The Washington times., 1912-04-24
CHARGES ASSESSORS
WITH BEING LAX IN
RATING TAXES HERE
Henry George, Jr., Makes
Direct Statement at Hear
ing of Subcommittee.

Direct charges that the District AS
SCISSORS have been lax In the discharge
OF treir duties regarding the levying of
taxes on certain property improvements,
were made at the hearing on taxation
conducted by the subcommittee of the
House District Committee today by
Chairman Henry George, jr., of the
committee.
This negligence has probably been
due to an inability of the members Of
the board to look into this matter" said
Mr.. George later In qualifications of his
charge.
Most of the quizzing done by the
chairman of the committee this morning
centered on the property bounded By
G and II, Four-and-a-half and Sixth
streets southwest, which square was Sc
lected by Mr.. George as an example of
the high assessment of the homes of
persons I'm the southwest section of the
city.
1t developed from the questions to
District Attorney Richards and his as
sistants that the property on the squG re
which is of an old type had been ad-
vanced in taxation just 80 per cent.
DO you think this property has in
creased in value, that the improvements,
/ mean, have increased in value" in
Quired Chairman George of the District
Assessor
Mr.. Richards answered in the mega
tive, whereupon the chairman of the
committee inquired whether the as
SCISSORS did not think, on the other
hand, the houses belonging to the
small home owners" on the square
District Assessor then answered there
were numerous instances in the Dis
, trict where the values. of certain
I ed unchanged and the improvements
on the square in question under the
/ meth hods employed by the board OF
assistant assessors was, in his opin-
+ Ion, of the proper standard.
Willard An Example.
In comparison to the raise in the tax
alton on the houses Of Mall home own
ers," the willard Hotel property wa,
taken under consideration. When ask
ed how much the taxes on the improve
ments on the property were at the previ
GUS assessment, Assessor Richards sait
the property was assessed at 500, 0OC
He said at the last assessment the tax
alton had been Increased to 100000
Questions from the chairman of tn
committee brought acknowledgment
from the District Assessor that tn
Willard Hotel cost $780, ,VO0.
i
cost that sum, why wasn't the propert
assessed at sl,OOO.0oo. or two-thirds o
it's actual value, according to law?' in
quired Chairman George.
Mr.. Richards explained the prop
erty had not been assessed for 1t
full value at the initial assessmen n
and the Board OF Assessors had com
to the conclusion at the last assess
ment that the taxation on the prop
erty should be raised. He said tina
the reason the property was not as
sessed at its initial cost was becaus
he thought 1t had deteriorated L
value.
Chairman George wanted to kno,
81 If the District assessors thought th
hotel property had deteriorated 3
per cent In value since It's construc
tion. Mr.. Richards answered he =.
not think that the deterioration ha
been that great but, in the judgmer
of the assessors, the property was as
sessed at a fair price.
Affecting the Southeast.
Questions involving the values of pro-
erty and improvements in the southeai
and northeast sections of the city wei
also inquired into b. the chairman
the committee. In answer to question
regarding the values of residence pro-
erty in the southeast, Mr.. Richards sal
that he thought property values in thi
locality were, for the most part, sti
tionary.
Asslstaht Assessor mchehIle SUP
to impress upon the chairman OF Il
committee that the present Board
Assessors was doing its best to CORE
the inequality of the assessments mat
BY previous board.
The board % assessors were re1ueSt'
to explain their methods in asccrtai
ing the values of property and II
provements. when Mr.. Mckenzie sa
Perry Belmont had Informed him
the cost uf his palatial home. Chai
man George inquired II the taxes
the property were levied according
hIr. Bclmonts Information. and wheth
the hoard of assessors did not thii
that property owners undervalucd til,
holdings in giving testimony.
The asscssOrs unanimously agre
they believed property owners in SUI
cases but that when doubt arose tn
usually made investigation as TO &
real value of the property involved.
Y0LNT CTTLnU nIII