Evening star. [volume] (Washington, D.C.) 1854-1972, 1924-02-26
Spending Our Own Money

consciousness Il wounding and irri-
fating fact. Elsewhere in America no.
body else but the taXpaying comnlu-
nifty has anything to say about munich
pal taxes. Here everybody. else but
Tie taxpayers has tho say, and the
idcal taXpaying community is disouali-
fed. Instead Of lecisla;ing it must
petition concerning lis taxes, and Its
petitions receive from e few, but
100 many, Of lis alien Legislators
either active hostility Or the neglect
81 bored contempt.
The excuse for this un-American
treatment generally submitted is that
ss to 40 per cent OF Capital expendi.
tIro the money spent is not District
money, but il exacted from the con.
CHEESEMAN'S heavily taA.burdened home
constituents.
It is true that Americans Of the
states are suffering, from excessive
;tate and municipal taxes. This taxa:
lion has been incurred as the result OF
: widespread borrowing debauch to
provide the means Of meeting extrava.
Eantly municipal needs neglected in
wartime, sometimes TO profit grafters
and to meet the demand for tax-exempt
securities that the very wealthy might
eVade the wartime contscatory super.
tax.
These excessive municipal and
crate taxes are not 10 be equitably
duplicated here. because the condi.
tons do not exist here which compel
the bearing of these excessive bur-
t,ens. We have no need to raise tax
Money here for grafters. We do not
n+.d to borrow money to meet our
,u inicipal needs neglected in the war
I! Ie unless and until our Treasury
~ tpius Of accumulated tax money has
trcen applied to help to meet the Dis
t-ict's proportion Of the cost Of Capital
up5uilding. And finally our Iegisla-
ture, Congress, though slow in max
ing our tax surplus available for i'm
mediate and equitable use, has not for
q moment considered bond issue or
treasury advance. and has, in effect,
forbidden 4us' to borrow at all.
But these municipal and state tax
burdens Of American cities have no
bearing Whatever upon the national
taxes from which the 40. per cent Of
the annual cost OF Capital upbuiiding
are derived, and it is te be remembered
by congressman that expenditures
from the Treasury upon the Capital do
not increase by Il cent the municipal
end state taxes of their overburdened
home constituents, and that the ma
tianal taxes from which the nations
contribution toward Capital upbuild-
ing is paid are enacted: separately on
u uniform basis fixed beforehand, and
are not more or less in proportion to
the amount greater or smaller which
the nation deHotes to Capital main-
tenance and development. 49, go
Finally. it is not 20 be forgotten
that, when one taunGs the Washing.
tonian with urging the expenditure
upon the Capital Of national money
not his own, the slur is baseiess. For
this national fund is just as much the
Districts own as it is the own OF any
Of the states, or as it is the own Of
the congressman outraged home
constituents. e:
OF Capital expenditures under the
6o-40 ratio 60 per cent are from the
Districts money exclusively; the re.
naming 10 per cent are as much the
"ashinGtonian's money, by virtue Of
contribution to it, as the Texans or
the Nfichisander's. 1t is sometimes as
sumed, incorrectly, Of course, that the
District has no part in national taxa
ton, or In contribution to the national
revenue which supplies 40 per cent Of
the cost. of Capital upbuilding. -
But the District is part Of the Union
for the purpose OF bearing every: ma.
tional burden of taxation and Of life.
sacrifice in time Of war. It is only in
lack Of participation on American
representative principles in the Iegis-
Iature which imposes and spends the
taxes and sends American soldiers to
war that the District is not a part Of
Che Union. ~. -.
II national taxes weigh heavily on
other Americans they weigh heavily
on Americans Of the District. In view
of the objects and methods of collection
Of national taxes they weigh more
heavily upon individual Washingto-
rians than upon the individual citizen
Of many or naest-of the. states. Else
where III The Star is printed an ex-
tract from the arguments before the
joint fiscal committee Of 1915 which
develops wildly this contention. The
portion Of the national revenue ex-
PENDED in Capital upbuilding is not,
therefore, the. gift of other peoples
money to the individual Washing.
tonian or. to Washingtonians col.
1ectively, but represents the nations
expenditure for a recognized, legiti.
mate national purpose Of national
money in which the Washingtonians
Rave the same interest, based on con-
sribution to the fund, as that Of any
and every American of the states.
Obviously we OF Washington are not
seIhshIy spending upon the Capital
n,oney not our own. First, every cent
Of the money, including the national
contribution, is IS much our; own as
anybody eIse's. Second, We arc not
spending the money at all, even that
which is exclusively our own. ss the
local taxpayers contribution. AL OF
cur own money Is spent for us. with.
out our consent, BY others whom We
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