Evening star. [volume] (Washington, D.C.) 1854-1972, 1914-05-13

city. but is the richest in per capita
taxable resources. At the root OF this
delusion of vast wealth in Washington
| is H. j. Brownies confiscatory single-tax
| estimate of 1872 of STA 900 realty
values at the capital. Mr.. Prouty en-
Enthusiastically adopts Mr.. Brownies guess,
as accepted by Mr.. George, because by
point both against Mr.. George and his
| capital constituents. Apparently Mr..
| Prouty is careless how this grossly ex-
| cessive estimate was reached. whether
| it is accurate or inaccurate, fair or I'M
| fair to the people of Washington. The
| excessive and confscatory character of
| this estimate was shown in considerable
| detail in The Star of February u, 1914
On the basis OF Mr. Brownies guess at
Washington realty values Mr. Prouty
figures that Washington can easily raise
in annual taxes S14.S37,oOO. He uses his
own guesswork concerning and manipu-
laton of the tax rate to show that
Washington can readily collect an annual
levy of sl4,a17,291.75.
He concludes: The committee of ono
hundred knows fun well that if property
in the District of Columbia was taxed
substantially the same as it is taxed in
other cities 1t would produce over SIS
00o,0b0. while it requires about $4,000 900
issue Is Washington in tax-raising
capacity a six to seven million or a
fourteen to fifteen million city?
A Six or Fifteen Million Cityf
The last column of figures in the table
throws some light on this question. 1t
shows that Washington in 1912, with its
property tax levy of s5,3as, 1884, raised
more taxes than twenty-four cities in a
list of forty, exceeding such cities as New
Orleans Jersey City. Indianapolis and st.
Paul 1t shows that If Mr.. Prouty's f1f-
teen-mlllion property tax had been
raised Washington would have paid in
taxes more than st. Louis. Baltimore
Detroit and Cleveland: only fourteen
exceeding It,
Mr.. Prouty proposes to collect from the
local taxpayers $4,000 600. approximately
three times as much as they are now
paying. making their per capita levy so
per cent higher than the most excessively
taxed city in the United States and two
or three or four times as much as other
cities of the capitals class. Mr.. Prouty
would raise from 10000 taxpayers in re-
sourceless Washington more than was
raised in 1912 in Detroit and New Orleans
combined, about as much as Baltimore
and Milwaukee combined, % per cent
more than st. Louis, so per cent more
than Cleveland.
What fair-minded American, in or out
of Congress. would attempt to collect
from the $4,000 local taxpayers, nearly
all Of whom are small property owners,
S15ooo.Ooo. or approximately twice as
much as the total raised in 1912 through
all kinds of taxation by Baltimore, 80
per cent more than was raised by the
whole of Cleveland and approximately
three times as much as was collected in
all taxes in New Orleans?
Where are the Washingtonians to get
these fifteen million dollars of taxes. or
even the half of that amount, without
gress? Their legislature has cut them off
from the money-making opportunities of
the ordinary manufacturing and indus
trial city They have no Rockefellers or
Carnegies or multi millionaires of any
degree to be bled after socialistic meth
DDS of taxation for the public benefit.
Their great employers and manufac-
turers and captains OF industry are con-
solidated In Uncle Sam. Their richest
men are wealthy Americans from all over
the republic who at first are only winter
residents of the capital. These men are,
like the workmen in the building trades.
being driven out Of the capital and off
the city's tax list Is 1t the plan to de-
on sngle-tax principles by excessive taxa
ton. and then to evict the people of the
city in order that they may find else
where some means of self-support?
Washington and New Orleans.
The cities nearest to Washington In
population are New Orleans and Min
neapolis, the former little larger. the
latter little smaller; both richer in
taxable resources and means OF local
self-support and money making. both
suffering less than Washington from
Transient -taxpaying percentage of
population. The tax levies and per
capita tax levies of the three cities are
close together, indicating that Wash
ington is taxed today substantially as
the taxpayers of those American cities
most closely approximating 1t in size
and resources: and the moral is that
Washington is already bearing with
less resources and greater drawbacks
and disabilities the same tax burdens
that are endured by these typical Amer
lean cities, and. as consequence, that
in fairness it's tax burden should not be
increased artificially a single dollar, in
addition to the natural increase from
it's steady growth.
Per cap. Total tax
Population. tax levy. levy.
New Orleans. $50, 6a5 STATS So. 1s2, 421
Washington Belts 1915 6.o9s,9SA
All three cities are over 100000 in
tax is figured by the census in the tax
levies. Minneapolis thus gets the bene
fit of this special addition to her tax
levy, while Washington suffers from
the non-inclusion in the census calcu-
la ton of the tax on the gross incomes
of public service corporations in lieu
of personal taxes. This revenue in