Evening star., 1915-11-16

1
start a competition in assessment IN.
| creases along the whole line OF tne
varying classes of taxable properly. II
seeking uniformity of assessment Nthe
vital desideratum) there lnvarlaoly re-
suits 4 leveling up, never leVellne
down, always increases of lower ieVels
| to the point of highest standard. ano
never reduction of figures as eXces.
sive in this or that case to BRING aDou,
| uniformity on a lower average level OF
assessment. Thus, here, single tax prac-
| tically means not exclusive assessment
! of a single class of property, but
multiple tax and increased assessments
| on all classes of taxable property.
| "In the final analysis. is not the
Browne contention the logical extreme
of the principle that no tax should be
| levied except upon naked land, and that
other taxes are hurtful. not helpful, to
| the community as whole? If the COM
mittee assents to thiA doctrine for ap-
plication in Washington, will it not first
hasten to correct the evil in the home
cities of its members?
Obligation of the Nation.
1.-The obligation of the nation to par
ticipate in capital upbuilding and the
extent of that obligation, and the wis
dom and equity or otherwise of the
half-and-half arrangement are abso-
lutely unaffected by the particular
method (whether single tax or other
wise) which may be adopted by raising
| the local community's reasonable share
of the cost of capital maintenance and
development.
This committee is now sitting to
consider and report upon proposed
amendments to the organic act. rang
ing from demands for the complete an
Inhalation of the law of 1878 to sug-
gestions of it's modification by a SIM
pie change in the wording of the in
PRODUCTION to the annual appropriation
bill
act are asked and what is the alleged
evil or grievance which each seeks to
remedy? First, there is the assault
upon the life of the organic act as a
fraud upon the nation and as be-
| stowal of national aims upon unde-
serving mendicants. This assault al
leges that the Washingtonian is under
taxed and that he conceals the fact in
order to swindle the government into
a continuance of the half-and- half
plan. These assailants demand the i'm
mediate and complete repeal of the or
ganic act and imposition of the whole
Of the capital tax burden upon the To-
cal community. They pressed the is
activities which have largely led to
the creation of this tribunal. Recog-
nizing this fact, the attention of the
representatives of the citizens COM
mittee was in their opening statements
directed especially to this assault We
nrst endeavored to prove that the
$744 100000 valuation of Washington
in 1912, upon which this assault is
based, was the erroneous conclusion
from insufficient or false premises of a
grotesquely excessive. The faithful
valuation of Washington in 1915 at
$5S5, 100000 under civilian Commits
sioners and by assistant assessors in
full sympathy with the doctrines of
Henry George, emphasized the gross
excessiveness of the s744.OO0. 900 val
uation in 1912
Gross Generalization.
THE same conclusion of gross over
valuation results from a comparison of
land values alone. alleged by Mr. Browne
to be So04,000,000 in 1912, and declared
by the assessors to be- only s312, ,00O, 900
three years later. How could anything
less than two-hundred- -million-dollar ex-
cess valuation be expected, when Mr..
Browne, generalizing from comparative
~ few cases Of underassessment (most
OF which turn out not to be typical. and
some vitality inaccurate), multiples the
assessment of every piece of land in the
suburban area by five; and that of every
piece in the business and fine residence
areas by three and one-third?
Page Il. George report, claimed no
other witness than Mr.. Browne testif1es
to a seven-hundred-and-fo forty -four-million-
dollar valuation of the whole city or to
a sectional valuation reached by multi
plying the assessment of every lot in it
by an arbitrary number, as five or three
and one-third, to learn its true value.
Other witnesses testified as to values of
particular lots Mr.. Browne generalized
incorrectly from their specific evidence.
Selected Cases Not Typical.
'It makes little difference as general
proposition whether Mr.. Browne is
right or wrong in his allegation of spe-
cific cases of underassessment in 1912:
but when he uses such cases as the
basis of concentrations concerning the
value of entire sections and of the
whole city. his foundation cases must
be not only absolutely accurate but
typical. Mr.. Brownies selected cases
have turned out to be neither typical
nor generally accurate.
Every corroborative witness to the
fairness Of the s744,ooo.ooo valuation
He made Mr.. George, using Mr..
Brownies words as a witness. saw in
his report: The total taxable realty
values of the District of Columbia
s744.ooo,ooo. fall well within the sum
indicated by forthcoming census bull
letin. which places the entire realty
values OF the District at $1,000, ,O00. 900.
Deduct from this 100000 for federal
and municipal real property, and allow
$25.000,000 for churches. legations
schools. hospitals and other exemptions
and the remainder. SITS, 900. 900, is still
$31 100000 above the conservative esti-
. mate Of your committee
Would not the United States gov
eminent as witness testifyine
formally. as alleged by Mr.. George.
whom we all respect and highly re-
gard, make deep and convincing i'm
preston upon Congress? Did it not
make that impression upon the rem
resentatives who are members of the
committee?
Census Makes No Estimate.
Soon after this statement was made
Director of the Census Durand was
questioned as to its accuracy. He re-
piled in writing that the census bu-
reau had made no estimate of the
value of real estate in the District of
Columbia since 1904: that the office
was formulating plans for investigat-
ing the general subject for the year
1912, but had prepared no figures for
n bulletin. and that none would be
issued relating to the subject for at
| least one and probably two years
| from date.
"The bulletin predicted by Mr..
! Browne has been recently issued |
have 1t here. 1t estimates the total
values in the District at S1,173,S57.122.
| 1t estimates all the personally in the
District at $271,SS3,221; the EXEMPT
realty at s40s.540,16l. and the taxable