The Washington times., 1915-10-26
Tells Congressional Committee
That Tax in Capital Is Above
Average.
DESCRIBES DISADVANTAGES
Calls Unjust the Claim Of Some
That Property Here Is
Underassessed.

The second oral argument in defense
Of the halr-and-half principle was heard
today by the joint Senate and House
Investigating committee when Theodore
w. Noyes. for twenty years a student
Of municipal problems and prolinc
writer thereon. presented his Views.
It Is probable that Mr.. Noyes will
consume the entire day. He will ne
followed tomorrow by A. g. Worthing-
ton. another member of the joint citi-
xens' committee. which is making
vlflant hight for the retention OF the
present fiscal plan.
"Unjust and Erroneous"
Mr.. Noyes was selected by the Joint
citizens committee to present to the in
vssigators data concerning Washing
tons tax burdens. as compared with
other cities. and to discuss the relation
Of the United states to its Capital as
compared with the relations OF other
nations to their RESPECTIVE capitals.
He pronounced as unjust and er-
roneous" the belief and claim in GER
tain quarters that Washington property
10 underassessed and undertaxed. Mr..
Noyes characterized as a fallacy the
claim that there is s74i. 900. 900 worth Of
taxable property here. but that only
""fhis claim is reduced to an ab-
surdity." he said. "by an inspection of
the assessed valuation Of other cities
and a study Of the valuation standards
which they employ"
gued. It would mean that Washington
has twice as much taxable property as
busy. industrial wealthy Baltimore.
which has 226.oO0 more population: and
nearly twice as much as the magnif-
cent business city of Cincinnati.
Tax Above Average.
"Cnder such a valuation" he added.
"the 5000 taxpayers of Washington.
nearly all of them small property own
ers. crippled and crarnped In money
making. would be required to pay In
taxes to sustain the national city more
than tho aggregated Taxpayers Of New
Mr.. Noyes Insisted that instead Of pay
ing a low per capita tax, as repeatedly
naD oy Gs the
distinctly above the average "and the
tow cities that exceed our tax rate ex-
coed 1t only slightly. while many cities
able to bear a larger burden fall below
1T Ia conceded" continued Mr. Noyes,
~that the Washingtonian has not
ahirked. but has fully met and Is fully
meeting his obligations to tho Capital
As q municipal taxpayer"
Discussing misleading tax figures. as
compared to official figures from the
I Census Bureau. Mr.. Noyes said, In part:
Tho method Of measuring the COM
DArative tax burdens Of cities which ac-
oaots as accurate the census-reported
- - -.
on this assumption declares that the
washingtonian's tax burden Is much
lighter than that of the residents of the
. averaGe American city. Is based on a
false premise and leads to a false con-
ciusion. It Is discredited as unreliable
PARSONS Of assessments with true
values. as ascertained from sale prices
IN many cities, and is reduced to q
logical absurdity when the attempt Is
made to apply It practically.
Testimony Of Census Authorities.
-. This standard of measurement Is
6iscredited as unsound and misleading
bv tho census authorities themselves.
It's foundation Is confessed to be unre-
liable by many of the cities and States.
Exert census bulletin s. (lS9O) says:
In comparing the rates of taxation
between the several places 1t should
be borne in mind that the relation OF
tho assessed valuation to the true val
uation varies greatly and what Is ap-
parently a high rate Of taxation may
be owing not to an excessive levy. but
to the low value placed upon the prop
erty assessed. requiring the rate to be
corrcspondingly high In order to yield
the desired revenue. 1t would seem.
therefore. that the taxation per capita
represents more nearly the relative
burdens imposed by the tax levy.
shall we disregard the real meas
ure OF tax burdens, the total and per
capita tax levy. commended as accurate
by the census authorities. and apply
to the tax rate this confessedly grossly
misleading factor of calculation? The
result will be worthless as measure
of comparative tax burdens.
Confessions of Inaccuracy.
THE census bulletins thus discredit
the accuracy of the reported relations
Of assessed to true value except in three
States. Minnesota Is one of the States
commended for comparative accuracy OF
the statement of the relation of the
assessment to the true value.
In 1872 the Minnesota tax commits
sion said
90 Ever since Minnesota became a
State we have had law among our
statutes requiring that "all property
Shnii be be assessed At Its true and full
assessor started on his thankless task
has property of any kind In Minnesota \
been assessed at its true and full
value. or, with few exceptions, has
any serious attempt ever been made
to so assess It. The uniform. universal
custom has been to assess at from 81 to
So Per cent Of actual value: and this
custom has had the ong-continued ap-
prov@ OF the people. the silent support
OF the law making, and. in large meas.
ure, tbr acnuiescence of the law-en-
forcing departments of the State gov
ernment.'
AS in Minnesota so in many other
states nominal 100 per cent valuation
rneans only from % to 80 per cent and
nominal valuations less than I'm per cent
turn out In most cases to be In practice
about one-half of the reported valua-
ton.
Discrepancies Amazing.
THE fact that In a Washington as
sessment nominal &c % per cent
means an actual T3 per cent while In