Evening star. [volume] (Washington, D.C.) 1854-1972, 1914-05-13
A False Measure of Tax Burden

lI,p1Ted nor cent
A False measure OF lax bulueH.
, - d. ,.,.,,,, :,
va 'H'N' "7"''
~orthlcssncsS Of Tia" census reports OF re-
"A ion If assessment To- true values. and
rrrvent estimates at actual tax burden
,-I ~ ,.. .,,,,,tt..,, z,,,, ~ tlsrs, re-
NV. From, Ia, t,,.. am
Va .0F h''iA""' ''-
Wa htuctru'S ,u"tu.c~ Insist "ti ''Prit-
iu- tho tvo-tirir.Is ,aIJ.atior bass T." the
- =, nv, 90, ,,,,,,,,,,t,,.. ,,-sebiucto,, with
81. c.. ~, vast, mo
''"'' ''''''- '''f
TON fri" fai' - not Si-''' nat -. " ''''
valuation Is reported in "jboi tltte- lt"'
,.,dI, tItnse cities viii, l5:tllue q TRIO ratc
- .. ,... 49,.
-.,
F"h'"uS htS'| '''"N' '''''i'' ''''
Washing ton
Th, ccr..ls .,,,s Of tl,,-c SiaiI-itr- oF
rerorted basis ~ assessment The i--
5res Tor bntb real and persor,ai rro.,,.ri y
Cor most cites outsiel.. of t,tcse three
.r.t.s Minnesota Washington and Wis
.of,,iIn arc far from correct Nud IL
extends this s'ur Of unrclia bilitv 10 the
statistics Of ratc of low. nor 81 GOO of
basel on tho rcnrrtea t7ac y..lric arc
SUBJECT to ali tps. errors ~ TIC estimates
10 which attcntion was called Hi tho pr.-
.rs,Iine paracrarI,' \ c"iupst s,s.t, ~ tn.
N Ys
Lnoou fa..ts SLOWS HAT Washington
.f-r; ,.r.,..,f,',, =, ,,..,.c,- nc 5.,,,,1
,,f,,.,.n,, Of i,s yeai,y ,r,a,, tho sn-,y,rJcd
eu ,aIu.,fu II, ru.,n,- Of rr. limited
r1u,,,hcr If ,.Itlcs i'm winch the, nominal
f.N, nor cent valuation is rcport.d There
T. hardly any other city in the United
STATES where tho assessors assess so near
% ,bc tr,,, ,..,I,. nf tl,c nro,,.ty as In
Washington, today
.rbc %snl,,s h,iIie,f, ei,as fe-,,rss of
r.,ts nor 81 ana of .,sses.eI ,,Iua
;,ou and ta< ratc ncr 81 900 of asti-
.,,.tod ,r',, ,.,i,,. b,,, IT. 49, mo.
,be a,...,,r,.v aui reIiahiIift- If tho rc
me ,,..de L., ~, ,.a,i,,,s .i,i,.., r no
's,,,ion Of ,be .,esesse5 10 ~, Ne ,r,,, ,,,-
fIation destroys an yaIuc H. these fe-
,1res for plrnoscs Of cnmrarisou bc-
fveen tho citie.
Tho George renort sare.
..on ncrsons1 nronerfv tho INV r,tc
IS H. per conf Of tbo mn ,r,to y.,I,,e
on real estate rho t.> rate ,,nIi.l
Is less Tho Commissioners r.iI ~ IL
PER cent ON two-thirds Of the yaI,I.-
IL the assessor had assessed III. true
value But hc has not tn, = mont
shows approximately but 80 cont
If the true value So that .ctlt
IN theoretical two-tllir,is r,,i4I.,ss it
self to 0.SSI. of I per cent OIL tho true
valuation. Therefore the real estate tax
rate which looks like one dollar in the
hundred turns out to he only $751; cents
III INC eiuV. surely inns Is fNtrdC
dinarily low realty rate for "A large
city"
Inc IeorSe report thus figures tho net
tax rate of the District first To $40 per
thousand. since the basis Of assessment
Ia 6625 per cent. and then to S,;.G., per
thousand on the single-tsx ina Sinary
and confiscatory assessment of tn. true
value or NashtnStonS realty.
Baltimore pretends to assess AZ fun
valuation. So It is credited with the
rate
assessed valuation. lie. $3.50 per thou
sand.
But the comparative figures Of actual
realty assessment in the two cities show
that Washington in assessing on The two
thirds basis gets nearer to the true value
Of the city's realty than Baltimore. which
assesses nominally on 100 per cent or
fun valuation basis. The taxed fraction
Of Washington's realty is assessed on
the nominal two-thirds basis at $50 80
4sT All Of rich and populous and busy
Baltimore is assessed on the 100 per cent
basis at S37c S51. 5Oc Thus tho Washing
ION assessors cav thar Wasbin-,op?s
rea1tv an the +wo-thirds bas;s IL ror+b
onIy ego ooo roo Ice. +I,.n all Ea,,in,oro ~,