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About Medford mail tribune. (Medford, Or.) 1909-1989 | View Entire Issue (Dec. 18, 1962)
0 A TUESDAY. DECEMBER 18. 1962 MEDFORD MAIL TRIBUNE. MEDFORD. OREGON Try and Stop Me -By BENNETT CERF- Tax Returns To Be Processed By Use of Numbers on Report T7OR MANY YEARS, sessions ol the Dutch Treat Club In A New York were enlivened by the sallies of the peren- nial chairmani Clarence Budington Kelland. At one lunch eon he remarKea, 1 know that the duty of a master cf ceremonies is to be so confoundedly dull that the speakers he subsequently introduces will be dazjlingly bril liant by contrast" The speakers of the day chuckled heartily. "I've looked over the list of our speakers for today, however," he con tinued sadly, "and I don't think I can do it." The audience roared. The speakers did not. There Is sl fable about a very wise old man who waa visited by a delegation of malcontents determined to tell him their troubles. Suggested the wise man, "Write down your greatest trouble on a piece of paper." He then threw all the papers into a pot and said, "Now each of you draw a paper and by all the laws of probability you will have brand-new irouDics to irei over. The malcontents followed his suggestion. Then they read the new troubles they had been saddled with. The result: evory single one of them clamored Immediately to have their own trouble back! The first bookkeepers m history? Adam and Eve, of course. They invented the loose-leaf system. C 1363. by Bennett, Ctrl. Distributed by Xing Futures Syndicate i .gut, ' Jr i A: v 1 ' Your Money's Worth By SYLVIA PORTER Copyright, Hill Syndicate, Inc. CRACKED CRYSTAL BALLS We're now into the days when economists the nation over gaze long and hard into their crystal balls to get guid ance on their 19(13 predictions. The "standard forecast" which already has emerged is for a continuingly modest rise through the early months of the new year, not sufficient to take up the slack in employment or production, but no serious downturn either. Could be right, could be not. How the economy actually will perform will depend on many forces ranging from con gressional action or non-action on tax reduction to easing or worsening of world crisis. At this stage, the most one can make on taxes, world crisis and a lot of other funda mentals is an informed guess. If ever there has been a year in which the economists' . crystal bails have been shattered, it has been 1962. The noise of the cracking balls in Washington, Wall Street, the in dustrial cities of our nation has been thunderous month after month. first to crack were Washington s crystal balls. Even as the White House's experts were still uttering their glittcr ingly optimistic forecasts for 1962, the economy was slowing down. Why did Washington's forecasts go so wrong? A highly Important answer here is that the optimistic projections were based on the premise that U. S. businessmen would step up tlietr spending on Inventories and new plants in this cxnan sion ot the IDDOs the way they accelerated their spending in the expansions of the 1950s. This premise turned out to be false. Instead of slocking up heavily on inventories In the expectation that custom ers would be wailing in line to buy, businessmen this lime have adopted exceedingly cosy inventor policial. The new computers are helping them lo maintain much stricter control over inventories. Their awareness of surpluses and lheir eagerneit to hold down colli alio have been factors. Initead of ruihing lo build modern plants in anticipation of big demands for their production, this time buiineiimen have wailed for the demands lo appear and have only mod erately increaied their ipending on new factorial. At the heart, of this year's sluggish riie has been the disappoint ingly' imall increaie in businen ipending. Second to crack were Wall Street's c'fystal balls. Not even the most pessimistic stock market professional predicted the market crash of May 1962. Why did Wall Street's forecasts go wrong? A key answer here is that while many investors recognized that stock prices had soared far out of line with corporation earnings and they had backed away from buying, they didn't expect others would act similarly. They forgot how selling feeds on selling, underestimated the attraclion of simple savings accounts and bonds in companion with low-yielding slocks, didn't realize the extent to which gamblers had weakened the market's foundation. Then came the steel price crisis In April which no one could have predicted the severe blow to business confidence, and the groundwork was laid for the panic ot May 28. Third to crack were the crystal balls of business eco nomists who concluded that the sluggish economy and the crash of stock prices would lead us into recession by 1963. Why have these business forecasts gone wrong? A factor here surely has been our successful showdown over Cuhn In late October, for this has significantly buoyed sentiment and has helped send the stock market sharply upward. Who could have forecast the stand President Kennedy would lake after proof of Russia's military buildup In Cuba, Hie retreat oi rtnrusiu-ncvr Forecaili on buiinen in 1963 muit be made. The White Houie couldn't even lubmit a budget without projecting proliti and paychecki end the taxes to be paid on these. A manulaclurer couldn't even begin lo plan production without eilimaling hii probable sales. Thus, the annual economic forecasting season arrives on schedule and this year "standard'' for the forecasts is re straint in both optimism and pessimism. Could be, could be not. After gazing back on 19B2's un foreseeable! and peering ahead into 11163 s unknowns, I'd suggest that the crystal ball Industry go into all-out pro ductlon Just in case it's another year of shattered glass. Washington (UPD The gov ernment is getting ready to process tax returns by the numbers using an electronic system calculated to add a scary new dimension to the tax dodger's nightmare. The Internal Revenue serv ice reports that the mere thought of it has caused $300,000 to roll into the treas ury from reluctant taxpayers. The money came from per sons who received letters from the IRS describing how the new system would work. The checks ranged from $5 to $6,000. In most cases, they were accompanied with let ters explaining that further reflection had resulted in the taxpayer deciding that last year he had left something out. Under the new system, each taxpayer-corporate and individual-will receive a number which he will place on his re turn. Individual taxpayers will use their social security numbers. If they don't have one, they will be asked to ap ply for a number. Corporate taxpayers will be assigned special number by the IRS. IRS reports from corpora tions, savings and loan associ ations, trust funds and other business institutions w 1 1 show how much income was paid to each tax accourjt num ber. The plan is to run both the Income-reported and the in come paid records through giant electronic computers. If taxpayer s account doesn t balance out, he receives a let ter from the IRS, Reducing the taxpayer to a numerical entity is the only way the IRS could make this comparison. For one thing, it permits the Job to be done electronically. Also, it would be impossible to reach the same degree of efficiency by using names and addresses. Too many taxpay ers have the same or similar names, and addresses are al ways changing. Authorised by Congress The new numbering system was authorized in a law passed by congress last year. It is intended to catch some of the estimated $5 billion in un reported tax revenue that slips through the net annually. Assembling the numbers for the nation's 60 million taxpayers is a massive Job, but the IRS feels it got off to a flying start. Most individu al taxpayers over the years have been filling in their num bers on the tax return. The IRS found out that only about two million tax payers left out their social se curity numbers last year. It sent out letters, and 90 per cent replied. Getting the numbers for the income-reported phase of the operation was comparatively easy. But collecting the social security numbers to show in come paid is another matter. This is a responsibility that falls in the laps ot corpora tions, savings and loan associ ations, mutual funds and oth er business institutions which Satellite Corporation Stock To Be Available Washington - (UPII - The Fed eral Communications commis sion said Monday It would start accepting applications Jan. 2 from communications companies which want to pur chase stock in the satellite corporation. The FCC said, however, that stock in the satellite corpora tion would not be available for purchase cither by the communications common car riers or the general public until incorporat ion steps were completed. l010IOBurk's(liOiO!OiOIOi(HOiO!0 1 Open Evenings f 3 UNTIL 9 with a large selection of 2 SAMSONITE and ATLANTIC - LUG GAG El S4H GREEN STAMPS BURETS 1m For All Your Luggage Needs 314 EAST MAIN If 2 lb. 2. as f - 3 lb. 4 25 V S lb. 8 95 Crtooa. iHe "wtvs walcom." g.ft,t frh Rim.lt blow Candtea. Youf choice of many auoitm.tite. CENTRAL j?exoff DRUGS Main at Central Phone 772-9411 pay out money to or stockholders. Many corporations are faced with the gigantic task of writ ing to millions of stockholders asking them for their social security numbers. This is so the corporation can report by the number-to the IRS the employes amount pair each stockholder. Some corporations have at tacked the problem by print ing a little blank on dividend checks where the taxpayer is requested to write in his so cial security number. To Cause Rumblingi This number collecting cam paign Is sure to cause some rumblings among the taxpay ing public. Take the case of a person who holds shares in five corporations, pays in to three savings and loan associ ations and has two savings ac counts. He will be requested by all 10 institutions to fill in the form reporting his social se curity number to them. The IRS plans to begin us ing its numbers system early next year to process individ ual returns from seven south eastern states. It hopes to have the plan operating on a na tionwide basis by the end of 1966. The law allows a $5 penalty against each taxpayer who re fuses to provide his number, but the IRS has indicated this part of the statute will be in terpreted liberally this year. IRS officials also make it clear that they will not hold business concerns liaDle if they fail to get their em ployes or shareholders social security numbers - provided they give it a good try. ; "If they make that one hon est effort and can't get to the guy," one IRS official said, "then it's up to us. We have to get it." ; EVERY NIGHT THIS WEEK jj iviaKe it Merry oPEN I gifts for I him... X 111111. . . II -a ... 14 mens dept. A - I 1 J ti . I iR. &i in vv 9 1 .... X WJS .W-tt-4 S wmr Nil 1 " fieitS ffoJt 1 frl fiilliiii CL 5 : wrf J: I Fir JfsSflvHsv I MEN S STORE 215 E. MAIN ROBES Nothing more sure to turn gadabouts into stay-at-homes. Warm robes in bright tartans or soft muted plaids . . . Mann's has a variety of fabrics to please every man. Washable brushed rayon that looks and feels like wool, yet is blissfully light in weight. Washable blend of 65 orlon acrylic .:), end 35 wool. Orion for extra 'Mi n lT strength and washability, wool for ! 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