Evening star., 1915-11-16
Tax Rates Are Cited.

uentS may De leV1ed.
Tax Rates Are Cited.
"'Let US take the lowest tax rate paid
by any Of the cities referred to- Tin
table presented by Mr.. Crisp, showing tax
rates for city, county and state purposes,
basis of assessment, true tax rates and
ratio per hundred, in Detroit, Milwaukee,
Cincinnati. Newark, New Orleans, Wash
ington, Newark, Jersey City. Indian
apolis, Louisville and Atlanta). The
tax rate of Indianapolis is $1.31 per
hundred, or tax of 1.31 per cent. Sure
ly the citizens of Washington cannot
ask a lower tax rate than is the lowest
rate paid by any other city in the United
States approximately Its size. II you
will levy 1.31 per. cent on the value OF
the property owned in washington you
will realize the enormous sum of s12.-
222,3OO for the purpose of running the
municipal affairs
''Then he goes on to say there were
other sources of revenue which sWell
the amount of money that can easily
be raised in Washington $1o,211,92o.
"'This, Mr.. Chairman. proves the
falsity of the proposition of the District
not being able to pay its own bills with
out enduring hardship and burdening the
property-owners therein
No Rejoinder to Assumption.
"There was no rejoinder to Mr..
of the George estimate of taxable
realty value of s744,Oo0,OO0 in the Dis
trict, and when it got into the Senate
Senator Kenyon, who opened the de-
bate on that bill, and who voiced the
views of those who supported TINS
Johnson amendment, takes this $744,-
100000 estimate as incontrovertible. and 1
will just quote a single sentence:
IF there were a fair assessment in
line with the assessment in other cities
of the country on the $744 100000 of
real estate, an assessment of Is mills. 1t
would produce over $11.ooo.0o0. The
amount raised from personal taxes
alone last year. think. was in the
neishborhood of ss,oo0.0oo. Then there
were some other revenues. If the
moneys and credits were assessed in
fourteen or fifteen million dollars
raised out of fair taxation with which
to conduct the affairs of this District
swindling Suspected.
$50 that both in the House and in
the Senate the legislation of last year
was based on the idea that we were
swindlers here, and had long been
swindlers; that we had taxable prop
erty here, real estate alone, which. if
assessed by the standards that prevail
in other cities, would produce over
$11 100000. and our other sources of
taxation would swell it to $14.000,000
or s15,000.000; that that was all we
needed. but under the half-and- half
law we were swindlers, and that it
was the duty of every honest man to
smash the half-and-half law and do 1t
at once, and throw this whole burden
on US. who could SO very easily bear it,"
RI hof Iii nd ne
language, did they. about you in Con-
gress?" asked Senator Works-"call
you swind4ers?" -
Tax dodgers is what they called u.s."
suggested Mr.. Worthington.
Tax dodgers and mendicants and
other friendly expressions" said Mr.
Noyes. He continued:
Representative johnson is committed
thoroughly to both errors; to Mr..
Brownies valuation error and to Mr..
burdens. rendered worthless by reliance
upon the census-reported relations of
assessed to true value. the two errors
which in combination are made to prove
that Washington is the richest and
lightest taxed of American cities and
able easily to bear twice it's present
tax burden, and. as have shown, the
same twin errors were the foundation
of the argument in favor of the John
son amendment in the Senate,
Obstacle in the Way.
'The obstacle in the way of impos-
ing this double or triple tax burden on
Washington was the organic act, which
required the United States to tax the
local community no more than 1t was
willing to put up itself for expenditure
for the benefit of the capital.
Now. l am not complaining. Nobody
can blame men in the House or Senate
who believe these things for doing
us would have done, precisely the same
thing, II we believed in the $744, 200, 900
valuation and the Prouty table Of COM
parative tax burden. as soon as 1t
not change the conditions we would,
in my opinion. have been recreant to
our legislative duties"
Senator Works said: But in that
case. if that should be true. and the
half-and-half system were to remain
in force. it would have been the duty
of Congress to reduce that burden in
some way. as that tax brought In
surplus considerably more than a half
obligation. Why should you say that
no criticism should be passed upon a
Congressman who insisted upon that
view of it when you were actually
being burdened with more than your
share of taxes under the half-and-ha
SYSTEM"
Not Being Burdened.
I'VE were not being burdened with
this kind of valuation that it was pro-
posed to put upon u.s."
That would include the intangible
only" said Representative Cooper,
land that was not in the law. To make
it large surplus would include the in
assessment, or the assessment
of intangible property"
"Of course" Senator Works answer
ed. but as l understand the actual tax
paid last year was in excess of the
half and returned surplus"
'on account of this increase of as
sessment," continued Mr.. Noyes, I'VE
count of cutting down in the appropria-
tion, that was artifcial-it is not de-
MED that 1t was artificial, which caused
the appropriations not to represent
the real needs of the District"
'In other words" said Senator Works,
you think Congress should have ap-
propriated up to the full amount. or
in the District, and the gov
ernment pay one-half of that amount;
that is your position, is it?"
"Yes. SIR
"'Do you recall anything of impor-
tance that was cut out by the appro-
priation committee" asked Repre-
Gard.
Paralyzed for Two Years. /
"Mr. Noyes replied: For two years
we have been simply paralyzed. The |
first year the new Commissioners-ifl |
I may call them so-sent in estimates |