Evening star., 1924-03-25
GAS TAX BILL CUTS
OUT PROPERTY TAX,
. SENATE NOW FINDS
Passed Measure Exactly On.
poSite to What 1t Was
Seeking.
SECTION ALSO MIGHT
DANISH LEVY ON FUEL
Gas Bought for Transportation
Across District Line Not
Subject to Tax.

The gasoline tax bill for the Dis
trict Of Columbia, passed practicany
without discussion and without
record vote in the Senate yesterday.
| today stands in d form exactly op-
posite 20 wnat the Senate intended.
The Senate, under the leadership o.
Senator McKellar of Tennessee, sought
to continue the present personal
property tax on automobiles in ad-
dition to the proposed new gasoline
tax. What it actually did however.
in passing the bill, was to leave ths
following provision in section Seven
teen of the bill as it passed the
| Senate:
The personal property tax on mo
tor vehicles provided in existing Law
! shall not be in effect for any fiscal
year ending June 80, and commenc-
ing while such tax on motor vehicia
| fuels is in effect"
Same Error I'm House.
The House in passing the gasolir,
tax bill on February II also intended
to continue in effect the personal
property tax. but by a mistake in its
through the bill in such form as to
eliminate the personal property tax.
Another mistake of the Senate in
, passing the bill yesterday is found
in its action on section 9. The House
language was restored, which reads
as follows: That no tax on motor
vehicle fuels exported or sold for
! expectation from the District of Co
iumbla TO any other Jurisdiction or
| nation shall be imposed"
This language of the House, 1t has
oeen pointed out, could readily be
construed that no tax should be
levied on gasoline purchased in the
| District and put into the tank of an
automobile that was to be driven
| across the District line. The Senate
committee had proposed an amend
ment to clear this uu, but Senator
Mcclellan insisted on striking our
| mittee.
Now GaeS TO House.
The bhi goes to the House.
where 1T will either be agreed to as
amended by the Senate or sen, 10
conference.
| Under the rules governing con-
| ferences the conferees are not per-
| mitted to put into a bill what was
| not contained in the bill as il passed
/ the House or as it passed the Senate.
/
! II the confereeS report out a bill
! rectifying the mistakes regarding
! the personal property tax and the tax
! on motor fuels exported or sold for
| exporta ton. the bill will be subject
! to point of order by any member of
! the Senate or House.
! The House, however, might agree
3; TO the bill as amended by the Senate
! with an amendment" changing the
| bill to conform with the real wishes
! of both sides.
Registration Tax Included.
! AS the bill passed the Senate it con-
! tained the following language re-
garding the registration tax:
/ THE provisions of this act relat-
| ing to the registration tax on motor We
! hicles shall take effect January 1,
| 1925"
| This means that the owners OF
/ automobiles in Washington will con-
tinue 10 operate during the rest Of
the calendar year under licenses pur-
! chased for the year 1924. There will
! be no refund of the difference be-
/ existing law and the license fee of 81
/ proposed under the new law. How
i ever, the residents OF the District
will not have paid the gasoline tax
! during the first three months or the
/ year.
Paid in Treasury.
In the House bill is provision
!
| posed registration fee of Is cents per
| horsepower shall be paid into tho
! Treasury of the United States to the
| credit of the District, to be available
/ for appropriation and exclusively for
! road and street improvement and re-
pair without contribution by the
| United States to match such expendt-
! ture of the revenues derived from
! such tax.
| This met with particular opposition
\ Y-ia nif hn
out its dangerous departure from the
! 60-40 ratio of appropriation.
The Senate passed the bill yester-
day without such language, and IT the
bill goes to conference, that provision
| will have to be settled in conference.
/ Another Material Difference.
/ Aside from this. the only other ma
| terial difference between the two bills
is that tho Senate measure provides
/ for 81 year registration fee,
| while the House bill substituted q
| 15-cent per horsepower registration
| fee.
Under the terms of the bill as pass
| ed by the Senate an owner of an au
tomobile in the District will pay
cents gallon tax on gasoline, 2
registration fee of 81 a year and the
personal property tax now paid, at
the rate of s1.20 per hundred
The citizens of the District pro-
tested vigorously at hearings before
the Senate committee against the re-
tention of the personal property tax,
if the additional tax of cents gall
lon on gasoline was to be levied.
They preferred, they said, no reci-
procity with Maryland in the ma tier
of automobile licenses if that were
to be the price.
Sees States Favored.
The bill, therefore, from the point
of view of citizens of the District,
has been rewritten in the Senate in
the interest of Maryland and Vir-
ginia, where the gasoline tax is i'm
posed already.
While disposition of the bill in
Congress was waiting, the citizens
who have opposed the measure from
the first were planning today for
: what action they may see fit to fight
, the measure to the last ditch.
The board of governors of the
, Merchants and Manufacturers As
| sociation met this afternoon to de-
eide its plan of action. A call for y
special meeting of the Federation Of
Citizens Associations next Saturday
evening was issued by Charles A.
Baker. its president, who said that
that body intended doing what It
| could to oppose a measure felt to be
| unfair to the District.
The amendments adopted by the
| Senate to the gasoline tax bill were
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