Evening star., 1920-03-29
NO TAx-RATE RAISE
OF TWQ-THIRDS TO
PAY TINY DEFICIT
tConiinved from First PageJ

tConiinved from First Page)
was treated in the calculation as a
single taxpayer, II his tax contribu-
tion was added to the levy and his
own name added to the population,
Washington's per capita would be
that of any other great eng IN the
United States.
Millions of Exempt Property.
There Is no way of handling the
question which makes 1t fair to omit
from the Washington calculation of
Ler capita contribution all considera
ton of the amount paid in by the
largest property owner and quasi
taxpayer.
Eliminate the governments ex-
cmpted property from consideration,
and what II there of property and re-
sources in the remaining fraction Of
Washington to cause 1T or to enable
1t to bear a high per capita of tax
burdent W hat has II Of business prop
erty values to make 1t compare IA
vOrnbIy with much smaller American
citiesf Its mills. 1t factories. its
great plants (sO far as they exist
are in the governments exempted
fraction of the city and do not count
I'm the local assessment and tax levy.
Then there II the 20 per cent Of the
population c0l0red and an extrnOrdl-
narily large percentage of transients
and nOn-taxpayers. How much per
capita of tax levy could Philadelphia,
Ba itimOre, New Orleans, or CnicaEO.
Cleveland. or Milwaukee, or Buffalo.
Cincinnati, or Detroit afford to pay II
its large taxpayers, the owners of its
mills, it's manufacturing plants. and
80 forth, were omitted from the cal
culationf
Not one of these cities las SO large
4 percentage of fUatirg non-taXpay-
ing population as the capita Esand this
population reduces the
nominal per capita tax levy without
reducing it in fact by cash contribu-
tions. Not one of the cities enumerat-
ed has so few nancy making re-
sources IN manufacture. trade and
commerce in proportion to its popula-
ton to meet this drain of taxation.
ID. &. Taxable Area Decreasing.
1t is also to be considered that the
taxable area in the District is a stead
lily reducing fraction of the whole.
Government condemnation periodical
ly and frequently removes large areas
from the taxable to the exempt class
(as in the area south of the Avenue.
the Rock Creek Parkway, Arlington
hotel site and so forth). while most
other cities have been expanding, some
very largely. Chicago. for instance,
has added 9.0S square miles since
1913: Portland, 1855 square miles; De-
troit. 39.43 square miles. nearly dou
bling it's area: Baltimore. 81 square
miles. and Los Angeles. 250.75 square
miles, the addition to Los Angeles ag-
gregating more than twice the 1913
area of 114.92 square miles. No Won
| der that Detroit makes a better show
! ing in 1918 than in 1913 in comparison
/ with Washington. since taxable Wash
ington is smaller and taxable Detroit
| has doubled in size.
| Clearly WashinEtOn'a realty tax levy
not only averages ur in actual figures
with those of other American cities,
| but Its realty tax burden In, owing to
! it's peculiar conditions, harder to be
borne than that Of any other munich
patty with approximately the same
census figures of tax levy.
WashingtOn's high Standard Of realty
assessment. exceeded by none and ap-
preached by only few cities OF the
United states. makes it's realty tax
burden very heavy. in spite Of it's low
tax rate. Neither by Increasing the
! rate nor the assessment should this
already too heavy burden he made an
ounce heavier. The equitable move
ment ix in the other direction. SO far
/ taxes, like the intangible tax, bring In
increasing revenues the excessive bur-
/ den upon the realty owner should in
/ equity he made lighter.
/ Capital Reasonably Taxed.
/ The Joint fiscal committee of 1915
found unanimously that Washington
was fairly and reasonably taxed. The
recent minority majority report of