Financial statement for the fiscal year ending June 30, 1922.

Shopworn stock disposed of by sale and condemnation.

Uninventoried old stock, estimated..

Stationery on hand July 1, 1922....

CONGRESS

SALE OF CONDEMNED PROPERTY.

LETTER FROM THE SERGEANT AT ARMS OF THE UNITED STATES SENATE SUBMITTING A REPORT OF THE SALE OF PROPERTY CONDEMNED IN ACCORDANCE WITH THE STATUTES AND THE DEPOSIT OF THE PROCEEDS WITH THE FINANCIAL CLERK OF THE SENATE.

December 6, 1922.-Ordered to lie on the table and to be printed.

SENATE OF THE UNITED STATES, Washington, D. C., December 4, 1922. SIR: I have the honor to report that in compliance with the following resolution, adopted by the Committee to Audit and Control the Contingent Expenses of the Senate, viz

Resolved, That the upholsterer and cabinetmaker of the Senate be, and he hereby is, authorized to sell at public or private sale, under the direction of the Secretary and the Sergeant at Arms of the Senate, the condemned property of the United States in their charge which has been condemned in accordance with the statute, and turn over the proceeds of such sales to the financial clerk of the Senate to be disposed of by him in accordance with the law

there has been sold since December 5, 1921, the following property of the United States and the proceeds thereof turned over to the financial clerk of the Senate, for which I hold his receipts:

TAX SIMPLIFICATION BOARD.

LETTER FROM THE TAX SIMPLIFICATION BOARD TRANSMITTING, PURSUANT TO SECTION 1327 OF THE REVENUE ACT OF 1921, A REPORT OF THE ACTIVITIES OF THE BOARD.

DECEMBER 5, 1922.-Referred to the Committee on Finance and ordered to be

printed.

The PRESIDENT OF THE SEenate.

TREASURY DEPARTMENT,

TAX SIMPLIFICATION BOARD,
Washington, December 2, 1922.

SIR: In accordance with section 1327 of the revenue act of 1921, the Tax Simplification Board makes the following report:

The Tax Simplification Board was created by the revenue act of 1921, section 1327, and was organized on December 2, 1921. The work of the board during the first year has been seriously interrupted by the deaths of Mr. W. T. Abbott on May 29, 1922, and Mr. J. H. Beal on August 18, 1922, two of its members representing the public. Their successors were appointed on September 26, 1922.

The board found it necessary to be in almost continuous session for several months after its appointment, much of this time being taken: up with the revision of the regulations made necessary by the passage of the revenue act of 1921 and the revision of the forms of returns to be made by taxpayers under that law.

Before discussing the various matters considered by the board and its recommendations it may be helpful to review some of the problems inherent in the present method of taxation with which the Bureau of Internal Revenue has been confronted.

The Bureau of Internal Revenue is charged with the duty of administering all laws relating to internal taxation and the collection of the revenues arising thereunder. Prior to 1909 it was engaged in the collection of stamp and excise taxes almost exclusively. With the passage of the excise law of 1909 imposing a tax of 1 per cent upon the net income of corporations, the bureau began to develop along the lines of income taxation, but the amount of the tax so collected was relatively small prior to the passage of the revenue act of 1917.