The Tax Office

A century ago, the U.S. Government established a main office of its Coast and Geodetic Survey in Boston in order to be close to Benjamin Pierce, professor of Mathematics in Harvard University and the leading American mathematician of his time.

Times, astoundingly enough, have changed. According to a recent decision of the Internal Revenue Service, a proposed New York--New England regional office will be located in Boston, even though most of the income tax returns it handles will come from New York. But now, according to Mortimer Caplin, Commissioner of Internal Revenue, the reason is that the tax office wants to be near the Lawrence computing center.

Is a blinking machine a dignified reason, we ask, for a regional office to be removed from the millions of happy New Yorkers who cause most of the problems?