Taxpayers' Friend

IN sculpture, Death has come off far better than Taxes. But now in the big new Municipal Administration Building in Duesseldorf, West Germany, taxpayers have at last found a spokesman in 35-year-old Sculptor Max Kratz. Asked to design two door handles for the main doors through which Duesseldorf's Rhinelanders must pass to pay such local levies as dog taxes, school taxes and licensing fees, Sculptor Kratz "felt an irresistible urge to help taxpayers let off some steam and at the same time give them some consolation. I wanted the poor devils to understand that for centuries taxes have been collected, and there really is no use resisting the pain." His solution: a smiling figure with hands full of gold coins representing the taxpayer as he enters, another figure with empty palms outstretched for his departure. The city art committee decided it was just the touch of humor the taxpayers needed, unanimously voted to accept Kratz's bronze door handles, and had them in place as the new tax office opened for its painful but necessary business.

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