Evening star., 1921-10-11
NO PODSNAPPERY
FOR UNCLE SAM
District Tax Surplus Not a
Myth, But a Concrete Fact,
Raising a Distinct
Obligation.
NOT TO BE WAVED ASIDE
THEODORE w. MOVES.
Editorial Correspondence Of The star.l

| l..
| In Mr.. Podsnap. Charles Dickens
typifies those who evade an incon
venient fact or a disagreeable OBJ
legation by denying or ignoring its
| existence.
| Happily acquainted with his own
merit and Importance, Mr.. Podsnap
settled that whatever he put behind
him he put out Of existence. There
was dignif1ed conclusiveness-not
to add grand convenience-in this
way of getting rid Of disagreeables,
which had done much towards es-
| ia blishing Mr.. Podsnap in his lofty
place in Mr.. Podsnap's satisfaction.
| I don't want to know about it: l
don't choose to discuss it; l don't ad-
init it" Mr.. Podsnap had even ac-
quired a peculiar flourish of his right
arm in often clearing the world of
it's most difficult problems by sweep
! Ing them behind him (and cOnHe-
| quently sheer away with those words
and flushed face. For they affronted
| him."
| Temptation to POdxnnppery.
| When it is suggested to Uncle Sam
| that. the war being over, ii is time to
| give the District the benefit of Il part
| OF it's accumulated wartime tax-Sur-
| pluseS to enable it to pay its share of
| the cost of meeting some of it's ac-
| cumulated neglected wartime munic-
| ipal needs. Uncle Sam is invited to
play the PodSnap role and to commit
| PodSnappery by denying the existence
\ of District taX-SurpluS and by re-
| pudiating obligation to account for it.
| Uncle Sam is urged to declare that the
alleged surplus is a myth, a fiction. a
| fgment of the imagination. sort OF
! statistical Mrs. Harris of District
| finance.
He is invited to render the sur
| plus non-eXistent Podsnap fashion,
| by sweeping 1t behind him into the
treasury receptacle labeled "Miscel-
laneOus Receipts"
Uncle Sam No POdxnnp.
Bat this invitation to repudiate
will not be accepted Uncle Sam will
not be guilty of Podsnappery.
1t ought to be easy to ascertain
a tax surplus does or does not exist.
| What is the tax out of which the
| alleged surplus arises" BY what
authority Is the tax imposed? From
| whom and in what amount is the
| what purpose does the law command
| that the tax shall be expended? To
tcreate a surplus it must appear that
| a greater amount OF tax was col
lected in given year than the law
authorized, or that not all of the
taxes collected in a given year for
a legally specified purpose was ex-
pended for that purpose.
+. These pertinent questions are all
answered by the clear. unambiguous
| provisions of the organic act of 1873.
| That law directs the District Com
missoners to submit estimates of the
| Districts needs through the Secre-
tary of the Treasury to Congress. 1t
| then says:
.sTo the extent to which Congress
shall approve of said estimates, Com
greAs shall appropriate the amount
| ct 50 per cent there0fs and the re-
| naming 80 per centum Of such ap-
proved estimates shall he levied and
! and privileges in said District other
| than the property of the United
| States and of the District of Column
bia.
| Surplus u Fact, Not Myth.
1. Who, then. imposes the tax?
Congress.
| 2. Upon whom or what is it levied
i and assessed? Upon the taxable prop
erty and priviieR ~ In said District
| other than the property of the United
| States and of the District of Column
| bin.
| 3. What amount of tax Is author
iZedc An amount equal to One.hn1f
Of the District e.timate. approved by
| Congress for n given year: an amount
| exactly the same nv the amount d.
rected by the law to be appropriated
| by Congress from the national Treas-
ury for District purposes.
| f. What is the sole purpose of the
tax for which it must be expended?
| To enable the District to pay it's half
| of the District appropriations, that is,
| one-half Of the District estimates ms
approved and enacted into law by
COngress.
! How Surplus II Created.
| The law assumes that only the pre-
else amount of one-half OF fixed
sum, previously determined. shall be
levied and assessed upon District
property But in practice the amount
| amount levied and assessed. and Con-
gress by supplementary tax legisla-
| ton made certain that there should
always be either deficit or surplus
under the law by guessing at the
amount needed and by imposing rea-
sonable tax, raising approximately
| the amount to be required and levy
| ing and assessing it before the ap-
DrOval of the estimates and the aP-
lDrOpriatiOns by COngress which fxed
the precise amount OF the nee0ed an
nual District tax.
| Thus in some years taxation pro-
duced more than one-half of the
amount appropriated by the District
appropriation bill; in other years less.
| The Joint fiscal committee of 1915
found and declared. however. that
! during the years since 1873. viewed
| az a whole. these deficits and sur
pluses offset one another, and that
thus by design and not by accident
the half and half law had been recog-
nized and substantially enforced. The
,,'congressional joint committee thus
itself exposed and denounced the f1c-
| tion that the half-and-half law is
| fiction.
Uncle Sam Recognizes and Collects
| Deficits.
In the years since 1878. in which
Uncle Sam wanted to expend in wise
permanent public improvements at
the Capital much more than twice the
amount that he had collected that
year in local taxes, he took note of
the temporary deficit in District reve-
nue. under the law. He advanced from
the Treasury to the District approxi-
mately the amount of these deficits
and reimbursed himself for these ad-
vances with interest from the Dfs-
trict revenues of subsequent years.
met by money borrowed by the
District from Uncle Sam and later re-
paid with interest) in 1901, 1902. 1905,
1906, 1907, 1908 and 1909. On account
District paid to the United States
$3.9s2,515.03 in principal and $685.
076.68 in interest. In 1916 the last of
these advances was repaid.
OF recent years (since 1870. and
especially during our war time, the
process has been reversed and sur
pluses instead of deficits have ac-
cumulated. Uncle Sam has each year
(1s16. 1917. 1918. 1919 and 1920 spent
less than twice the local tax which
he has collected for capital msinte-
nance and development. During the