§ 87. Mr. WATTasked the Secretary to the Treasury what are the Regulations of his Department affecting the size and nature of the Income Tax collections; do the smaller areas receive threats of costs on such collections more speedily than the larger areas; and is the House to understand that instructions to threaten costs go from the central office to all areas at one time, but that the larger areas take longer to send these out to the taxpayers?
§ Mr. MASTERMANThere are no general regulations affecting the size and nature of Income Tax collections. Any changes which might from time to time be necessary would be determined according to the circumstances of each case, having regard both to administrative efficiency and to the convenience of the taxpayers. Final notices are not necessarily issued in the smaller areas earlier than in the larger ones. The course of collection is governed, not by annual instructions issued from the head office, but by standing instructions, which prescribe the dates before which various notices are not to be issued. The actual dates of issue depend to some extent on the circumstances of the individual collections, but they vary, on the whole, within comparatively narrow limits, and it is not practicable nor expedient to prescribe absolute uniformity.