Evening star., 1920-05-22
WASHINGTON AND
OTHER CITIES Of
COMPARABLE SIZE
Census Figures Show That
the Capital Is Now Reason
ably Taxed.
STATEMENT OF THEODORE ".
NONES BEFORE THE SENATE
COMMITTEE. on DISTRICT AP-
PROPRIATIONS.)

If the tax increase proposition is
enacted into law the House COM
| mittee says that Washinctoa's tax
revenue for 1921 will he $l533i 80.
How will this revenue compare with
tie appropriations" No ono can tell
what the appropriations for 1927 viii
be until final aItion on conference
report We can. however. compare rev
enue thus suggested for 1921 with the
actual appropriations Of immediately
preceding years:
Appropriations. 1922:
District Of Columbia act. s15a6i ial
Iotai o,,o.-....... ,5'"s. ,',', - -:
Appropriations:
1918 IL lbs 701
I3i' ACKNOWLEDGEMENTS. l2sil'oi
Thus, with the actual appropriations
of 1921 still in uncertainty Congress
Will have exacted in ta. revenue from
tie District for 1921 ;Gore than The
average appropriations o. the last
tour years more than TIL totals of
1918 and 1917. and only Itt!e *
than in 1919 and 1920. Does not this
condition represent practically and
IN the concrete the goal ,St...rd which
those have been strueG!ia-. vino wish
70 retain national y ,.sac! II the
Capital. but TO impose ..'e whole cost
Iof Its maintenance .~n,i EphuiidinG
District
To get out for f.u minutes Of
this welter Of genera figures and ia
bies think il would b helpful if We
compared some typica, c..y with
Washington.
Minneapolis and Washington.
In the recent House debate il was
asserted that Washington was paying
IN taxes less than onr- h.rd of what
most cities of its size Were paying.
ana there was cited as i sample the
hne progressive city Of Minneapolis
where they pay 43 mills. where here
theE pay only 15 mills.
Our basis of assessments is 100 per
cent for personally and Sc o-3 per
cent for realty. Comparisons of sale
prices with assessments in the ease of
realty demonstrate that i'll 1915 the
actual assessment vas 70 par cent Of
the real value and in 1878 Still little
more than Sc 2-3 per csa..
In respect to Minneapolis ana other
Minnesota cities the state tax com
mission has said:
Ever since Minnesota became a
state we have had law among our
statutes requiring that all property
snail be assessed at its true and full
value in money. Never since Tho frs;
assessor started on his thankless task
mas property of any kind in Minnesota
peen assessed at its true and fun
value. or, with few exceptions. has
any serious attempt ever been made
TO so assess it. The uniform. uniyer-
sal custom has been to assess at from
-. 10 oo per cent of actual value; and
inns custom has had III. long-con-
tlnued approval of the people. the ST
lent support of the w-makinp and
IN large measure, the acquiescence of
the law-enforcing departments of the
state government
Ihe census bulletin. Statistics of
cities. 1918. declares that the Mime
apolis officials have reported or ad-
mltted that in that year realty was
assessed at 40 per cent and person
atty at 30 per cent of its value. in
stead of the 100 per cent which the
law required. If these percentages of
reduction are applied to the Mime.
apolis tax rate the rate for personally
would be less than for Washington.
and that for realty small fraction
more than for Washington. The CEN
sus gives for Minneapolis a reported
rate OF 1886 for all taxes, city, county
and state. and 1854 for CITY taxes
alone. Washington for CITY taxes
alone is Is for personally and 10 for
realty.
Minnesota is one of the three states
commended by the census authori-
ties as approximating accuracy in re-
poTts or relation of assessed to true
tncSc itpOTlS COnIeSSeQlN
vary SO widely over the whole country
IN their relation to. accuracy that
these comparisons of tax rates to
measure tax burdens are exposed as
absolutely misleading and worthless
III Minneapolis is taxed nearly three
times as much as Washington because
It's tax rate is reported at43 mills.
as against Is mills for Washington
then Minneapolis. using the same
standard of measurement. is taxed
much more than twice as much as
Boston I710) and nearly three times
as much as Cincinnati G5.5O). Cleve-
land G3.55), Providence G5.O6) and
Richmond G5.62) and about so nor
cent less than Chicago t62.75). about
half as much as Des Moines (S5.63)
and less than half as much as East
st. Louis (S9.60). Joliet (94S0), Cedar