hie men who
made them, "they are not
well couiuped to select from
their environment the things
or relations they are going to
think about.
This is what has distin
guished them "from intelli
gent living organism." Every
child learns to use and under
stand language before he can
prove propositions. Computers
can find proofs "but they can
not understand the simplest
spoken instructions."
Perception Sought
The , computer people are
trying to endow their crea
tions with perception. One
new device, by means of a
grid of photoelectric cells, has
learned to rcconnlzc hand
printed letters. 11 makes some
what fewer mistakes of Iden
tification than do human read
ers. A U. S. government re
search report says another ma
chine, the Mark 1 Perception,
can be taught to classify air
craft patterns into groups.
In 10 or 20 years, computer
scientists say, machines will
be able to hear and under
stand as well a read and re
port. Machines already devel
oped ara doing Industrial la
bor that used to be done by
human workers.
Machines of tli( future, sci
entist say, may displace the
factory bosses, too.
same weight would have had
an overload of only 100
pounds and the penalty would
have been less - $25.
He contended this was an
unconstitutional discrimina
tion between log truckers and
those handling other types of
cargo.
Not Arbitrary
Judge O Connell wrote that
the classification between the
two types of truckers is "not
arbitrary and docs not violate
the equal protection of due
process clauses of the federal
and state constitutions."
The high court noted that
ordinarily, logs, poles and pil
ing vary greatly in size, shape
and weight and it is difficult
to accurately estimate weight
and distribution of such
load.
The court also noted that
logs usually arc loaded in
woods where it Is impracti
cable to provide scales.
The opinion said if a log
hauler exceeds a limit espec
ially granted to him, he "suf
fers a more severe penally
than docs the hauler of other
commodities for similar ex
cess weight violation."
Judge Eldon F. Caley was
"reversed. '
Other decisions:
Robert F. Daly vs. Thomas
Jackson, ct al, appellants; ap
peal from Linn county; Judge
Victor-Olllvcr affirmed; suit
to require Jackson and others
to cause a corporation , of
which all were stockholders
to issue a $25,000 note, Daly
favored.
Leonard L. Browning, ap
pellant vs. Terminal Ice &
Cold Storage Co.; appeal from
Multnomah county; opinion
by Justice William Perry;
Judge James W. Crawford af
firmed; personal injury action
under employers liabilily act,
$77,735 verdict for Browning
affirmed.
Case Dismissed
Norman Rcid, ct al vs. Ella
L. Reid, appellant; appeal
from Multnomah county; op In.
Ion by Justice Perry; Judge
Robert C. Bellonl affirmed;
suit Involving title to proper
ty, proceedings dismissed.
Karl Scott, ct al vs. Law
rence Warehouse Co., appel
lant; appeal from Multnomah
county; opinion by Justice Al
fred T. Goodwin; Judge
Charles W. Redding modified
and case remanded; judgment
for $23,510 against the ware
house company for alleged
failure to deliver certain lum
ber, judgment Increased to
$23,877 under cross-appeal.
Slate vs. O. Wayne Dodson,
appellant; appeal from Ben
ton county; opinion by Jus
tice Hall S. Lusk; Judge Fred
McHonry affirmed; convic
tion of Dodson on a charge of
drunken driving affirmed.
Machinery Accidents
Lead Farm Deaths
New York (Science Service)
About 11,700 deaths annually
are reported among farm
residents who arc victims of
accidents both on and off the
farm.
Tho Metropolitan Life In
surance company says this
number Is equivalent to a
death rate of 55 per 1011,000,
compared with 52 per 100,000
for the (whole population of
Ihe continental United Slates.
Machinery accidents kill
nearly 900 farmers per year.
Drownings, firearm accidents
and fulls arc other leading
causes of accidental farm fa- j
lalitics, most of which occur i
among males.
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