The Key West Citizen Newspaper, November 3, 1952, Page 8

Page 8 THE KEY WEST CITIZEN Monday, November 3, 1952 Gambling Tax Law Has Been Ineffective By FRANK O’BRIEN WASHINGTON @®—Tho law that | ed. was to force most gamblers to pay heavy taxes or put them out of bus’ is--one r2ar old Sa*--day has Jone neither ir its st year. Frank Lohn, chief of the Internal Revenue Rureau’s intelligence divi- sion, in an interview summing up a year’s administration of the law said it has brought in only a frac- tion of the expected reverue, and has not materially reduced gam- bling. The government collected prob- ably less than nine million dollars in taxes, compared with congres- sional estimates the take might be 400 million. And, Lohn said, instead of being forced out of business, gamblers “have just gone underground.” However, he added the law is a “deierrent te the gambling fratern- Ity.” Immediately after it went into tffect he said there was a large scale suspension of activity along with a divé underground. “We know of places where gam- bling is still slowed up,” Lohn add- Why hasn’t the law worked? For one reason, the bureau hasn’t enough men to enforce it, he said. Congress provided no extra money for additional person- nel, and che bureau could spare only 100 men to tap the gambling wor'd for taxes. Also, the Supreme Court has not yet ruled on whether the stamp tax in constitutional. Last spring a fed- eral judge held it was not. Revenue officials say many gamble. be- lieve the high court will overturn the law, and in the meantime they are not too afraid of violating it. The gambling tax law was a by- product of two things: 1, The investigation by the crime committee of Sen. Estes Kefauver (D-Tenn), which put the finger on gambling as the big money artery of the underworld. 2. High taxes, which made tax- paying citizens sensitive to reports that gamblers made big money but paid little or no taxes. Congress reacted with a double- “Quit fussin!!] YOU can get dough from City Loan Co. to tide you over!” © In tlmes of emergency, it’s great to know about CITY’S fast, confidential service! CITY LOAN CO. 524 SOUTHARD °K PHONE 1760 barreled law. It required gamblers to buy a $50-a-year occupational tax stamp, and to pay an excise tax amounting to 10 per cent of their gross take. Gamblers reacted with hurt be- wilderment. Payoffs, protection money, donations to good works all were always part of a gambler’s traditional overhead. But not taxes. Lohn said after the initial large- seale dive underground, ‘and sus- pension of activity, many gamblers resumed operations, mainly under- ground. Definitely, he said, the law has not stopped gambling, or cut it down to a small seale. « Congress never said it intended to knock out the gambling business. But the inference was plain be- tween the lines of the law. The law provided that gamblers step up to Internal Revenue of- fices, state their business, place of business, income and outgo, and buy a gaming stamp. The names of persons who bought gaming stamps were to be posted. Local officials interested in wiping out gambling had only to look at the list and go after the quarry. The government collected in the first 11 months a total of $81190,438° from gamblers, Lohn said. Of this, $1,082,259 was from sale of gambling stamps. The rest, $7,108,179 was from the 10 per cent excise tax. Some 32,500 gambling stamps were sold at the rate of about $4.16 per remaining month of the fiscal year. There is a popular belief that along Broadway, and, in fact, any- where in the vicinity of New ‘York City, gamblers are so thick a wink will get you a chance on anything you like. But only 38 stamps were sold during the first eight months of the law in all New York City, and only 260 stamps in New York State. yf The miost stamps were sold in the Northwest—38 per cent of all sales were in Montana, Utah and Washington. Gamblers in the state of Washington alone bought 3,576 stamps, the biggest number for any state. Illinois ranked second, with 3,129 stamps. Montana came next, with 1,994 stamps, and Louisiana was fourth, with 1,265. Utah was fifth, with 1,085, The next five were: Indiana, 988 Ohio, 885; Pennsyt- vania, 691; Idaho, 597. and Texas, 501, The average 2-pound sugar beet contains 14 -spoonsful of sugar. The World Today By JAMES MARLOW WASHINGTON W—If there was any similarity, at times, between a brawl and the presidential cam- paign juste: ding, some of the rea- son was the reason behind most brawls: one word led to another. The words, genteel at the start, finally reached the level of “‘you’re another.” There were too many words. The campaign lasted too long. In fact, the candidates may have lost some votes by taking over the time some favorite TV programs would have had, The campaign might have stayed elevated if Gen. Dwight D. Eisen- hower and Gov. Adlai Stevenson had been allowed to argue it out by themselves with everyone else listening in but no one horning in. But others were in the act from the beginning. There were exaggerations on both sides, some ridiculous, some inexcusable, although exaggeration in a presidential campaign is neither new nor astonishing. But there was more than just exaggeration in this campaign: There was smear; there were misstatements; there were at- tempts at character destruction; and the most elementary human emotions were played upon like a piano. For instance, fear of war. The nation, which has survived other presidential campaigns that were intense and disorderly, should be able to come out of this one intact. True, it had fine moments and some real eloquence. But the way the candidates were treated by each—and others — it sometimes might have seemed they were tunning for sheriff. The day after election much of the campaign oratory can be for- gotten as pure political guff. But the campaign showed the growth of a malignancy which cannot be dismissed or ignored by any con- cerned with the national well- being. In recent years the country has been inflicted with a deepening cancer: suspicion of one another. And the campaign nurture¢ it. Already thoughtful people are asking a question: how long can we continue along this path of spreading suspicion of one another without destroying ourselves? It was a memorable campaign. But was it one to be proud of? ANYTHING CONCERNING AUTOMOBILES SEE THE TWINS 130 Duvac S 1870-1871 AN INVITATION To the Public, Our Depositors and Friends: The Officers, Directors, and Employees of our. Bank wish to extend to you and your friends a very cordial invitation to call on ‘us Saturday afternoon, November 8th, from 4 to 6 p.m., when we are having a formal opening of our newly completed banking house. The building will ‘be open for inspection at that time and we will take pleasure in showing you through it. Our Key West Bank is one of the oldest in Florida, and in doing over our banking house we have endeavored to keep as much of the old atmosphere as possible, at the same time providing our- selves with a place that would allow us to offer to the public the very latest in a complete banking service. We now have a banking house of which we are very proud and which we feel is in keep- ing with the growth of this section,and one of which the entire com- munity can well be proud. To all of you, — friends who have been with us for many years, new friends, visitors, and prospective customers,— a very cor- dial invitation to come out and see our new banking house, — proof of our belief in the continuing growth of Key West. THE FLORIDA NATIONAL BANK AT KEY WEST 4. 4. TREVOR, President Member of the FOIC Member ef the Florida National Greup of Banks A SOUVENIR GIFT FOR EACH PERSON ATTENDING Buys Thru Wed. 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