Evening star., 1925-01-21
The Districts Federal Taxes.


Denial of the District of The right
OF representation in Congress deprives
1t Of She opportunity effectively to
state "a tho legis,alve chambers its
posizion as a taHpayius community
and to refute directly the insinuation,
which often is more specifically made
as a charge. that the people Of the
Capital do not bear their proper share
Of the burden OF maintaining the Fed
eral Government. But the Govern
ment's own taXretuyu tables speak
for Washington eIoquently on this
subject. They show that the Wash
ingtonidn, far from being a tax dodser
or from being favored unduly in the
matter of tax remission. bears a heavy
burden of taxes and contributes more
TO the support Of the Federal Govern
meut than does the resident Of many
Of the States
In d table which has Just been com
piled by The Bureau of Internal Rev
enue are given the figures Of the total
tax paid on personal and corporation
,
frict paid a total tax of $11.533. .4S4
This was more than was paid by any
Of - States. 1t was more than was
paid by nine Of those States alto
gether.
In 1922 lower personal and corpora
ton income taxes than the District Of
Columbia paid We're paid into the
United States Treasury from the fol
lowing named States: Nevada, S4OS,-
743: New Mexico. $713.4S2: North
Dakota, $791 $50; South Dakota. $SG1.-
go; Idaho, $941. .451; Arizona. $l,0S1,-
437: Wyoming, $II52,7S6; Montana,
s1,919S73; Utah, $2,429. .S64; Vermont,
S2,545,771: Mississippi, $2,940,355: New
Hampshire. S3,2T2 .626; Delaware, $4,-
lf2. .595; Arkansas. S4,263, ,454; South
Carolina, $4,2S7 500; Alabama, $5,725,-
G5s: Nebraska. $5,S11,34S: Florida. So
$685.; Oregon, $7.269,156; Maine
yS,652,2 ,252: Iowa, $10,234,947; Okla
homa. $1O,338,5S9: Colorado, $10,416,-
500. Georgia, $1O,761, ,S3S; Louisiana,
SlO.S37,166; Tennessee. 11.16S. .379. and
Washington Gncluding AIaskal. SILL
3S2760
Thus more than onehalf of the
States Of the Union paid each less
than was paid by the District of Co
lumbia in corporation and personal in
come taxes. Nine Of them paid to-
gether less than was paid by the Dis
rrict as follows: Nevada. New Mexico
North Dakota. South Dakota, Idaho,
Arizona. Wyoming. Montana and
T-tah. The total of the tax payments
IN these nine States was 80 ,301 ,2O4 or
s2.232 2S0 less than the Districts con
tribution to the Federal Treasury.
These figures should give pause to
those members of Congress who per
sistentIy refer to the District people
as evaders of taxes, as beneficiaries Of
the public bounty, as undeserving Of
Federal aid because of their failure to
bear their rightful share Of the cost of
Government maintenance. They are
especially impressive when the fact
IS borne in mind that there are few
large taxpayers here because there
are few great corporations contribut-
ing particularly large sums to the tax
collector. They are also particularly
interesting because this tax of Sill
533.4S4 was paid by less than 100000
people, without the aid of large con
centrations of capital.
Washington's contribution to the
Federal Treasury in the form of in.
come and corporation taxes is more
than two and a half millions more
than the lump-sum contribution Of the
whole United States to District main
+enance for the current fiscal year. re-
duced to $4,000 900. And of that
$4,000 900 the Washingtonian paid his
own proportion per capita as a Fed
eral taxpayer, more per capita, indeed
than the average residents of Nevada,
New Mexico, North Dakota, South
Dakota, Idaho, Arizona, Wyoming.
Montana and Utah combined. He paid
more per capita than the residents of
some of the largest States Of the
Union. He paid a very much larger
share of the Governments contribu-
tion to District maintenance than did
the average taxpayer in any one of
the congressional districts whose rep
rcsentative has perhaps been charg-
ing him with tax-dodging and mendi-
caucy.