Evening star., 1931-12-18
MAPES TAX BILLS
!. PASSED BY HOUSE
One Member Voices 0bjec-
lion as Four Bills Receive
Little Discussion.
BY WILL z. KENNEDY.

tai 2OVlSeO on Lne uOOr OF LIle House
that if they don't like it they can move
out. the House late yesterday passed
the last of the four bills designed to in
crease taxes in the District upward of
100000 SO as to allow a reduction of
S3,OO0OOO in the share the Federal Gov
ernment is to pay for support of the
Capital City.
There was scant debate on any of the
provisions in these measures, only slight
changes in the estate tax bill and only
one voice was raised in objection to any
of them. Representative BurtneSS, Re-
publican, of North Dakota protested
against the motor vehicle weight tax
which places an average of $l4 levy
upon all cars, on the ground that a
heavy old car could be bought for the
price of junk and taxed more than the
cost of the car.
The feature Of the entire proceedings
was bitter verbal censure of newspapers,
civic associations and members of the
Senate who had questioned the wis
dom and justice of these increased
and additional taxes. The four
bills, sponsored by the Mapes Com
mittee on Fiscal Relations, as passed,
provide: D for an income tax
of from l to per cent; (2) an
(3) increase in the gasoline tax from
2 to 4 cents. az a tax on automobiles
by weight, averaging about Sl4 per car.
Committee Members Comment.
Chairman MapeS of the special COM
mittee which reported these measures
quoted with approval this sentiment:
Congress has been so unwisely lavish
In It's attempted beneficence that a
powerful landholding element has been
created which demands as a right what
has been granted as a subsidy
Representative Frear Of Wisconsin,
who did not sign the committee re-
port. said: ANY one who lives in the
District of Columbia by travelling five
or six miles can get over into the State
or MARYLAND or he can go into
Virginia, but I do not hear of
any exodus from the District OF Column
bia by these organizations that are
complaining about a voteless District.
Representative Blanton Of Texas con-
tributed this bit of dialogue:
Mr.. Blanton-Our friends, the news
papers here get mad when we mention
them. but they mention us whenever
they get ready. They give us III when
>yer they get ready, and my policy is
to give them N" in return when they
deserve it.
"Mr. Frear-Which "h" does the
gentleman mean?
sMr. Blanton-They know what III"
! am talking about
Burtness Attacks Weight Tax.
In protesting against the weight tax
on automobiles Representative BurtneSS
said:
IF this bill is to be more than a reg
ulatory bill and is to be actually tax
measure why you should tax an auto
mobile that is 10 or more years old with
as large a tax as you impose upon a
brand-neW car. Most of these old cars
are heavy. and some of them may not
be used more than 1000 miles during
season.
1T would seem fairer to me to let the
personal tax remain rather than to
assess every car purely upon its weight,
without any regard whatsoever to its
age or its value; particularly so now,
after YOU have passed a bill in the
House. which hope will become law,
increasing the gasoline tax 2 cents.
which will be paid. of course, by the
people who use the streets of Wash
ington the most. I think this is en-
tirely in harmony with what is fair
treatment: but I doubt whether 1t is
fair treatment in the case, for instance
of retired Government clerks, with small
incomes. who 10 years ago may have
been able to buy an automobile and
are able to keep that old car and use it
for their pleasure few hundred or
few thousand miles a year. We all
know that cars made many years ago
were heavier than comparable cars are
now. and under this bill the owners cf
old cars may have to pay more for a
license than they could sell their cars
for today"
Mapes Defends Report.
Speaking in justification Of the work
of his special committee, Representa-
tive MapeS said:
Il do not intend now nor in the
future to attempt to run down or to
answer all of the statements and criti-
ciSmS which may be made Of the work
and report of this committee" he said.
The report speaks for itself, and in
my Judgment answers every criticism
which has been made of it in so far as
the merits are concerned.
1T is easy to understand the attitude
Of the District. 1t is perfectly natural
and human. At the same time, it is
well to keep in mind that in exercising
legislative jurisdiction over the District
of Columbia, Congress is not usurping
any power and it is only carrying out
the mandate of the Constitution.
Reference is sometimes made to the
Boston tea party and 'voteiess Wash
tngton.' The fathers who sat in the
constitutional convention in 1887 and
framed the Constitution were quite as
familiar with the Boston tea party as
we, in this day. are. 1t was matter
Of recent history to them.
Must Exercise Control.
"In spite of that fact. they deliber-
ately wrote into the Constitution the
provision which requires Congress to
exercise exclusive jurisdiction over the
District of Columbia. Congress is
obliged to exercise this power whether
1t chooses to do so or not. It is an
obligation enjoined upon Congress
which. in the performance of its duties,
1t cannot escape, however unpleasant it
may be.
"As set forth in the report of the
committee, In the performance of this
obligation it has a dual responsibility
1t must represent the people from the
District and the people who live outside
the District. 1t, of course, wants to be
fair to both.
Il do not want any member of the
House of Representatives to get the idea
from anything he may have heard or
read that this committee did not hold
hearings. 1t did. 1t invited before the
committee and heard representatives of
the District government and of differ
ent civic organizations within the Dis
trict, as we'll as private individuals who
desired to be heard. 1t heard every one
who had expressed desire to be heard
up to the time the hearings of the
committee closed and it gave every
Witness who appeared before the COM
mittee full opportunity to express him
self as he saw fit I have here a copy
of the hearings. 1t is volume of over
SOC pages.
Cities Published Quotations.
"a distinguished member of another
body was quoted in The Evening Star
of yesterday and the morning Post of
today as saying: