Grand Rapids Herald Review

Uncle Sam Wants Profit Tax.
Hibbing Tribune: Hibbing property owners who are charged by the internal revenue department with not making returns on the sale of property in North Hibbing to the Oliver Mining company will fight the issue in the courts. They contend that a profit derived is not income but a change of capital and as such is not taxable. Of the 189 property owners in North Hibbing who disposed of their realty holdings, only two made returns. The others claim that the question whether the profit realized from the sale of real estate in excess of its cost is income is a debatable question and it is for the courts to decide whether they must pay the penalty. C. G. Anderson, who has been retained in behalf of several property owners, appeared in 1919 before the internal revenue department at St. Paul and at that time he was given to understand that the government could not collect on the transfer of realty ownings to the United States Steel corporation. Four government income tax agents have been in Hibbing for more than three weeks conducting an investigation. They have cited several of the property owners to appear before them. They contend that the tax must be paid and that if the property owners do not heed the warning they will be haled into the courts at St. Paul.