Evening star., 1900-09-20
Summary Of Tax Payments for Past
Fiscal Year;
ANNUAL REPORT OF COLLECTOR DAVIS
Recommendation Made for Change
to Annual Collections.
THE TAX SALE OF 1900

To-Day 10 the
ers a report covering the operations Of his
office during the fiscal year ended June 80,
| 1900. The report contains certain recon-
| mendations deemed by Mr. Davis necessary
for the better and more efficient transaction
Of the business OF the office, and also the
following summary of collections during
the past fiscal year:
Realty tax, So 756 OG3. 80; personal tax,
$179.2l79 90: penalties and interest, $50 O51. 81
| miscellaneous sources, $o42 .OG0.I; water
fund, 340,339O1; assessment and permit
work, $685. sol 90; water service connections
81, 1852; improvements and repairs, $1O,-
80; account of United States. $16,
S9SI2; miscellaneous deposits and repay
ments>, $4G2, ,SS174; permit work (whole
cost), $136, $3.50; total, $4,62S, ,6621s.
Recommendation Renewed.
Mr.. Davis reviews his recommendation for
an increase in the force of his Office which
is made, he explains, more urgent by the
proposed change in the system of collect
ing taxes. The increase asked for, includ-
ing an assistant cashier, two additional en-
try clerks and coupon clerk, he says, will
be necessary in putting into effect the
changes he proposes to inaugurate, and the
advantages gained will, it is believed, more
than compensate for the expense incurred.
The office has been entirely rearranged,
cashiers desk added, more counter room
for the convenience of the public. and the
collector feels that the increased facilities
afforded for the transaction of the public
business by the changes made will be fully
appreciated by those having business with
the office.
'It is proposed" states Mr.. Davis, "to
have all tax bills prepared and carefully ar
ranged in cases, in alphabetical order, prior
to the time of payment tMay, 19OD, so that
upon application the taxpayer will find his
bill ready for delivery, and upon payment
of the same he obtains his receipt from the
cashier, and thus avoids, in a great meas
ure, the long vexatious delay incident to
obtaining and paying tax bills during the
busy seasons under the present system. BY
this same arrangement we hope, also, to
prevent duplicate payments, as no regular
bill will be furnished unless receipted,
which must necessarily be after payment
has been made In order that taxpayers
may have opportunity to examine and
adjust their accounts before payment, men,
orandum bills will be furnished, the regular
bill being substituted therefor at the time
of payment. AS will be seen, the success
of this arrangement will depend upon the
cooperation of the public"
Annual Payments of Taxes.
For the successful operation Of the new
system, it appears to Mr.. Davis to be nee
essary that change be made from semi
annual to annual payments of taxes in
the preparation in advance of payment of
all tax bills The necessity of the passage
of a law authorizing the collection of taxes
in one nstallment has often been urged by
his office. and it gains additional force at
the present time, he thinks, for the reason
above stated. He therefore earnestly rec
ommends that the annual payment of gen
eral taxes be made permanent, stating that
he sees no good reason why 1t should be
otherwise Annual payments appear to be
ha r,1la all Ia rfp
were there any advantages in semi-annual
payments this would not be the case.
1.-THE system of semi-annual payments.
which has been in practical operation in this
city for years, has developed no advantages
to the District or taxpayers. 1t has been
the fruitful cause of many errors on part
of taxpayers overlooking payment Of the
second half of the taxes and subjecting
them to the payment of heavy penalties.
and many small taxpayers through prefer
ence or neglect, who pay in one installment
in May are compelled to pay penalty on the
first half During the fiscal year of 1900
this office collected in penalties alone SS4-
220.7 large percentage of which was due
to the two-payment system. Business Suf-
fers also from the present system, as over
81, 600 600 are taken out of circulation when
most in demand in the transaction of the
fall business, when coal. heavy clothing and
other winter supplies are needed. I know
Of no serious opposition to the change
recommended, and feel sure that it will
take but a short time when its advantages
Record of 1899 Repeated.
The tax sale of 1900. held last April, says
Mr.. Davis, was a repetition of the unprece-
dented one of 1899, which exceeded all prior
tax sales in it's magnitude the certificates
issued being several thousand in excess of
those issued at any sale prior thereto He
says he has no reason to anticipate any
decrease in the amount of future sales and
this fact, he states, compels him to renew
his recommendation for an appropriation
for the purpose of preparing for the sale
hereafter, and encourages him to- believe
that no argument he could advance could
be more convincing Of the necessity of such
action than calling attention to the fact
above stated. He points out that the prep
aration, examination and comparison of
q, 600 sale certificates involves vast amount
of labor, and in order to accomplish this
and prepare statement for record in com
pliance with law, additional force must be
provided To meet this condition he recon-
mends that Congress be asked for an ap-
preparation of 5000, the same to be available
at once, for the payment of experienced
clerks to be selected from the force of his
and the assessors office, who shall per-
form the work after Office hours under the
direction of the collector of taxes
Mr.. Davis asks the renewal Of the ap-
preparation of $3.50 for the collection of
overdue personal taxes He says the out
lay is but small percentage of the amount
collected, and that 1t is the means Of col
lecting much that would be loss to the
District. During the fiscal year of 1900
there was collected on this account 50 7S9 81.
He again includes in his estimates an ad-
diton of $500 to the salary of the deputy
collector the amount originally asked be-
ing $1,000, which he considers only fair
compensation for the duties and responsi-
bilities of the position.
Division of Charges.
'T again beg" says Mr. Davis, "to in
vite your attention to a suggestion made in
a previous report that Congress be asked
for authority to divide and apportion all
charges for special assessments against an
original lot among its subdivisions. Accord
ing to an opinion of the attorney for the
District such assessments cannot be
charged in full against each subdivision of
original lot. as is customary, consequently
these assessments, If collected in this way
are illegal and subject to refund and are
lost to the District. In view of the fact
that there some thousands of dollars of
unpaid assessments original lots which
have been subdivided. collection or which Is
jeopardized by the method of advertising,
it is very important that some action be
taken in the matter.
Considering the volume of work accom-
plished by this Office during the past year, it