Or do they. A nicely entertaining discussion of Superman #149 where Superman gets hit up for $1,000,000,000 of unpaid tax. Which in the fifties was a lot of money. This seems a surprisingly round number, but like many Superman stories of the age the whole thing (especially the denouement) does not really stand up to that much scrutiny. Items the story forgets:
-How exactly does the FBI plan to catch Superman?
-He could tell them that he happily pays tax in his other identity. The taxman would have to swear to secrecy.
-He is actually an inhabitant of the North Pole, not the US. Indeed he doesn’t have a birth certificate and one assumes probably no social security number.
-He could demonstrate the tax savings made by the US government for all the crimes against them he has prevented
-He could always hit up Lex Luthor. Literally. Or indeed Bruce Wayne.
On this issue, this column was written due to the end of the US tax year, where everyone files their tax. Which has always struck me as a really, really stupid system compared to PAYE. Can anyone tell me exactly what the advantages are, compared to the abject constant fear of having to annually file your taxes and keep receipts?