Evening star., 1916-08-21
No Increase of Personally Tax
Without Decrease of Realty
and Business Taxes.
CITY TOTAL TAX BURDEN
ALREADY HEAVY ENOUGH
To Work Equitable Tax Readjust-
ment Decreases of Excessive Realty
and Business Taxes Must Be
Simultaneous With Increase
of Personal Tax Burden.
BY THEODORE W. MOVES.

BY THEODORE W. MOVES.
Editorial Correspondence of The Star.
II a tax on intangibles is imposed in
Washington, 1t should be In readJust-
ment and not in increase of the aggre-
gate local tax burden, which the joint
congressional committee, after thor
ough consideration, has declared to be
heavy enough. no more than which can
equitably be exacted.
In any readjustment of this tax bur-
den the wishes of the unrepresented
taxpayers should be given primary COM
sideration. Provided the necessary
amount of tax revenue is raised, the
forms of taxation should be those to
which, from habit, seem to them the
least burdensome, and which for this
reason, ii may safely be assumed, they
prefer.
In substituting a tax on intangfbles
care should be taken that the new tax
is fairer and more effective, causing
less friction than the one for which 1t
| is substituted. In this connection con-
that the tax on intangibles inevitably
lacks uniform application; that a tax
on invisible property falls the Hshtest
ON those who are most expert in swim
ding c0ncea1ment and heaviest on the
truthful and the honest.
~ In the interest Of equity and of
the small taxpayers, tax on tntan-
glbles. II one is imposed. should be at
such n low rate not to drive away
the very large holdings of intangible
property, leaving this new tax to fall
ON men of moderate means who are
tied to Washington and cannot escape.
(2) In the interest of the man Of
small means. the borrower rather than
the lender, double taxation of the same
property, as in case of a tax on mort
cages, should he avoided.
CD II 1t fs decided that a light rate
of tax ON intangibIes must equitably be
imposed. the taxes omitted i'm the re-
adjustment should he carefully selected
rs those least equitable.
(aD The excessive realty tax might
be somewhat relieved. primarily I'm the
interest of the small property holder.
by the exemption from taxation Gas I'm
New Zealand) of several thousand dol
lars of realty improvements.
(b) The license taxes on occupations,
more burdensome here than in most
cities, might well be reduced or elimi-
mated.
(e) The rate of the tax on the gross
earnings of banks and trust eompa-
mics is much higher than in other cities.
on public utility corporations, which
enjoy (as the banking Institutions do
nOt), valuable exclusive privileges
from the public. The rate imposed on
high compared with similar taxes In
other cities. The plainest equity de-
mands that the rate of this tax
banks and trust companies should be
The wisest, fairest treatment Of the
tax question would be to make no
change until after n careful cOgxidera-
tion by Joint committee Of all the
hasty action of the Senate cOn:pels an
| immediate readjustment. Washington
petitions Congress to make such read
justment approximately wise and fair,
| consideration to every reasonable sug-
Rcstion Of what :quity demands.
Our Aggregate Tax Burden Cannot
Equitably Be Increased.
The greatest benefit which the District
derived from the Investigations of the
joint congressional committee was the
resulting careful and thorough compari-
son Of the tax burdens OF American cities,
measured by the right STANDARD. and the
deliberate decision, announced by the
committee. that the Washingtonian's city
tax burden is, in the aggregate, as large
as that imposed III compare BILE American
| cities ard that, therefore, no more than
this aggregate should equitably be ex-
acted.
What was before the joint committee
upon which to base this just conclusion?
Chairman Chiffon said in the Senate de-
bate that the statistical foundation Of
the committees conclusions was 'the
complete report" concerning comparative
ia a
Report Of the Hearings of the Joint Com
mittee The census office figures, thus
adopted and treated as authoritative by
the joint committee, are those utilized in
this correspondence.
The census items OF the aggregate city
tax burden are % realty taxes. (2) per-
sonalty taxes. and CD "other' taxes. in
cludng business" taxes.
In the District the realty tax has always
been high and the personally tax low. In
1902 Congress stiffened the personally tax,
put life and force into the law and largely
increased the revenue from such taxes.
AT the instance Of the Senate, however
no tax was placed upon intangibles, but
many and large license taxes on
occupations. and heavy taxes on
the gross earnings of public util-
tiles and banking corporations were
substituted in its place. II the tax on
intangibles, omitted in 1902 at the Senate's
instance is now, also at the Senate's
instance to be restored, the substitute
for the tax on lnIdnSIDleS, winch In 1907
was enacted, should now,-in fairness. be
eliminated or correspondingly reduced
This read diustment is rendered euuita BILE
not only by what occurred in 1902 but
by the very recent decision to which I
have referred, by the authorized agent of
Congress, the joint committee, that the
aggregate tax burden of the District
without regard to its separate items) ia
alread sufficiently large and should not
be increased.
Let us analyze some of the COM
parative figures which were submitted
to the joint committee and which
convinced 1t that Washington was al
ready as heavily tax-burdened in the
aggregate as other comparable cities.
and that this total burden could nor
eouitably be made heavier.
In comparing the items constituting
the total city tax burden-that is
realty, personally and other lakes
| il is necessary to explain that while
at the District building and in other
municipalities such tax as that ON
| The gross earnings of public utilities
| and some other corporations is treated
as a personal tax on the franchises 81
these corporations. in the census
ONCE on the contrary, these taxes are
CLASSIFIED. not as taxes on personally.
| but as business taxes" with the ex.
| traordinary and paradoxical result
| that Washington. which, as compared
| withl.the great comme"ciat cities, en-,
1o2sA minimum Of beess. is bur-