Evening star., 1920-01-13
BILL TO END $3.50
PLAN FOR DISTRICT
PASSED BY HOUSE
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PASSED BY HOUSE
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to the credit of the District of Colum-
ing law which prevents the eXpendi-
ture of part of the money now
raised by taxation because of the
arbitrary fixed tax rate
He called attention to three pro-
visions of existing law which ought
tion of this legislation" The first of
these is the half-and-half law for
making appropriations for the ex-
pense of the government of the Dis
trict. in the act of 1878; the second,
in the act of March 3. 1909. which
limits the action of the commissions
in making estimates so as not to eX-
ceed twice the amount of total es-
timated revenues, and. third. the MAX
ing of an arbitrary fixed tax rate for
the District.
The tax rate does not f1uctuate," he
argued, "or depend at all upon the
budget or the expenditures of the mu-
nicipality as it does IN all other cities
or municipalities in the United States.
Every other community knows that 1t
must pay for public improvements
and benefits either by increased taxes
or DOnQeO lnueDltu1ieSS. hSAc 40 AAo
such restraining influence against ex-
travagance here. No matter how
much or how little, how extravagant
or how economical the expenditures
of the government of the District OF
Columbia are, the tax rate remains
the same. Consequently the amount
of taxes raised from the fixed tax rate
is in no way dependent upon the
needs of the government. but Is ike
wise fixed and arbitrary.
'The result is that there is ralseo
every year by taxation within ,ne
District of Columbia a sum OF money
greater than one-half the total
amount which Congress, in it's wis
dom, sees fit to appropriate for the
government of the District. A surplus
is thereby created in favor OF the DIS
trict which under existing laws can
not be used. This surplus is deposited
in the Treasury of the United States,
and there is held to the credit of the
District of Columbia. 1t now amounts
to $4O63,922.1s. 1t increases from
year to year, and unless there Is some
change in existing law it can never
be used.
Furthermore. as the value of the
if the assessed valuation is raised ac-
cordingly, the amount added to fH's
surplus each year will be more
more"
Seek Tax Rate as Low.
Mr.. Mapes insisted that "the resi-
dents of no other city in the United
States which approaches Washington
in population or advantages enjoy
anywhere near as low a tax rate,
property, as do the taxpayers of
Washington" and he read into the
records testimony given at previous
hearings and in previous debate on
the subject, with kilograms from the
home cities of the eight republican
members who signed the minority re-
port.
Representative Williams of Illinois
argued that the per capita tax rate
was the true basis for comparison
as determined by the census bureau
as the official government authority,
and that. judged by the per capita
returns. the residents of the National
than those of other communities of
similar size and advantages.
He spoke for half an hour and discuss
ed his text thoroughly, illustrating his
contentious with statistical tables. His
remarks are withheld from the Record
Representative Zihlman of Mary
land, also republican member of the
District committee, called attention
to the fact that. but for the limi-
tation in law forbidding the District
Commissioners to estimate in excess
of twice the tax revenues, thus pre-
venting them from estimating for
greatly needed permanent improve
ments, the Congress this year would
be asked for about s5.000.000 more
than the present estimates. which
would entirely wipe out the alleged
surplus.
Representative Lanham of Texas.
democrat. put into the record a state
ment. prepared by the District as
SCISSOR. regarding the relative amount
of United States property and pri-
vately owned property. He said that
"the valuation of the property be-
longing to the United States is $245,-
75S,120 as against a total of $414.-
61O,691 owned by the people in the
District. which falls considerably
short of the proDortion of $3.50. The
valuation for 1920 of the District
in the valuation of District property
from approximately s330.000.000 to
more than s414.O0O.000 during the
fiscal years from 1915 to 1919. includ-
ing the war period. does not Indicate
an excessive assessment or an intol-
cradle burden. and. in my judgment.
it does not properly reflect the great
Iy increased price in sales and rentals
in the District
Fairly Taxed. Says Mr.. BurdicI.
Representative Clark Burdick of
Rhode Island, Il republican member
of the House District committee,
argued that the residents of the Dis
trict are fairly taxed and that If the
present fiscal arrangements are dis
turbed some fixed proportion of con-
t~ihution by the federal government
should be substituted. He said:
You will also find that based on
the tax assessment and on the tax
rate as established by law. that the
citizens of Washington are paying
an equal if not a larger amount per
capita than the citizens of most any
other city of any of the states of the
Union. Now. in our state of Rhode
Island our assessors are sworn to
assess the property according to its
true fair market value, but as a mat
ter of fact they do not. AS mat
ter of fact they assess it as low as
30 per cent. and i'm some cases lower.
1T seems to me that as this whole
attack upon this present half-and
half system in the District here is
founded upon misunderstanding,
upon the supposition that the tax
payers of the District of Columbia
were not paying their full tax burden
and were not sustaining their proper
proportion as between the United
States and the District, and as that
has been absolutely demonstrated to
my mind and the mind of many of
the members of this committee to
be wrong, that we ought not at this
with that.
"AS l understand the attitude OF
the citizens of this District they want
to be sure of something definite. Now
if we are going to wipe away some
thing that has been on the statute