Evening star., 1918-02-09
Special Committees Views.

The answer OF the special committee
| to the johnson bill is as follows:
I'VE are of the opinion that the bill
does not reach or tax the ones prac-
ticing ektortion and benefiting thereby,
and it fs manifestly unfair to tax the
real estate of one person when another
gets the benefit. This bill is framed
to protect the persons who would rent
rooms. small houses and inexpensive
apartments from being overcharged.
There is no practical way in which
owners of real estate could safeguard
against the extortion practieed by their
tenants and subtenants. 1t is impos-
Fsib1e to supervise the daily. weekly or
monthly charges made therefor by
tenants. .
Even should there be some isolated
cases in which the owners would un-
dertake to let rooms. it would be i'm
certain the value of the various rooms
proposed to be rented. so as to fix the
amount of rent permitted to be charged.
The penalty for charging excessive
rent even by the day until an appraise-
ment of the houses. apartments. room
or rooms proposed to be rented was
made by the proper authorities. In
order to make these appraisements. the
force of the assessors office of the Dis
trict of Columbia would have to be in
creased to considerable extent.
Would Close Boarding Houses.
"This condition of things would nee
essarily close the doors of nearly all
of the boarding places and room rent
the withdrawal Of an enormous amount
of the now available space. We see
no way of amending the present bill
to effectively meet these objections
This bill makes no distinction in the
gross amount of rent to be charged for
real estate from which no income was
derived prior to September 80. 1916
This is manifestly unfair that it
opinion that if any legislation is en-
acted there should be a distinction
made in the different class of property,
dependent upon the uses made of it.
as well as the duties and relations of
the owners thereto after it is rented
especially as to the amount of service
given the property well as the
maintenance, upkeep. management
thereof. etc: This differs so widely in
this city. depending on the kind of
building, the style. location. its tenants
and the use to which the property is
put. Some of the properties have cafes
and restaurants. which contribute to
the extraordinary expense of upkeep /
and management. while some have
none.
Then again there is the element OF |
service. How much can we say should |
be charged for service, and how much
for the actual rent of the real estate, |
This is applicable to hotels and apart
ments. with or without restaurants
in trying to devise some way or plan
to fairly cover these conditions we find
so hopelessly involved that |
we believe, because of the very nature /
Of real estate. it is impossible to fairly /
and equitably regulate the rents there /
Of by legislation. Real estate is SO |
different from money. The value of each
dollar is uniform and of the same in
trinsic value; not SO with real estate
No two pieces of real estate are of |
the same value: no two rooms are of |
the same value: one has some adyan-
tage over the other such as light, air.
exposure and location. etc.
Discussion of "Income" Feature.
THE bill also requires all income re-
ceived from real estate from which no
income was received prior to September
80, 1916, irrespective of its kind, nature
or condition, in excess of 10 per cent
of the assessed value thereof. including
furniture if furnished, to be paid TO
the District of Columbia as taxes, and
lien will be created upon the real estate |,
from which the income was derived
And this, too, whether such increase
was received by the owner of the real
estate or the tenant who leases from L
the owner. This part of the bill is retro /,
active and must be considered in the
eht of the conditions as they now
exist.
stances where rents have been charged |,
and received far in excss of the amount
allowed by the proposed bill aggregat-
n1 to many thousands of dollars. A |,
very small percentage thereof has been Ii