Evening star., 1923-11-14

the new law of the standard Of assess
ment from not less than two-thirds to-
full valuation. with a corresponding
decrease of the tax rate (if the actual
tax burden Is to remain the same)
compel Washington to prove again
and again that the tax rate alone Is
no measure whatever Of comparative
tax burdens.
With the increased standard OF as
seSsment the tax rate must be de-
creased one-third to produce exactly
the same amount of tax revenue.
washington must therefore be pre-
pared to prove in the future that a
tax rate from 81 to $1.30 per hnndred.
when applied to genuine 100 per cent
full assessment valuation. taxes
Washington as. heavily in total bur-
den as other cities with low assess
ments and tax rates two, thrne and
four times as large as that of Wash
ington.
When Washington's tax rate ranged
from $50 to $1.S2 and $1.95 1t was
repeatedly challenged as indicating a
tax burden less than half that OF other
specified cities. Washington must
hereafter demonstrate that with gen.
uine full assessment valuation a rate
OF $i.22 to $3.50 means the impoSi-
tion of a tax burden upon Washington
as great as that imposed in cities
great as that Of Washington.
what waxAinxton Must Show.
Washington must be prepared to
snow in the future that with full as
sessment valuation, meaning in diff
ferent American cities anywhere
from 20 to 100 per cent of reAN value,
the corresponding diversity in tax
rates in these cities, ranging from 81
to $10.63, has no Significance what
ever in a comparison Of actual tax
burdens.
1t will be necessary to show in fu-
ture wears. as was done, utilizing the
census figures of 1918. that the tax
rate is no measure whatever of COM
parative tax burdens, since. IL Il W ere,
the cities of Illinois, Iowa. Nebraska
and Washington state would be
shown 90 be taxed m 1918 anywhere
from three to six times as heavily as
the cities of Ohio. Rhode Island. Vir-
ginia and Wisconsin; which demon
stration reduces to an abSurdity the
original proposition.
The tendency to rely upon the
shifting, unreliable tax rate, as a
standard of measuring comparative
tax burdens. is. however. strung, and
must be resisted in the future with
even greater vigor and effeHiveneSS
than in the past because of this de-
crease in Washington's tax rate. in
effect compelled by the terms of the
Capitals new fiscal law.
Last Years Events Beneficial.
- The events of the last year have
benefited the District in several par
ticulars.
L. The finding by all three repre-
sentatives. of the Senate and by two
of the three representatives of the
House ON the joint District of CO.
lumbia surplus committee that no
obligation legal or moral, attaches
to the claims of alleged. ancient
buried debts of the last century in
favor. of either nation or Capital is
"A relief ITO the District taxpayers,
with their resurrection.
2. The findings in regasd to the
districts treasury surplus prepare
the way fbr speedy and equitable ap-
by Congress of the Dis
tricts accumulated and uuappropri-
ated taxes of this decade. 10 be ap-
piled upon the Districts proper
tionate SHIRE of the cost of Capital
,. In addition to relief from a
money drain to meet
bogus alleged debts of the past and
to squttabite use of the accumulated
taxes of the. present. some disposition
is LuanifeS ted by the powers that be
in District affairs to call upon tax
payers of the future in fairness to
to great permanent mu-
nicip:N improvements by which they
will profit more than anybody else
has reason to hope and
tion Of the taxpayers of the future
will be secured either by a national
advance. to be rephid with interest
after the precedent set between 1900
and 1910, or by Il municipal bond
issue Sith payment guaranteed on
the forty-siXth ratio by nation and
Capital.