The Bridgeport evening farmer., 1915-09-03
REALTY WEALTH CENTRALIZED IN
 NEW YORK CITY
Interesting Statistics of Manhattan Island Pre-
 pared By Society.

New York, Sept. 3.-Thirteen families own real estate in Manhattan with an average value of $15, ,So0,000 per family, according to a statement 1 issued by the Society to Lower Rents and Reduce Taxes on Homes, which is making a study of ''the land monoply' in this city. Out of a total of 560,000 1 families in Manhattan 13 are the own CTS of record land in Manhattan as- sessed at a total of $205, ,404 1875, which is one-f1fteenth of the assessed -valua- ton of the borough.
 1 Frederic c. Leubuscher, president, and Benjamin c. Marsh, secretary of 1 the society, set forth in the statement l that these 13 families, or some of them, also own much valuable land in he l other boroughs of the city, in which there is a total of 1,1o0,0 900 families 1 The statement includes the following: 1 The 13 1and-owning7 families are: The Astors, the Vanderbilts, the Rhine flanders, O. B. Potter properties, J. P. Morgan, B. H. Van Ingen, Wendels, Goelets, Ehret, Gerrys, Charles F. Hoffman estate William R. H. Mar l tin, Eugene Hoffman.
 i Two corporations own about 45 cents out of every $100 worth of land in the lc1ty-SaiIors' Snug Harbor, the as- sessed value of whose land holdings in Manhattan alone is $1O, 493, ,5GO, build lings assessed for $5, ,769, 800. and Trinity
 
 land in Manhattan, and buildings bringing in high rents, assessed for $3, 524, 700. These two 'benevolent'' corporations own nearly sixteenth of the assessed value of land in Man haitian.
 Returns for Taxes Paid.
 Nearly one-twentieth of the city's annual budget, or 10000, ,oGo, is spent for the benefit of these 13 landed fam lilies, but they pay this year only $3,- 841,071. taxes on their land out of their ground rent, calculating the ground rent at only 6 per cent. on the assessed value of $12, ,324, 292. 50. ss The assessed value of the so-calIed Improvements of these 13 families in Manhattan is only $59, PIP, ,775-a lit tie more than one-fourth of the value Of the land The, average small home owner has three times as valuable an improvement as his land, but the total assessed value of land owned by the hfty-odd thousand small home owners of the city is less than that of the As tor family in Manhattan, though their improvements are worth several times as much as those of the Astors, and the small home owners, as well as all tenants of the city, are taxed for the benefit of these and all other big land monopolists in the city
 All these 13 families bought land when it was cheap for a fraction of
 
 of New York city have been increas- ing their land values for them. @44 These 13 families illustrate the req son for the opposition to the program of the Lower Rents society to transfer taxes now levied on buildings to land values, and to meet all increases in the city budget by a supertax on land values.
 These 13 families this year pay s4,- 949, 35o.05 taxes With buildings un- taxed they would pay $6,271, ,O1O.s3, an increase of $1, 340,424.41. A supertax of five mills their land value would yield $I, ,027, ,024 s.
 With buildings untaxed, Sailors Snug Harbor and Trinity corporation would pay $59.444.5sl more taxes than this year, and with a supertax of five mills on land values, $97, ,404 more
 The 13 families own Ss, ,952, 800 worth of vacant idle land in Manhattan, 1 though there. are many blocks with a 1 population density of 1000 or more to the acre in this borough. They have many properties where the land is as- sessed for fifty times as much as the improvements.