Evening star. [volume] (Washington, D.C.) 1854-1972, 1904-02-26
An Overwhelming Breach.

The statistics of the tax exemptions in
the District. published in yesterdays Star
are of exceeding interest at this particular
time. with the District appropriation bill
about to come before the House for pas
sage. 1t appears from these figures that of
the total of S497 ,15T .266 of property values
in this jurisdiction $3.50 906 ,S4s is exempt
from taxation. This is 81 per cent of the
whole. OF this total of exempt property
the United States government owns $2S3.
e06S4s, or So per cent of the total of all
property values.
Thus is clearly demonstrated the right
eousness of the arrangement whereby the
United States pays one-half of the cost of
maintaining the District. There is today
very general understanding of the reasons
underlying this principle. and 1t is no
longer difficult as 1t once was to per-
suade incoming members of Congress that
the capital city is not mendicant fatten-
ing upon the federal bounty. But these
statistics go further and prove more than
the already well-established fact that it is
ury should annually be drawn upon for a
equal to the total of the District tax
revenues.
ably never grow beyond its present bounds.
1t may. by a long chance, ultimately get
back its Virginia portion. so unwisely re-
troceded years ago. This, however, is not
to be contemplated as probable. There is,
therefore. a fixed limit to the amount OF
property which can be improved and util-
lied. OF this property. it Is TO be seen from
the tables, the government now owns more
han nrn- haI
its holdings as 1t acquires sites for needed
public buildings. Every time 1t takes a
square of ground for this praiseworthy pur-
pose 1t depletes the Districts total of tax
able property. Thus the difference between
the taxable and the non-taxable portions
of the absolutely limited capital area is
annually widening and will continue to
widen as the government meets its own in
creasing needs and those of the District
The net result of this process is that the
burden on the shoulders of the local tax
payers is yearly becoming heavier Not
only are the taxes being taken from a con-
stantly decreasing area, but the expenses
which they are by fifty per cent to meet
are growing heavier. This means occa-
sional increases in the assessments and cor
responding increases in the tax burden, di-
vided necessarily among relatively smaller
number of taxpayers with each readjust-
ment.
1t may be said that the District still has
ample room to expand in the now only
partly improved suburban regions This is
true only in part. The governments largest
areas of exempt property are beyond that
long outgrown line known as the city
boundary. Great parks, for the purchase of
which the District was required to pay its
equal share and in the maintenance of
which it contributes equally, reduce the
iihproVaDie area by heavy percentage,
and other park improvement projects. now
IN contemplation. will add to the depletion
mus, While the total Of taxable property
Is being steadily decreasing the tax burden
Is increasing. partly by reason of the natu-
raj growth of the city and partly in conse-
quence of the very improvements which
have reduced the taxable area
This phenomenon is not repugnant to the
citizens of the District so long as the gov
ernment adheres strictly to the half-and-
half principle and shows a disposition to
adjust the financial burdens of the District
equitably. But in the recent past neither
Of these ends has been conserved. The
government acting through Congress. has
on several occasions violated the half-and-
half principle. notably In the extension of
streets, which has served its turn In re-
ducing the taxable area and adding to the
tax burden. It has also of late refused to
permit the District to finance the cost of
the great permanent works, some of which
are adding to the disparity between the
taxable and the non-taxable property. in
a manner to spread the weight of payment
over a long period of years
These figures indicate Enthusiastically the
sonndness OF the Districts plea for re-
funding Of the moneys unjustly taken from
In violation of the partnership agree
ment and that more recently entered for
iong-term funding of the deficit inevitably
involved In the prosecution of the permanent
improvements. If these two petitions are
granted the District Will betray no alarm
at the steady diminution of the taxable
area in the face of increasing expenses.