Evening star., 1925-01-11
District Surplus Equities.


IN the treasury Of the United States
which is claimed by the District OF
Columbia as its own, and which has
been declared by joint committee OF
Congress to be the property Of the
District. A bill is pending. hayins
passed the Senate and awaiting action
IN the House with the approval OF the
House District committee, formally
declaring this money to be a credit OF
the District Of Columbia available for
appropriation. This is the so-called
District surplus. 1t exists by reason
OF failure of Congress to appropriate
all Of the tax revenues of the District
to meet the annual needs of the Ma.
tional Capital municipality.
In the act providing a permanent
| form OF government for the District
| OF Columbia, approved June II. 1873,
known as the organic act, it is pro.
vided that the District Commissioners
should submit to the Secretary of the
Treasury estimates for maintaining
the District government for each ensu.
Ing fiscal year, and that he should ex.
| anime them and to the extent Of his
approval Of them transmit them
! through the Commissioners to Con.
gress. The act then provides:
To the extent TO which Congress shall
approve of said estimates, Congress
snail appropriate the amount of so Der
centum thereof. and the remaining so
80
snail be levied and assessed upon the
taxable property and privileges in said
District other than the property Of the
| United States and Of the District of CO.
lumbia
This Is the origin Of the so-called
halfand-half provision for the main.
tenance Of the District. In strict ac.
cordance with this law the procedure
is that Congress, having determined
the amount Of money to be expended
for District maintenance, first appro-
PIRATES Federal money TO the extent Of
one-half Of the proposed appropriation,
and that the remainder Is then pro-
vided by assessment and tax collection
within the District. In theory, there.
fore, there could never be surplus OF
District money. There could never be
deficit save as tax collections might
fail. A surplus, however, could not
conceivably exist.
In practice Congress came to view
the prospective amount Of District
taxes from year to year as the meas.
ure Of District appropriations on the
half-and-half basis, in theory taking
| that amount and doubling it to deter.
| mine the total carried by the appr O.
priation.
Had this practice been uniformly
followed, with Congress appr opriating
for District maintenance twice the
| amount Of the prospective District tax
| revenues, there would be no surplus
But during recent years it has not
done so. 1t has ignored the total OF
District revenues as the measure of
/ the Capitals budget, and thus from,
| time to time moneys have accumulated
in the Treasury which should have
been used. together with equivalent
sums Of Federal money, for the Dis
trict's needs.
Every dollar Of the Districts money
| now in the Treasury awaiting con.
gressional determination as to its use
was raised by taxation on the 5o.5d
basis of prospective appr ropriation. Nc
taxation was authorized by the law ex.
cept on that basis and for that pur.
pose. Had the act of 1873 been strictly
observed every dollar of it would have
been spent as two dollars under that
law. That is the basis Of the claim now
pressed in behalf Of the District, that
in declaring this accumulated surplus
Of District money to be available for
appropriation 1t should, when appro
priated. be accompanied by an equa,
amount of the money Of the United
States.