Evening star., 1920-05-28
FINANCIAL EQUITY
FOR ALL THROUGH
A JUST, NEW LAW
Remove Estimates Restric-
tion; Solve Justly Prob
lem of SurpIuses:: Make
Tax Rate Flexible.
THEODORE W. MOVES.
Editorial Correspondence of The Star. ]

".
WashingtOnfanx do not merely on
pose II. r. .15S and ask it's defeat. We
urge the enactment as n substitute for
II Of the amendment submitted by
Senator Jones of Washington, which
reads ms follows;
Hereafter the estimates of the Com
missioners of the District of Columbia
Tor any fiscal year submitted in ac-
cordance with the act of June H. 1878
shaiI state the necessary expenses of
the government of the District of CO.
lumbia for said year, and shall bear
no arbitrary relation to the total es-
timated revenues of the District OF
Columbia for such fiscal year
Section . Hereafter the Secretary
of the Treasury is authorized and di-
rected to advance. on the requisition
or the Commissioners of the District
OF Columbia, made in the manner now
prescribed by law, out of any moneys
in the Treasury of the United States
not otherwise appropriated such sums
as may be necessary from time to
time to meet the general expenses of
said District, as authorized by Con-
gress. and to reimburse the Treasury
for the portion of said advances pay
able by the District of Columbia out
of the taxes and revenues collected
for the support of the government
thereof If in any year the taxes and
revenues of the District of Columbia
shall be insufficient to reimburse the
Treasury for the portion of said ad-
vance payable. by the District of Co
lumbia. such unpaid advance shall be
reimbursed to said Treasury out of
the revenues of the District of CO.
hufnbfa' of the succeeding year or
years If in any year the taxes and
Of
shall he more than sufficient to relm- :
burss the Treasury for.the portion OF
said advances payable by the District
of Columbia, such surplus OF revenue
and all expended surpluses OF Dlstrlc.
reve nue shown, by. the reports of SAID
Commissioners to have been hereto
fore accumulated and deposited in the
Treasury of the United States snail De
held in the Treasury as a trust IVho
for the benefit of said District ana pe
available as revenue OF the Dlstrlcl
of Columbia for meeting the por.ion
of appropriations payable by said Dis
trict in the succeeding year or years.
Section 3. Hereafter the SO per
centum of approved estimates TO be
levied q and assessed under the act OF
June II. 1878. upon the taxable prop
erty and privileges in sad District
shall be raised by the imposiion OF
such rate of taxation on realty ana
tangible personal property as the
Co omrnissionersss ssh affs shsceriain to he
necessary to raise annually, in COM
bination with other District tax rev.
enues and unexpended tax surpluses
Of previous years sum sunclent 70
meet the proportion of expenses to be
Maid by the District of Columbia un-
der said act of June IL. 1878: provided
that the Commissioners shall not de-
crease the basic tax rate OF 1a per
centum except with the specific au-
of Congress.
Mote: Section is printed above in
the shape in which it will be pressed by
Senator Jones when considered by the
Senate. 1t differs from his amendment
as reported from the appropriations
and adopted by the Senate IN
omitting the words land Intangible IN
the eighth line of Section as printed
II enacted. this amendme It will
avoid the evils and meet the 0btec-
tfons urged against H. r. 1858. and
will place among the statutes whole
some. just md vitality needed iegisia-
tiOn, for which the District has long
been pleading. 1t will In truth make
the law conform to the present prac-
tiee of financing the District. 1t will
cause unexpended surpluses of Dis
trjct tax money to go automatically
into the class Of District revenue,
available for appropriation as such IN
years. 1t will reduce to n
minimum these xO-called surpiuses by
reuealing th~ law of 1900. which ar
bitrarily limits the amount of District
estimates which the Commissioners
may submit.
Section / of this amendment. by re-
pealing the act of March 3. 1909 t35
Statutes. 1881, which requires the
Commissioners not to submit esti-
in
mated revenue of the District for the
fiscal year to be provided for. tends to
prevent the artificial and automatic
creation of unexpended tax surpluses
and to reduce them TO minimum.
Estimates Do Not Show Full Needs.
Since 1909 the estimates submitted
by the Commissioners no longer rep
resent the full needs of the District
The law enacted in that year forbids
them to follow their previous prac-
tice, in accordance with the letter and
spirit of the organic act of informing
Congress with reasonable fullness of
the municipal needs and of leaving
tive propositions of needed improve
mentS the items aggregating the
of appropriations which it
was willing to make. If this amount
was less than double the local tax
revenue a surplus in favor of the Dis
trict went over for its benefit to sub
sequent years. If the appropriated
amount was more than double the
local tax revenue, the United States
advanced to the District as a tempo
rary loan the amount of this deficit.
BY this system Congress was fully
informed as to the needs of the Dis
trict and used it's judgment in select
ing those which in that year the Dis
trict and the United States could
Jointly afford to satisfy. A rough ac-
count was kept between the District
and the United States which gave
some fiexibility to the appropriations.
The arrangement was. on the whole
wise and beneficial, notwithstandine
occa sional minor inequities suffered
by the District.
BY the act of March ), 1909. 90 Stat
72S. the Commissioners are reouired
not 10 submit estimates in excess of
twice the estimated revenue of the
District for the fiscal year to be pro-
vided for. after taking into considera-
tion alr charges against said revenues
in other than the District bill.
An Unwise. Hurtful Law.
This unwise law prevents the Com
missionerS from suggesting to Com
press any alternative methods of ex-
pending the District revenues and
confines them to a single line of pro-
posals within the limits of the proba
BILE revenues. The result follows that
if Congress dsapproves any sus-
gested expenditure there remains an
unexpended surplus of District reye-
nue.. unless Congress substitutes some
other wise expenditure in its place. If
Congress does not substitute some
better methods of spending this reve-
nue. than that proposed by the Com
missioners and rejected by Congress.
the Districts Legislature is blamable.
The reasoning which treats this fail
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