Evening star., 1922-05-28
.KALORAMA PEOPLE.
PROTEST TAXPLAN
Citizens Association Peti-
tions Congress for Hearing
on Fiscal Relations.
CITES REPORT ON VALUES
Joint Committee in 1915 Found As
sessments in District Fair.
and Equitable.
CITES REPORT ON VALUES

| President "A. Coulter Wells ana
Secretary Edward r. walton, jr., Of
the kalorama Citizens Association
late yesterday afternoon presented to
| both houses of Congress a petition
| requesting that hearing be accorded
| to the citizens of the District before
| action is taken on the conference re-
port on the District appropriation
| bill, or on The amendment of the
/ Senate on said bill, revolutionizing
the fiscal relations between the fed
| sral government and the District"
The citizens of the District should
have a hearing upon the matter upon
| the following ground, according to
the petition, which was authorized by
the association at recent meeting:
while they have no vote and there
fore no potent voice In their own al
fairs. yet, in spirit of fair play
and in conformity with the traditions
of Anglo-Saxon government. they
have at least the right to be heard
| before there is imposed upon them,
suddenly and without notice, com
plete change in their system of taxa
| ton which may lead ultimately. IL
1t is not designed presently. to oner-
Gus and unbearable burdens" says
the petition.
No underassessment shown.
"It has not been shown that prop
erty generally in the District IL un-
derassessed or not adequately taxed;
indeed, the last expression on this
subject, emanating from Congress IT.
self is found in the report of the
joint committee of Congress. appointed
in the SiXth-Fourth Congress I9l5).
which after an exhaustive investiga-
tion reported: We find from the evil
dence Of fair-minded men, residents Of
Washington. familiar with real estate
assessment for taxation is fair and
reasonable. That, taken as
a whole. the assessments made against
all classes of property in the differ
ent locations in the city are equit-
lieves that, independently of the
question of what should be the proper
subjects Of taxation in the District
Of Columbia, the payment OF taxes
on real estate from the assessments
as they are now constituted is a fair
and reasonable response in such taxa
ton for municipal benefits received
by the citizens of the District OF
Columbia
Citizens Not TO Blame.
Whatever inequalities NAV be al
legged to exist as between the federal
government and the District OF Co.
lumbia under the present arrange
ment the citizens of Washington are
in no wise to blame. as their affalrs
are completely in the hands of Con-
gress, and they should not be penal
ized If Congress has made a mistake
in the past.
owing to conditions growing out
of the war, thousands of people of
humble means have been compelled
to purchase houses on the instaiiment
plan, and the proposed increase in the
assessment and in the burden of tax
alton will work a great hardship on
| thousands of them. upon many OF
whom, indeed, quite generally
| throughout the city, strong feel
ing of resentment and dissatisfac-
| ton has been provoked at the con-
| templated action.
IF it is desired to place the Dis
| trict on cash basis (and 1t is noe
| the fault of the citizens of the Dis
trict that it is not on a cash baSis)
the object can be accomplished by
giving the District credit for accu-
mulated District tax money now In the
federal Treasury (upon which no IN
terest has been paid) and by proV1d-
| ing for the payment OF taxes in in
stallments earlier in the year than
at present.
| 1T is unjust to deprive the Dis
trict in part of sources of revenue
i which in every city in America are
| devoted exclusively 10 municipal puT-
poses. such as receipts from licenses,
| fines, permits and so forth, and to
cover a portion OF such receipts in
| the general fund of the Treasury.
THE present tax on intangibles
| (Which is largely conscience tax
and therefore ineQuitable) is believed
| to compare favorably in revenue de-
rived. and in the rigor of it's terms
| with similar taxes in most of the
States, and no increase is justif1able.
Pay share Of Federal Taxes.
"Your petitioners request the Con-
gress to bear in mind that the citi-
zens of the District contribute their
! full share of national taxation, the
| amount paid by them exceeding the
! amounts paid by number of the
of the states contribute few cents
upbuilding Of the nations capital.
| probably as much per capita to fed
| eral works and Improvements carried
| on in the respective states, such as
| good roads, agricultural colleges and
| extension work, public buildings,
rivers and harbors. etc.
| when the federal District was
| created the property holders therein
I donated half Of their property to
| the federal government, while the
| federal government has donated mil
| lions upon millions of dollars to
! various states on their admission into
the Union in the form of public lands
| and otherwise"