Evening star., 1902-02-04
Taxation I'm the District.

To the Editor CT The Evening Star:
In my recent article on the anomalous
condition of the District the number of tax
payers was given as 4l,o45, whereas 1t
should have been 31.045. Whether it was
my mistake or the printers do not know,
nor is Ii material.
That does not include those who paid a
personal tax ESTIMATED at 2,5oo}, because
they are presumably included in those who
pay a tax on real estate.
That shows that in the District there is
but one in nine of the population who pays
taxes; and those who do pay of course in
clude every colored man who owns
shanty and every mechanic and laboring
man who owns home, no matter how
small or cheap 1T may be.
AS shown by the auditors report, the cit
liens of the District In 1901 paid the sum OF
81 954 214S7 in the shape of taxes, licenses.
&c. That divided among the entire popu-
lation of the District gives a per capita tax
of S14.14, which is S1.34 more than in Chi
cago, $3.50 more than In st. Louis, S2.49
more than in Milwaukee, S2.93 more than In
Newark, $291 more than in Cleveland, S3.65
more than in Indianapolis, $40 more than
in Allegheny City, and $6.16 more than In
Omaha.
Or, If we apportion 1t among the actual
taxpayers of the District. 1t amounts to
$3.50 So per capita. OF course, some pay
many times that amount, while others pay
correspondingly less; but whether 1t be di-
vided among the entire population or
among the taxpayers alone, it is much
more than in any city in the country.
When it is borne in mind-as 1t always
should be by those who legislate for the
District-that this is neither a manufactur-
ing nor a commercial city, but has been
well described as "a city OF hotels. boarding
houses and retail shops for the convenience
of Congress, government employees and the
local population" IL must be admitted that
this is heavy tax for the property holders.
Aside from the street railroads, electric
light and gas companies, many of which.
CHI hxvt he nffi nrfS S1lhr fa1
to Congress during the past week, do not
earn enough to pay their running expenses.
there are no manufactures or other large
concerns such as other cities have. Nearly
all the manufacturing establishments are
owned and run by the United States gov
ernment, which, while owning ten millions
more than half Of all the property in the
District, does not, and never did, pay any
| taxes.
When all these facts are considered
think every fair-minded man will admit
| that the citizens of the District pay all tney
can afford to. and all that they can Justly
| be called upon to pay. 1t is no doubt true
| that much of the suburban property held
| for speculation is assessed much lower In
proportion than city property, but that is
matter to be regulated by the assessors.
and not by increasing the general taxes. 1t
was to secure an equalization of the assess
ments and taxes that /, with others. worked
| for years to induce Congress to give us a
permanent board of assessors; and while
| the equalization has not been fully accom-
| plished, much has been done In that line
| and no doubt more will be. II is no trifiing
or easy job for the board to carefully ex-
anime and equitably assess all the property
| In the seventy-four square miles composing
| the District. including 1t does such a
variety of property. There is not another
| city or district In the country so peculiarly
situated In that respect.
Another thing which Congress ought to
| do is to so change the law as to have all
property pay taxes at the same rate. When
! the law was enacted providing that city
property should pay ia per cent, and land
| used for agricultural purposes should pay
| but / per cent, the object evidently was to
1 encourage agriculture in the District: but.
| as every one at all familiar with the facts
4 knows. the great mass of the land taxed as
| agricultural is today held on speculation.
| with the expectation OF selling IL at a large
| profit in the future. much of 1t has all
| ready been. But, whether used for agrf-
cultural purposes or for speculation. there
\ is no sense or reason in having IL pay dif-
ferent rate. 1t should be assessed at a fair
| rate, and should then pay taxes at the
| same rate as all other property.
4 All these are matters which should be
| carefully considered by those who leglslate
for the District. w. c. DODGE.