Evening star. [volume] (Washington, D.C.) 1854-1972, 1929-04-22
18TH ST. PROPERTY
FOR TEST
OF DELINQUENT LAW
Valuable Land Between H
and ! Streets Will Be
Auctioned.
TAX OFFICIALS AWAIT
FINAL DECISION IN CASE
Penalties on Unpaid Leyies, Dating
Back to 1887, Exceed Original
Amount Due.

A valuable piece of property on Six
tenth street between H and / streets
was selected today by Chatham M
Towers, collector of taxes of the Dis
trict, for the first case under the new
law giving the Commissioners authority
to sell real estate at public auction to
satisfy taxes.
The property adjoins the Gordon
Hotel on the north and is assessed in
the name of w. E. Prall. Jennie M
Prall and others. The tax delinquencies
date back as far as 1887.
Penalties Exceed Taxes.
According to Mr.. Towers, the total
amount due the District is $40, 078. %,
of which the unpaid taxes represent but
$16,886.67. The case is the most un-
usual on the record of the tax assessor
because the accrued penalties for fail
ure to pay the annual tax bills exceeds
the amount due in taxes. The collect
or'S records show that the penalties
amount to $23,17291. To this has been
added $l8.65 for advertising the prop
erty for sale under the old law.
AS soon as Mr.. Towers made the
selection of the property on which to
base its initial action under the new
law, he requested the Commissioners
to instruct the corporation counsel's
Office to apply to the District Supreme
Court for decree for its sale. Under
the new law whenever any real estate
in the District has been sold for nom
payment of taxes or assessments of any
kind whatsoever and is bought in by
the District, and is not redeemed within
two years, the Commissioners are en-
powered to apply to the court for the
purpose of enforcing the tax lien.
The law stipulateS that in such suit
the court shall decree the sale of the
property to satisfy taxes, assessments
penalties. costs and interest due. The
sale must be conducted at public auc-
ton by the collector of taxes or q
deputy in front of the property after
advertisement.
Action Is Held Important.
The Sixteenth street property, Mr.
Towers told the Commissioners, has
been duly advertised for non payment
OF taxes for each year since 1887, ard
no bids having been received, it was
bid in by the District and in the name
OF the District in accordance with law.
The action of the court in this case
is expected to be of far-reaching i'm
portance to Tax Collector Towers and
his assistants, who are charged with
carrying out the sale. There are hun
dreds of other cases in which property
taxes have remained unpaid for a num-
Der of years and which have been bid
IN by the District, and the procedure in
the first case will form the basis for
the others.
One of the important problems con-
fronting the tax collector is whether he
can under the law secure DEGREES for
public sales in groups, or whether in
dividual DEGREES will have to be sought
in each case. The corporation counsel
probably will be asked for an opinion
on this question in the near future.
Several Defects Seen.
While the new law is looked upon bv
District officials as a great improvement
over the old law, under which it was
impossible to collect delinquent taxes on
property taken in by the District at the
annual tax sales, there are yet several
details of procedure regarded as unsat-
lsfactory, correction for which likely will
be sought through amendments when
the regular session of Congress con-
venes in December. One of these is the
provision requiring the tax collector or
deputy collector to conduct the sale
by public auction in front of the prop
erty.
1t is believed at the District Building
that this procedure harks back to the
antiquated and spectacular sheriffs' sale,
with the auctioneer and his red flags,
who notified the community of an i'm
pending sale with blatant cries and
tolltng bells. The sale, it was pointed
out, would be conducted more expedi-
tiouSly, and perhaps more satisfactory,
over a desk in the District Building.