ge of this mode
of assessment as compared with a tax levied directly upon the
recipients of the income is the greater certainty with which it reaches
the income subject to taxation. The opportunities for evasion by
concealment of income are reduced to a minimum, partly because the
sources of income are, in general, not easily concealed and partly
because, to a considerable extent, the persons upon whom the tax is
assessed are not interested in avoiding the tax. The advantages,
however, are not all on the side of the government. The tax possesses
certain advantages from the standpoint of the taxpayer, also, assuming
him to be an honest taxpayer who is not seeking opportunities to evade
taxation. One advantage is that he is relieved in almost every case
from the necessity of revealing to the tax officials the whole of his
personal income. The tax does not pry into his personal affairs.
Another advantage is that the tax is paid out of current income, being
deducted from the income as it is received. It is therefore distributed
over the year and adjusted to the flow of income as it comes in. A tax
thus collected is less burdensome in its incidence than a tax paid in
one lump sum several months after the expiration of the year to which
it related and after the income on which it is levied has been all
received and perhaps all expended.

The English system of assessing an income tax at the source, however,
has its disadvantages. It is admirably suited for a tax levied at a
uniform rate on all income or on all income above a small minimum. But
it is not well suited for the application of progressive taxation or
for the introduction of gradations or distinctions based upon the size
or character of the individual incomes. Nevertheless, the English
income tax, besides exempting a minimum, provides for graded reductions
or abatements in favor of the possessors of small incomes above the
minimum, and for a reduced rate on "unearned" income within certain
limits. All this, however, makes necessary a declaration or complete
statement of income from the persons claiming the benefit of those
provisions, and also necessitates refunding a large amount of the tax
collected at the source. Moreover, the progressive principle has
recently been applied by imposing a "super-tax" on incomes in excess of
L5,000, which also requires a declaration, the tax being necessarily
assessed upon the possessor of the income and not at the source. The
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