The Washington herald., 1915-10-17

ernment property, in principle. were tax
able.
That the Federal half-and-half subsidy
has Injured to the benefit of the land.
holding minority in the District.
That the half-andhalf subsidy has
Injured especially to the benefit of land.
holders in favored locations.
! Says Subsidy Has Failed.
That the half-and-half subsidy has
failed utterly to meet the intent of Con-
, gress to extend its benefits fairly to the
whole people of the District.
| That the effect of the half and -ha I
| subsidy has been directly to increase the
selling price of land. and thereby artif-
cially to raise rents and other costs OF
living. especially to government en-
ployes. wage-earners ind poorer members
OF the community
That as result of the Incidence of
benefit OF the half-and-half subsidy land
values in the District have. whole
in effect entirely escaped taxation since
1873.
That the taxation of improvements. on
a comparatively high assessment or SELL
ing value or cost of construction, at the
same rate as land values on Il compare
lively low assessment of selling value
has seriously Disseminated against i'm
provementS in favor of land holdings.
thereby producing a double leverage
against the proper development of build
ing improvements.
That the taxation of personally, OF
banking. and the imposition of 4 multi
tude of license taxes tends to make ad-
ministration difficult and complicated.
and tends TO increase the cost of living.
IneHicicncy fs Charged.
That the administration Of the asses
sOr's offic" has been inefficient. and inva-
riahly and knowingly has dcfied the tru"
intent and purpose of the law providing
that real property shall be assessed at
mot less than two-thirds of its true
value"
That the land values of the District are
conscrvatively worth s500n0,'1o and
should br assessed at that amount.
That a properly adjusted tax rate and
assessment will produce an annual rere-
nuc of over sl3,O00.On0 which with liquor
licenses will meet the requirements OF
liberal budget, without recourse to the
Federal government for dollar in aid.
Mr.. Browne asks permission OF the
joint committee to be heard in support
of his brief and makes the following
recommendations for relief:
First That the 'half-and- half con-
shall immediately and fully cease
Second-That the whole system Of tax
q atinn in the District be rcOrgariZcd on
n Just and scientific basis. ahOlishinS all
unjust and oppressive forms Of taxation.
Thrd-That the drastic and complete
reorganization and reformation of the
District assessors office hc urged rs an
preliminary to the just and
equal assessments Of the objects of tan
l,, y1.,,.,
Remarkable Fluctuations.
Early in the brief Mr. Browne submits
figures L" show seemingly remarkable
fluctuations in assessment values placed
on property at various times by District
assrssors and Special boards Thus. h..
shows that tm" levy for M. following
tn" panic OF 1913, for Washington. ,
.ic"r-ctown and the county, was at an /,
average rate of Sl.9> on total Valu-
Itipn Of So. i2,671 In l>1S. following tn" q
of tn" District govern
m"nt, land values We're assessed at 81. .
SITS Il Shrinkag". according to Mr.. :
teIopmcnt' Of s>.7S.7>5. nor did tn, as /
sessmentS reach the figures Of I\4 un-
ii lS>G. twelve years later"
Turning to the assessment of 1882 for !
he county. Mr.. Browne points out that
vhi.. the price paid for the go; acres in
he Rock Cree K tract was sl.I25.2l5. the
Otal full value assessment on this area
vas ;@.S}i. or only l. per cent Of the .
,riCe paid for the property Continuing
With the assessment OF lS92. Nj Browne
lcClares that the board Of assistant as
csSOrs at that time submitted an as
essmcnt calling for AN increase Of 100 /
'er cent over the last prior triennial as
assmcnt. that real estate interests went
the heads tho assistant
nd had inserted in the sUndry civil bill
or that year provision for 4 special
'oard to revise the assessment, and this
Oard reduced tn" assessment on real cs-
ate - per cent and inc:cascd the assess
lcnt on Improvements 6 per cent. net
eCrease in the ful. value assessment Of
bout $90.,H.rhn
With this start. according TO Nh
'rowne. land specu,ators persistently
orc"d the lowering of the assessments
n real 'stat" and q moderate increas"
! assessments on improvements.
Attacks T.. W. Oyster. 4
In chapter given exclusively to an at
tCk upon Assistant Assessor f. w Oys-
er. Mr.. Browne quotes from n newspaper
rti"le written by the latter in 1896 d.
as simply outrageous" alleged
lscrimination in favor of the land spec
iator as against the home owner
The conclusions as to the character
the District assessments reached by
Ir. Oyster in 1905. have been arrived
by every fair-mindcd Investigator
nf0re and since. Mr.. oyster figured
ut that One-thrd of the true tvalue
privately owned and tax
BILE District lands in 1906
as .-........- NJ .5h0.ooO
diCatinC Il full value of. 562. .5OO,O00
hiCh on full two-thirds
isis should have been as
ssed at ... 375.0OO.O OO0
Seven years later. Mr.. f. W. Oyster.
len and now assistant assessor, par
cipates in the triennial assessment
l9l4-l5, which produces on the two
irds basis an assessment
land values of. S2Os. .0S5.315
dicating a full value Of. . 31e,121,9T
drop from Mr.. Oysters
0S two-thirds estimate of 166,914,6S5
I'd a drop from his 1906
IL valuation Of. go. c.O23
And yet the District-had had seven
ars of growth in wealth. building
ID population between 1906 and 1913.
d prodigious land boom that
nched its elimination in 1912. the