"The income tax also hits some members of the theatrical profession pretty hard. Some of these actors, including motion picture stars, perhaps make as high as $200 and $300 a week for six months in the year. They live well and by the time their income tax payment is due may be out of an engagement. They are confronted with a good-sized tax without any immediate means. It is then up to them to get it.
"Last year my investigators found many diamond merchants have been doing business in this country four or five years without paying taxes. We got after them and increased our returns by more than $1,000,000. Some of the actresses who were delinquent last year said they did not pay because they could not figure out just how much they were exempt because of the cost of their gowns, taxicabs and other luxuries. A 50 percent penalty was imposed because of their failure to pay when the taxes were due. 