Evening star., 1913-10-31
Higher Tax Cost of Living.


iugton threaten Ii with every new tax
anywhere exacted; with a higher stand
ard of assessment; with an enlargement
on the pretext of uniformity of an ag-
gregate assessment already grossly ex-
cessive: with expansion of the scope OF
personal taxation; and with bills for mil
lions alleged To be due Uncle Sam which
he has neglected for forty years to col
lecf or to recognize as debts at all.
Many of these assailants express a
tender solicitude for the small taxpayer.
suggesting that he Is to be distinguished
and separated from the large taxpayers,
as the sheep from the goats. and that the
latter only will be made to feel the addi-
tional burdens which they seek to i'm
pose.
But no sane taxpayer, small or large,
will be deIuded into the belief that the
blows of increased assessment and taxa
ton will strike only the pocketbooks of
men wealthier than himself and will
leave him untouched.
Indeed, in most cases of increased tax
exactions even though aimed at wealthy
tax-dodgers. the real burden falls upon
the smaller taxpayers. who cannot dodge.
For instance. if a drastic tax upon In
tangible personal property is leveled at
the wealthy transients, who are pictured
as settling here as in haven of refuge
from tax collectors. these threatened
transients viii simply take wing again,
and fy elsewhere. leaving an additional
permanent tax burden upon the local
homemakers. mainly small taxpayer who
are tied by domestic conditions to the
soil and cannot get away.
In n raa6iuSfnant of asSesSnuepfs In tho
direction OF uniformity the small tax
payer ordinarily profits the most. For
while all taxpayers, small or great. ex-
cept the comparatively few individuals
who are underassessed, wish uniformity
OF assessment. it is true that the small
taxpayer is everywhere proportionately
overassessed, the whole or nearly the
whole Of his taxable belongings being
tangible, visible. not to be hidden from or
materially deprecated i'll the assessing
process.
But in the District the small taxpayer
gets a minimum of benefit from the
steady progress toward uniformity. be-
cause the ievelng process with al
ways levels up and never Tor hardly
eve) levels down. The underassessed
are in spots raised to the level of the
oyerassessed. but the overassessed are
not reduced. This constant boosting OF
assessments. now in this place and on
this class of property. and now some
where else and on some other kind of
property. has already made Washington's S
assessment. as whole. Enthusiastically ex-
cessive, when compared with the assess
ments of other large American cities APP
proximating 1t in size. Washington lacks
the great and costly industrial plants
which swell the assessment rolls of most
cities. What it has of such plants Is in
the main government property and does
not figure in the assessments. The Wash
ington assessors have valued $500 the
privately owned and assessed fraction of
Washington real estate greater in
value than the whole of such rich and
prosperous industrial cities as Cleveland.
Detroit. Cincinnati. Milwaukee and New
orleans, conclusion preposterous and
incredible Either all these other cities
are underassessed or Washington is over
assessed: and the meaning and lesson of
the comparison are the same. whichever
form OF wording is adopted.
Ordinarily the equitable assessment of
the previously underassessed reduces the
necessary tax contribution of those who
is no such effect in Washington. Indeed.
the purpose of swelling the Districts as
sessnhent and taxation rolls is half con-
fessed to he that of giving Uncle Sam an
excuse to decrease or TO withdraw alto
getner his equitable contribution toward
capital maintenance and development. II
this contribution We're withdrawn the
effect would be a virtual doubling of the
taxes of every District taxpayer large or
small If the standard of assessment
We're raised from d61x per cent to 100
per cent, and the tax rate We're unchang
ed, every taxpayer in the District large
or small, would have his tax virtually in
creased by JO per cent. There is no
wizard of today who can perform the
miracle of transforming into a blessing
a doubling of the small taxpayers tax
burden or its increase by one-half.
Nearly all OF US on the District roll are
small or medium sized taxpayers. But
whether larger or smaller In our tax con-
trioutions. our interests are practically
identical one is not blessed and the
other cursed. One cannot be hurt, and the
other left unharmed Both prosper OF
suffer together.
L, was, of course. Bediamite who
Was discovered. clad in pajamas only.
holding dog in a snowdrift and who
shiveringly explained that he was trying
TO freeze the animal to death.