From: jittlov@Empire.Net (Mike Jittlov) Newsgroups: alt.fan.mike-jittlov,alt.religion.kibology,rec.org.mensa,alt.politics.libertarian Subject: True Origin of IR$ Tax Form (long) Date: 14 Apr 1997 01:49:55 -0400 Message-ID: <5isgi3$oak@reddragon.empire.net> Just in time for April Fool's Month, it's a megacrossposted repost from the overflowing Jittlovian Archives and/or Landfill.. -=*%${ TRUE TAX TALES }$%*=- FRANK KELLY FREAS, the 10-time Hugo-award-winning science-fantasy illustrator and _MAD_Magazine_ cover artist (who also created the first poster for my "Wizard of Speed and Time" movie), actually knew the person who drafted the USA's first 1040 income tax form. NINA PUTNAM WILCOX was a writer for "Sunny Funny Bunny", a series of popular children's comics; and she wrote the original script for "The Mummy" (starring Boris Karloff - check out the movie credits). Kelly met her through son John Putnam, who also worked at _MAD_. Nina's main occupation was accounting. In 1913 she drafted the simple and deceptively benign 1040 Tax Form, and set up the whole system. There's a popular story that she and/or a congressman wanted to fix a ceiling of 10% on all income tax, but that the measure was voted down because "if such a high limit were set, it might someday be met". @:< ----------- >:@ I stored that in my National/Urban Legend File - until 1986, when I was shooting my feature film's special effects in a Hollywood post -production house. There, I was treated to the occasional rants of an increasingly irate union animator and cameraman. Working in awful conditions for miserable earnings, many of these super-creative perfectionists got very upset over any waste of their slim resources, and not a few were open anarchists, survivalists, and sharp-shooters. (The Disney Studios paint-ball gun team is a much respected force.) I soon realized why there are so few old animators. Cameraman Tom knew the History of Taxes, everything you never read in your government-approved school books. In ancient Israel, anything over 10% was considered usury. Medieval serfs paid 25% of earnings to their landlords, but they still got "free" food and land. The American Revolution wasn't exactly fought over a tea tax, but over Great Britain's threat to impose a 3-5% income tax (total!) on the colonists. Except during two brief periods (1862-1872, to pay for the Civil War, and again in 1874-1875), this nation apparently thrived and survived the Industrial Revolution without a national income tax imposed on US citizens. Only corporations and attorneys paid income taxes. Things apparently changed, as more and more attorneys became US Presidents, and selective taxation was used to guide population and voter behavior (encouraging home ownership over renting, etc). We had some arguments, since I am for taxation. I don't comprehend how everything runs, but logic says a community/country needs money to facilitate communication, education, transportation, protection. I didn't know how much was really necessary - but a 5-10% tithe from that year's net seemed acceptable. Tom claimed that gas taxes paid for the roads, and usage taxes were the most equitable. He said Wallace (the ex-governor of Alabama) once stated a 2% tax would be more than enough, if everyone paid his and her share of support. But the tax forms had become so arcane and confusing, that you had to pay more money to have them deciphered by trained experts. And so much was taken from you in so many ways, with your money so often wasted by a non-responsive electorate, that many people simply gave up - that 20 million people were just not sending in anything, and a million more joined those ranks every year. There were giant corporations, making billions in profits, who paid less taxes than a single mid-income citizen. [Most of you have heard all this, but a lot of younger Internetters haven't, and I like to believe the subject merits some concern. Your public corrections, illuminations and flames are heartily encouraged.] Being a Good American, and the son of a Russian immigrant who dearly loved this country (and was nearly targeted by its McCarthy squads), Tom's rants did run against my patriotic grain. But as my workload neared a breaking point, I visited the Social Security office to make certain that my SS payments were accounted for, and would go to my mother. -- (SS:) No, they're paid to your next of kin. -- I'm not married, no kids, I want to make sure/ -- (SS:) Then they go into the System. -- Wait a minute, why/ -- (SS:) You're _not_ paying into a retirement program...It is an _additional_tax_. -- I don't want to pay this tax, if it isn't going to where I'm led to believe. -- (SS:) It's not a choice, everybody pays it. -- No, the Amish don't pay it, Christian Scientist Practitioners don't pay it/ -- (SS:) Are you a CSP? -- ...I think their Hollywood office is my next stop, thanks. I was not a little grumbly - my taxes were paying a government to say "no" to me in every way possible. And if I even survived to get some of my own money back, I'd have to pay _more_ taxes on that. My mother also had to fight the IR$ for several years, over its stupid combining of her two small savings accounts into a phantom third account and then demanding a percentage of that. My mood kept boiling, and that April I finally added up everything - Federal Tax + State Tax + Property Tax + Social Security/Self-Employment Tax + Sales Tax + Gas Tax (etc) - and figured it for an average California taxpayer. It totaled over 52%. 8p [BTW - is there a FAQ file on this?] Tom wasn't laughing. He just pulled open a drawer at his workbench and brought out a treasured copy of something I'd heard about, but had never before seen. Its xerox has been saved for 8 years, just to take up your InterNet bandwidth on this Ides of April and IR$ D-Day. No joke (unless Tom had a fake) - this is what spawned the present accounting nightmare we're all supporting with our now-quarterly donations. Its punctuation is exact, though the fine-print required reformatting for this screen. ----------------------------------------------------------------->8 cut Form 1040 TO BE FILLED IN BY --------- TO BE FILLED IN BY COLLECTOR INCOME TAX INTERNAL REVENUE BUREAU --------- List No.__________ THE PENALTY File No.__________________ FOR FAILURE TO _______District of______ HAVE THIS RETURN Assessment List___________ IN THE HANDS OF Date received___________ THE COLLECTOR OF Page_________Line_________ INTERNAL REVENUE ON OR BEFORE MARCH 1 IS $20 TO $1000. (See Instructions on Page 4) UNITED STATES INTERNAL REVENUE _____________ RETURN OF ANNUAL NET INCOME OF INDIVIDUALS (As provided by Act of Congress, approved October 9, 1913) _____________ RETURN OF NET INCOME RECEIVED OR ACCRUED DURING THE YEAR ENDED DECEMBER 31, 1913 (FOR THE YEAR 1913, FFROM MARCH 1, TO DECEMBER 31.) Filed by (or for)__________________________________of__________________ (Full name of individual) (Street and No.) In the City, Town or Post Office of___________________State of_________ (Fill in pages 2 and 3 before making entries below.) ======================================================================= | | | | 1. GROSS INCOME (see page 2, line 12).................|$...|...|...|... | | | | | | | | 2. GENERAL DEDUCTIONS (see page 3, line 7)............|$...|...|...|... | | | | | | | | 3. NET INCOME.........................................|$...|...|...|... ======================================================================= | Deductions and exemptions allowed in computing | Income subject to the normal tax of 1%. | ______________________________________________________| 4. Dividends and net earnings | | | | | received or accrued, of corp- | | | | | orations, etc. subject to like | | | | | tax. (See pg. 2, line 11)........| $...|...|...|...| | | | | | 5. Amount of income on which the | | | | | normal tax has been deducted | | | | | and withheld at the source. | | | | | (See pg. 2, line 9, column A)....|.....|...|...|...| | | | | | 6. Specific exemption of $3,000 | | | | | or $4,000, as the case may be. | | | | | (See Instructions 3 and 19)......|.....|...|...|...|________________ | | | | Total Deductions and exemptions...| | | | (Items 4, 5, and 6)........|$...|...|...|... | | | | 7. TAXABLE INCOME on which the normal tax of 1% is | | | | to be calculated. (See Instructions 3.)............|$...|...|...|... ======================================================================= 8. When the net income shown above on line 3 exceeds $20,000, the additional tax thereon must be calculated as per schedule shown. _______________________________________________________________________ | | | Income | Tax |_________________|________________ | | | | | | | | 1% on amount over $20,000 and | | | | | | | | not exceeding $50,000............| $...|...|...|...|$...|...|...|... | | | | | | | | 2% on amount over 50,000 and | | | | | | | | not exceeding 75,000.............|.....|...|...|...|....|...|...|... | | | | | | | | 3% on amount over 75,000 and | | | | | | | | not exceeding 100,000............|.....|...|...|...|....|...|...|... | | | | | | | | 4% on amount over 100,000 and | | | | | | | | not exceeding 250,000............|.....|...|...|...|....|...|...|... | | | | | | | | 5% on amount over 250,000 and | | | | | | | | not exceeding 500,000............|.....|...|...|...|....|...|...|... | | | | | | | | 6% on amount over 500,000...........|.....|...|...|...|....|...|...|... |________________ | | | | | | | | Total additional or super tax.......|$...|...|...|... | | | | | | | | Total normal tax....................|$...|...|...|... (1% of amount entered on line 7) |________________ | | | | | | | | Total tax liability.................|$...|...|...|... ================= ---------------------------------------------------------->8 cut & save Though it could have really used a better font and the typesetting prowess of Kibo, the first 1040 was still attractive in its simplicity. One's personal loss was minimal (and minimized), with easy calculation and substantial exemptions. And the grand open ranks of the fabulously rich enticed one's hope of someday attaining that 6% goal line. (BTW: $20,000, in 1913..! What would that be, in 1997 dollars?) Working alongside Cameraman Tom inspired many of the 1000+ subliminal words, phrases and images placed throughout my movie - of which Lee Thompson-Herbert has discovered quite a few! (I plan to post a full list in alt.fan.m-j, after the feature film is back in my control.) POSTSCRIPT BTW, this info has been corroborated with Kelly, comic-creator Sergio Aragones (who also worked at _Mad_), and writer-publisher-historian -megacollector Forrest J Ackerman (who knew the lady). Nina Putnam Wilcox later left the USA and moved to Cuernavaca, Mexico, where she bought a hotel (originally the Bishop's Palace, built over an Aztec pyramid), and retired in one of its apartments. She said that she "regretted creating the monster" for the rest of her life (the 1040 Form - not the other hoary lumbering behemoth). Nina died there, in 1959. Her comicbook stories are all but forgotten, The Mummy is a bit-player in the Universal Studios pantheon... But her few pages of IR$ creation have spread like Hydrae, and IMO caused more destruction and moral damage than all fictional monsters combined. But hey - what can you do? I guess that depends on your good sense, courage, and fear of death. Speaking for myself... Since the U.S. Department of Defense paid a contractor $9,476 for a single Allen wrench, that seems a suitable and official precedent for the rate of exchange. Heck, I'm sending the IR$ a whole SET of L-hexes - and when they get the little shafts, may it settle accounts for years to come. ~~~~~~~~~~ Speaking of Things to Come.. At the present rate of confiscation, this may be the 1040 Form of 1998 (- or 3 times 666, for you X-File fans): --------------------------------------------------------------------->8 Form 1040 E-Z:p Department of the Treasury _ _ _ _ Internal Revenue $ervice |(_)(_)(_) SIMPLIFIED INDIVIDUAL TAX RETURN | / / (_) ======================================================================= Your first name Last name | Your Social Security Number | _ _ _________________________________________|_____________________________ | | 1. Gross Income for Year ending Dec 31, 1998.........|$ | |__________|_____ | | 2. Send in amount on Line 1 now......................|$ | |__________|_____ ======================================================================= | | 3. Check here if you have any money left.............| Yes | No (If "Yes", detail why on Schedule W) |________|_______ | 4. Do you wish to donate $10 to the Presidential Election? | Yes How about $50 to reduce your chances of being audited? |_______ ======================================================================= Under penalty of punishment I declare with my signature below that I am now legally obligated to send the full amount on Line 2 to the IR$ ASAP | SIGN HERE ________________________________| Date______________________ --------------------------------------------------------->8 clip & toss Choice is a powerful thing. As long as you have it. ______________________________________________ ___._`.*.'_._ _________ Mike Jittlov - Wizard etc . . + * .o o.* `.`. +. Church of the Creative Spirit ' * . ' ' |\^/| `. * . * & alt.fan.mike-jittlov (: May All Your \V/ Good Dreams and Fine Wishes /_\ Come True:) =================================================== _/ \_ ============ NetQuotes du Jour (choose any, or better `em): "What's the difference between a taxidermist and a tax collector? Well, for one thing, a taxidermist only takes your skin." -- Mark Twain "It is safest to shut up and pay, which is what I shall eventually do, though I shall hate having to sell the children." -- Russell Baker "Seizure Fever - Catch It!" -- posters all around the IR$ HQ offices "When more of the people's sustenance is exacted through the form of taxation than is necessary to meet the just obligations of Government and expenses of its economical adminstration, such exaction becomes ruthless extortion and a violation of the fundamental principles of a free Government." -- Grover Cleveland, U.S. President 1885-9, 1893-7 "When the President does it, that means it is not illegal." -- Attorney Richard M. Nixon