Evening star., 1902-02-01
DISCUSS TAX BILLS.
Members of Board Of Trade Hold
an Interesting Meeting.
SEVERAL RESOLUTIONS ADOPTED
One Opposes Personal Tax Meas
ure Pending in Congress.
MR.. RAL-TON'S REMARKS
MR.. RAL-TON'S REMARKS


Masonic Temple last evening and eonsid-
cred the bills pending in Congress for
personal tax law and relating to the pay
ment of taxes. The board adopted q reso-
luton in opposition to any personal tax
bill. Another resolution favored the pas
sage of the bill providing that taxes may
be paid either in annual or semi-annuaI in
stallments, and that no penalty shall be
incurred until after the end of the year.
Ihe meeting was called to order by Mr.
Thomas w. Smith, president of the board.
Mr.. George H. Harries being secretary. Mr..
smith announced that the meeting was
called to consider the report of the commit
Tee on taxation and assessment. Mr. :Jesse
D. wilson chairman of that committee
referred briefly to his report. already rem
ueieu ana printed in the annual report of
me board. His committee. in addition ~
lhat report, presented resolutiopS n,h;I ~, ~
commlttee had adopted ' 'iie
MT jackson II. Ralston from, 49, -.
bonrd re- presented the resolutions to the
BOARD The first of them annroIed ~ ~ ,I!'; .nS
now pending in Congress nrot,iSir,1 tle oill
psnaity Snail be charged against ia ynatars ro
;,itl s,t.ii the close of the tax year. buf aiiou
ins+,II,. lie pay memt @ of taxes in two annua,
iilstallments. i This resolution was ,dnntei
ny the board unanimouslv 9p'eu
,,,L;l t.ai iStoh then reported the fo}lou,ino
oa .!D nau peen adopted by the committee,
sonaI ora,'a.+ nat peileVing a tax on per
~ oelests OF the District of Columbia we ara
oppo9ed 70 th1s bill to any hill wbjch
proposes to tax personal property
"r. halstOn Criticises COmm;ss;or.
NIL faiston spoke at some length on the
personal tax bin pending in Congress. and
saio the committee was as greatly onnosad
70 that as 1T was to the first bill intro
uuceo In commenting on the measure he
SAID ne expressed his personal ideas rather
than those of the committed
s.id ne CoIhnissloners of the District" he
SAID nave reported favorabIy on the MOS
ent bill, with amendments. and fba naners
VI touay contain a defense of their action
1 speak OF 1t as a defense hecaura LII
a., uue respect to the Commissioners. If
must be clear to them that thev are not
following the wishes of an immansa M. ~
ity OF our citizens. / do not beiiev. tbera
Is any considerable number of citizens &c
ION VINO believe in a personal tax
l. 40 DelleVe they are entirely opnosed to
tnis DILL and to that extent the ma +h
commissioners have taken has placed them
III oPposltlon not only to the wishes but
1ers ~ she d pest interests of their fellow citi-
Aens ana IN saying that l do not reflect
upon @ thefr integrity of purpose
Ihey say In the first place that it ia nec-
essary that this should be done: that tha
ieve!fues i OF the District of Columbia are
lacking to such an extent that thev rnmst
pe pleced out in this manner l venture to
say tnat statement is erroneous for this
reason: before any personal tax law can 90
lil.o ehect IN the District of Columbia r
an ADVISED by the assessor that we viii
nave large increase a very natario, ", w
crease, In the landed assessments in tba
District of Columbia. There are comnl.ints
"a al ',ie ne. present time, and think well found
eo, tnat large tracts of land in the Distriot
vi Coiumpla, according to the present mea
ule OF value. are undervalued Our reve.
nraasai a,Umi ~that source will be largely in
naxt I'll, ny tre me assessment to go into effect
next July. That being so, we have a 49,
uIal and a proper source of revenue for ~
tax whatsoever 'is personal
Deciares Assessment Is Inoui.,to.,.,
ihey say further that the proposed tax
Is not lnqu1sltorial. 1 am at loss to nm
uerstaho what Is meant by the term inouf-
sitorial II 1t does not apply to this nro-
posed tax. 1t means, 1 suppose an In
Vestigat1on into private affairs. There -
no investigation Of the debts and cred;ts
oi the ieoger of the business man, but there
Is involved In the tax an inyestieation into
his private property The assessors MAJ
reject statement of citizen If they are
not satisfied as to it's correctness and the.
poard may examine into the personal prop
erty involved The mechanic is tn h.va ~;
tools inspected, the merchant is to have his
STOCK inspected and the citizen NAV have
his furniture inspected. 1 do not know
what the word fnquisftOrfa1 means IL that
Is not inquisitOrial.
THE personal tax the Commissioner
favor is tax on honesty. The man who
turns 1q his report is placed at a disad
vantage as compared with his dishonest
neighbor. / undertake to say that anv Iou,
which has no better foundation for it's cor
rect enforcement than the honesty of the
community to be subjected to that sort of
tempta1on rests on shifting and uncer-
tam foundation and cannot operate equally.
INN ,nrt1
There are such things as principles of tax
ation The Commissioners plan is where
you see head hit 1t. There should be
something better than that. They say that
personal taxes should be paid because per
sonal property is protected and that is the
reason for this tax. l think If that arer-
ment is good at all 1t would apply to a non
tax, TAX Ior men are protected before property.
But that is no measure of taxation The
true rule is the exact benefits conferred bv
the government. If you want to find
whether personal property would be bene-
fitted by this taxation consider what would
be the value of personal property if that
protection were withdrawn. You will find
that, If the police force were withdrawn
from the District of Columbia and If there
were no fire department here then the ner
sonal property in the District would be
worth every dollar it Is worth today This
attitude assumes that the whole purpose
Of government is to give protection to prop
erty where that Is only one Of the purposes
streets, roads, sewers, sidewalks, light DO
lice schools libraries water and a hundred
things which have no relation whatever
to the protection Of personal property"
Mr.. Ralston quoted the statement of the
Commissioners relative to the need of
money for a filtration plant, a sewage dis
posal system, municipal building and
other extraordinary expenses.
The direct result Of putting up a munich
pal building" he said, would be to in
crease the value of land all around it.
Water filtration and sewage disposal will
make life in the District more pleasant and
increase the value of land. Improvement
Of streets and roads, the elimination of
grade crossings, will increase the value of
land. That Is what should bear the burden
OF this tax, and not the personal property
Of the District
Mr. Ralston said franchise tax, of which
he did not approve, was eminently more
desirable than a personal tax. The rail-
roads, gas and electric light companies hav We
taxable value Of $50, 100000 or $40, 600. 600.
The railroads pay 100000, but the gas
company, with the most valuable franchise
and using the public streets. pays nothing
at present.