Evening star., 1916-01-07
The Joint Committees Report.

The Joint fiscal committee denies
the vital contentious OF local under
taxation and unfairness to the nation
upon which repeal of the half-and-
half law was demanded by its as
sailants in the last House and sus-
tains the contentious for Washing
ton upon these issues. 1t recon-
mends the continuance of the halt
and-half law so far as the Districts
. funded debt is concerned. 1t approves
the general policy Of fiscal re-
Iations between nation and capital
like those created and continued by
the organic act. including as essen
tials local contribution toward capl-
tai upbuilding through taxation which
shall be fixed and certain" and Tor
the nation "a definite policy of regu-
lar and liberal appropriations" and
not one that is indefinite, irregular
and fluctuating from year to year.
The important decision by the COM
mittee against Washington is that
the ha1f-andIhalf 1aw-though an eco
nomic necessity in 1873 and until very
recent years-is no longer needed to
assure this hxity and certainty OF
equitable local taxation Or this deh-
mite policy of regular and liberal ap-
preparations for the capital by Con-
gress.
The vote OF the House in the last
Congress against the half-and-half
law was based avowedly on the be-
lief that the Washingtonian was un-
dertaxed, and was paying about one
half of what would be exacted from
him if his property were assessed
and taxed as in other comparable
American cities. The alleged facts
on which this erroneous belief was
founded were fully set forth in the
House debates.
The Joint fiscal committee finds
that the Washingtonian is not un-
derassessed and is not undertaxed,
and thus negatives the reasons for the
hostile action OF the last House. But
for other reasons than those which
brought the issue before it the joint
committee reports that there is no
need of and no reason for the future
continuance OF definite proportion
of national contribution toward capi-
tai upbuilding.
This recommendation is not made
because the half-and-half provision is
found to be unfair to the United
n. he Dtefr,r%. md
not. because the organic act has not
from 1878 until today been substan-
tally obeyed 1t is held that the
hali-and-half law was an economic
necessity under the conditions of 1878,
but, says the committee, I'VE think
that the conditions OF today
are so different from the conditions OF
1873 that this arbitrary rule-a rule
of then seeming necessity-need no
longer be applied to District appro-
priations."
The campaign in the last House
. against the organic act was based upon
allegations of taxable resources in
Washington, which made it the
"CdllHfCSl pei NdpAte anu iiSilOol ldA-
ed of American cities, capable if rea-
sonably taxed like other comparable
cities of raising annually over fifteen
million dollars. or several million dol
lars more than the whole amount
which Congress has for several years
been willing to appropriate for the
District. The joint committee fatty
contradicts this contention: Moth
ing is clearer TO us than it never was
the intent that this District should
bear all the very extraordinary burden
of expense incident 10 its plan and oc-
cupancy as a national city and any
such proposed plan would be most
inequitable and unjust now"
Tne committee finds that in COM
parison with other cities Washing
ton is today under the operation OF
the half-and-half law reasonably and
equitably taxed. Senator Works ex-
presses the opinion that in these times
OF real estate depression Washington
is taxed too high. Consider the exact
words of the committee on this vital
issue. ne committee says:
THE rights of the people of the Dis
trict are to be considered, and we would
therefore recommend that the people
OF Washington pay tax comparable
in assessment, rate and amount to that
tax paid by the residents of other
cities similar in population and loca-
tion TO the city of Washington
This. we believe, is em1nently fair,
and there should be no greater exaction
+, i'm taxation from the people of the Dis
trfct of Columbia.
"The annual tax in Washington is
approximately 1900 per capita.
"fn the judgment of your committee
this is reasonable tax levy at this
time, especially when we consider as
we must, that "a large proportion of the
population here pays but a small
amount of .the taxes imposed.
The committee believes that inde-
pendently of the question of what
should be the proper subjects Of taxa
tion in the District of Columbia, the
payment of taxes on real estate from
the assessments they are now constf =