Evening star., 1921-10-11
NOT TO BE WAVED ASIDE

THEODORE w. MOVES.
Editorial Correspondence Of The Star.l
|.
| In Mr.. Podsnap. Charles Dickens
typifies those who evade an incon-
venient fact or 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 dignified OBSERVATION-DISCLOSURES
to add a grand convenience-in this
way of getting rid of disagreeables,
which had done much towards es-
ta ablishing Mr.. Podsnap In his lofty
place in Mr.. Podsnap's satisfaction.
| I don't want to know about 1t; 1
| don't choose to discuss IT.; don't ad-
init III: Mr.. Podsnap had even ac-
Quired a peculiar flourish Of his right
arm in often clearing the. world of
| its most difficult problems by sweep
! ing them behind him land cOnse-
Quentiy sheer AWAY with those words
| him" &.
|
| When it is suggested to Uncle Sam
that, the war being over, it is time to
| give the District the benefit of a part
| OF its accumulated wartime tax-sur-
| pluses to enable it to pay its share OF
the cost of meeting some of its &C
| cumulated neglected wartime munic-
| ipal needs. Uncle Sam is invited to
| play the Podsnap role and to commit
Podsnappery by denying the existence
of a District tax-surplus and by re-
| pudiating obligation to account for It,
| Uncle Sam is urged to declare that the
| alleged surplus Is myth, fiction. u
| fgment of the Imagination. sort of
statistical Mrs. Harris of District
| finance.
| He is invited to render the sur
1 by sweeping 1t behind him into the
| treasury receptacle labeled "Miscel-
luneOus Receipts"
Uncle Sam No Podsnnp.
! But this invitation to repudiate
will not be accepted. Uncle Sam will
not be guilty of Podsnappery.
| 1t ought to be easy to ascertain
| whether a concrete something like
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
tax authorized to be collected? For
what purpose does the law command
| that the tax shall be expended? To
create 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 given year for
q 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
missioners to submit estimates of the
Districts needs through the Secre-
tary of the Treasury to Congress. 1t
| then says:
..To the extent to which Congress
| shall approve of said estimates. Con-
Eresx shall appropriate the amount
| OF so per cent thereOfs and the re-
maininE so per centum Of such ap-
proved estimates shall be levied and
nssessed upon the taxable property
and privileges In said District other
than the property of the United
states and Of the District Of Colum-
bia.
surplu. n Fact. Not n Myth.
/. Who, then, imposes the tax!
Congress.
| 2. Upon whom or what is 1t levied
and assessed? Upon the taxable prop
erty and privileges in said District
other than the property of the United
| bin.
g. What amount of tax is author
| lied? An amount equal to One-half
of the District estimates approved by
exactly the same as the amount d.
rected by the law to be appropriated
by Congress from the national Treas
ury for District purposes.
4. What is the sole purpose of the
| tax for which it must be expended?
To enable the District to pay its half
| of the District appropriations, that In,
| One-half Of the District estimates aa
| approved and enacted into law by
Congress.
How Surplus IL Created.
| The law assumes that only the pre-
else amount of one-half OF a fixed
sum, previously determined. shall be
levied and assessed upon District
property. But in practice the amount
of tax collected is never precisely the
amount levied and assessed, and Con-
gress by supplementary tax legisla-
! tion 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-
prOval Of the estimates and the ap-
| DrOpriatiOns by Congress which Axed
| the precise amount OF the needed 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
| during the years since 1873. viewed
as a whole, these deficits and sur
pluses Offset one another, and that
| thus by design and not by accident
the haIf-and half law had been recog-
congressional joint committee thus
Itself exposed and denounced the f1c-
tion that the half-and-half law is a
fiction.
Uncle sam Recognizes and Collects
| Deficits.
In the years since 1873, in which
Uncle Sam wanted to expend in wise
| 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-
the Treasury to the District approx
mately the amount Of these deficits
and reimbursed himself for these ad-
vances with interest from the Dis
trict revenues of subsequent years
Such deficits occurred (and were
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
| Of these advances to meet deficits the
District paid to the United States
$3,9s2,515.03 in principal and $685.
| 076.6S 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-