BYLLESBY CO. GRANTED DEALER'S LICENSE FOR OPERATION IN THE STATE
Byllesby Co. Granted Dealer's License For Operation in the State Mount Scores Fake Economy of Tax Agency Elimination of Branches Will Not Save 'Red Cent,' Charge JANESVILLE, Wis.—Herbert L....
...the company appealed to the courts but lost in its attempt to secure a dealer's license in this state...
...Wisconsin Rapids, and Superior...
...To be of any value to taxpayers In the lower brackets such assistance must be conveniently accessible at all times so that the expense of getting it will not exceed the amount involved...
...Progressives warned the legislature that Wisconsin was in for considerable relaxing of security standards...
...Following revocation by the banking commission of its dealer's license in 1938...
...Reveal Securities Division Acted Dec...
...In other words, the policy of the tax commission prior to this administration was to bring the state government closer to the people by decentralization...
...I, for one, do not believe that the maladministration cf the tax commission is the result of ignorance...
...In the first place, the income tax law is and always has been an intricate and technical subject...
...1938...
...Testimony before the banking commission in 1938 brought out that William M. Dinnecn, former secretary of the public service commission, had received $18,500 from Halford Erick-scn, Byllesby offi-ial...
...Sonse-quently it has always been deemed a matter of ordinary fairness and good administration to give assistance to income taxpayers in the preparation of their returns...
...2. The corruption of Dinneen by the company...
...Not one cent is paid fcr heat, light, or water or expense of that kind...
...Speaking before the Janes-ville Progressive club, Mount said that the Republican policy will not "save a red cent" and it will actually cost the state hundreds of thousands of dollars in tax receipts from taxpayers in the upper income brackets...
...26 The H. M. Byllesby and Co., giant Chicago investment firm, whose methods of doing business in Wisconsin were the subject of a sensational investigation by the banking commission before its dealer's license was revoked on July 25, 1938, has been granted a new dealer's license to operate in Wisconsin, The Progressive learned this week...
...William H. Spohn, Madison, special counsel for the banking commission, brought out the fact during hearings before the commission that from 1927 to 1930 the Byllesby company had paid out more than $1,000,000 to various individuals, some of them in Wisconsin, without disclosing on its books what this money was paid for...
...All branch offices are located in courthouse quarters furnished and maintained without cost to the state by the counties...
...In his brief to the commission asking that the Byllesly license be re-vcked...
...Granted Dealer's License For Operation in the State Mount Scores Fake Economy of Tax Agency Elimination of Branches Will Not Save 'Red Cent,' Charge JANESVILLE, Wis.—Herbert L. Mount, former state tax commissioner, denounced the Republican administration last week for its "extremely dangerous" policy of wiping out branch offices of the tax department under the "fake guise of econmy...
...There remains only the item of salaries which represents practically the entire expense...
...The same amount of work remains to be done with less time to do it in because of the travel which centralization of the offices will require...
...Spohn gave as his reasons: 1. The secrecy which attended financial transactions of the company and which were designed to prevent any person from learning to whom and for what purposes large disbursements of money were incurred...
...The license of the company was granted Dec...
...Mount pointed out that 'the income tax offices to be closed by the Republican administration collected $2,716,-252 in normal taxes, $147,805 in delinquent taxes, and $379,340 in additional taxes in the fiscal year which ended June 30...
...Not one cent is paid for rent, so there can be no saving there...
...If this is a fair example of Republican economy, Wisconsin is in for some real financial trouble...
...When the Republican administration "reorganized" the securities division and placed Zeller in charge...
...Referring to the additional taxes collected as a result of audits and investigations on the spot, Mount said: ? "Under the new system, this important source of revenue will shrink to almost nothing...
...If this policy is continued and applied to other departments, the government will soon become the master instead of the servant of the people...
...In analyzing the cost of operating the soon-to-be-abandonerl offices...
...Wau-sau...
...The Byllesby company was granted a dealer's license to engage in the sale of securities by Vem Zeller, director of the new securities division set up by the Heil administration...
...Mount pointed out that the state will not save anything at all by discontinuing them...
...At the hearing officials of the Byllesby company admitted the irregularities but maintained these had taken place years before and that the company now had a set of new officials...
...Yet the penalties provided for violations are extremely severe and costly...
...Let's look at the facts in connection with the closing of income tax offices at Green Bay, Manitowoc, Fond du Lac, Sparta...
...Mount charged that the Republican administration has pursued a policy of sabotaging tax commission activities from the very beginning...
...3. The practice of paying large sums of money, amounting in all to $445.-000, to stockholders of affiliated corporations who brought deridvative suits knowing that the payments made in no wise settled the causes of action...
...26, 1939 and renewed on Jan 2. 1940...
...No savings can be made in salaries or personnel...
...4. The practice of denying stockholders access to its books and records...
...The present policy is to remove the government farther away from the people by centralization...
...from 192R to 1928 in the f^rrr of "loans" and had not repaid any of the money...
...Racine...
...What we are dealing with is not incompetence but sabotage...
...The cold, hard fact is that the administration of the income tax, like utility regulation, is in the hands of its bitterest enemies...
Vol. 10 • March 1940 • No. 12
