Evening star., 1920-01-05

Tangible personal property. after
exempting household furniture to the
value of 81, 900 and libraries. wearing
apparel. articles of personal adorn-
ment, family pictures and heirlooms.
all together pay tax OF one-hal1 OF
one per cent.
Intangible personal property, such
as stocks. bonds, notes, mortgages
etc. pays three-tenths of one per cent.
1T requires no extensive argument
to convince the impartial student OF
affairs that the citizens of no other
city in the United States wnlch APP
proaches Washington in SIZE or aa-
vantages enjoy anywhere near as low
taxes as do those of the DISTRICT OF
Columbia. The truth Of that state
ment has been demonstrated time ana
time again and the experience OF
those who pay taXrs n other mum
cipalities confirms it.
$3.50 Basis in Operation.
THE law now requires that % per
cent, or one-hauf, of the expenses OF
the government of the District OF
Columbia. shall he paid by the fedora
government, and the other oae-halr
by the District, regardless OF the
amount of money actually raised by
taxation within the District from tfe
fixed tax rates as hereinbefore set
forth, the surplus being deposited IN
the federal Treasury to the credit OF
the District of Columbia. Inasmuch
as the expenses of the District gov
ernment for a number or years pas
have been less than twice the amount
of revenue actually raised Dy taxa
tion within the District, the surplus
in the federal Treasury to the credit OF
the District of Columbia has been
gradually accommodating until, at the
end of the fiscal year ending June 80.
1918, it amounted to $4,063.s .s22,l Is.
''Of course, as the value OF the
property within the District Increases;
if the assessed valuation !s raised
accordingly. the amount added each
year to this surplus VIII De more
and more. Furthermore: OUT OF the
total annual appropriation for the
District of Co.umbia at present the
sum Of S975.4Os is for Interest and
sinking fund on the funded deot or
the District of Columbia to retire ne
so-calIed 3S5 bonds The entire
bonded Indebtedness OF the District
will be paid off in 1922. after which
the District surplus will be increased
on the same calculation, one e-hai1 OF
S975.40S. or s4S7.704 per year, in addi
tion to the amount now being added
to the surplus to the credit OF the
District every year
Total Assessed Valuation.
I'm this connection it may be inter
esting to know that the total assess
ed valuation of the real estate in the
District of Columbia for the fiscal
yearended June 80. 1915, was $780,
OSS.SfS, ana 1OT CHe 1lSCdl ycdI SHNSu
June 30. 1919. it was s414.61o.S91. or
an increase in the assessed valuation
of s24,511.S42, or a trifie over 6 per
cent for the four years covering this
war period. Who is there that is
willing to contend that real estate In
the District of Columbia can be
bought or rented now upon basis
of an increase of only per cent over
what it could be bought or rented
for in 1915? But what is the sense
of asking that the assessed valuation
be raised as long as the present very
low valuation will produce surplus
in favor of. the District of Columbia
which cannot be touched because of |
81 law which Congress permits to re- !
main on the statute books although |
the reason for it has long since |
ceased to exist |
1T is expecting almost too much |
of human nature to think that the |
assessors office. surrounded as it is |
by local influences, will do so.
In fact. from the standpoint Of the |
local interests, which the officials of
the District of Columbia for the most |
part represent Existing law offers
every inducement to the assessor, on |
the one hand. to- keep down the as
sessed valuation of the property in !
Commissioners, on the other hand, to |
pad their estimates. The assessor, in !
the very nature rof things will not
care to raise by taxation more reve- |
nue. tnan can ne uSeO, ana Ine COM |
misSioners, very .snaturally, will en-
deavor to find Ways and means for
spending all the revenue that the ar
bitrary system with which they are
confrontsd pEexides for thsm Why
of the facts. permit such an impossi-
BILE situation to exist any longer?
Law ms to Estimates.
Existing law provides that the Com
missioners of the District of Columbia .
shall not submit nor shall the Secretary
of the Treasury transmit to Congress
regular. annual estimates for expenses
of the District of Columbia for any fiscal |
year that shall exceed in the aggregate !
the sum equal to twice the amount of
the total estimated revenue of the Dis |
trict Of Columbia for such fiscal year |
1t is fair to assume that Congress will
Lot appropriate more than the Commits |
soners recommend in their estimate. 1t
L is therefore apparent that the surplus !,
|already in the federal Treasury to the
credit of the District of Columbia, to
say nothing of the addition from year
to year, must continue to stay there
Until Congress passes some such legiS-
lation as that proposed In the pending
measure Oh repeals the law which limits
the Commissioners in submitting their
estimates.
a little calculation will readily show
what this surplus will in all proba bility
amount to in the course of a few years,
especially a1ter Chc DOnOeO lNQeDteUHeSS
of the District has been paid. Can any
one successfully defend system which
permits the piling UP OF fund raised
by taxation that can never be made use
of? Is there any better time to remedy
the situation than now, when the gov
1rnment needs the money SO much and
the people are demanding reduction OF
useless expenditures? Can anything be
more useless than the continuation Of
such system?
Adopted for Protection.
The reason for the so-called half
and-half legislation no longer exists
1t was passed to protect the city from
.lgement and extravaganza. If not actu-
al corruption, in the administration OF
the city's finances BY piling up q
great debt and raising the level of NUM-
cipal provision for community needs.
Shepherd created situation which
forced federal participation in local en-
terprises. Bryan, In his history of the
National Capitol, page GAL. The joint
select committee of Congress appointed
10 inquire into the affairs of the gov
ernment of the District of Columbia,
of which the late distinguished Sena-
Tor Allison of Iowa was the chairman,
said in 1874: Your committee was un-
able to see but one way in which the
board (the then board Of public works
of the District of Columbia) could have
expected to pay this large debt, that
is, by receiving aid from Congress, as
II must have occurred to them that the
resources of the District could not be
taxed sufficiently to pay them
The population of the city at the.
preceding decennial census of 1870.
was only 151.3oo. The city was great
Iy in debt and threatened with bank
was nearly $25,O00,00o or $50 per
capita, while at the same time that of