le, Mawruss,
the government wouldn't let them deduct a cent," Abe suggested. "And in
a way, Mawruss, they are right, because while you couldn't charge off
pinochle losses, I understand Mr. McAdoo holds that you've got to pay
income tax on pinochle profits."

"That only goes to show how much Mr. McAdoo knows about pinochle, Abe,"
Morris said, "because unless, _Gott soll huten_, a feller should drop
dead immediately after he cashes in his chips, y'understand, money which
you win at pinochle ain't an asset, Abe, it's a loan, and sooner or
later you are going to pay it back with interest."

"_You_ argue with Mr. McAdoo!" Abe advised him. "Why, as I understand
it, if you are having the game up at your own house, Mawruss, and you
happen to draw out ahead you ain't even allowed to deduct nothing for
electric light and the delicatessen supper, so strict the government
is."

"But do you mean to say that if you have a regular Saturday-night
pinochle game and you make a few dollars one Saturday night and drop it
the next and so forth, Abe, that the government wouldn't allow you to
deduct your losings from your winnings?" Morris asked.

"That's the idee," Abe said. "When you cash in at the end of each game,
Mawruss, that constitutes a separate transaction under 'H. OTHER INCOME
(including income from partnerships, fiduciaries, except that reported
under E, F, and G),' and you don't get no allowances for nothing."

"Well, that settles it," Morris said. "For the fiscal year January
first, nineteen eighteen, to December thirty-first, nineteen eighteen, I
play pinochle two-handed with my wife, Abe, and then I've always got
the come-back that I answered 'No' to question eight, 'Did your wife (or
husband) or dependent children derive income from sources independent of
your own?'"

"I don't think that Mr. McAdoo would hold that you've got to report
money which you win from your wife," Abe said.

"Why not?" Morris asked.

"Because Mr. McAdoo is a married man himself, Mawruss, and he knows that
such moneys ain't income," Abe concluded. "They're paper profits, and
you never collect on them."

THE END

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