Evening star., 1932-02-07
Impossible Conclusions.

IN JIle series WHICH Is COLIlPlcISS
with publication of the asstcle else
where in today's Star the andings Of
previous examinations of Comparative
tax burdens, together with resume
of the arguments that accompanied
those findings, have been reviewed
Today's article concerns itself prin-
cipally with a discussion of the meth
ods followed by the Mapes committee
In arriving at the conclusion that the
District is undertaXed.
The conclusion itself is questioned
by the Mapes Committees own discov-
cry that whereas the percentage of in
crease in assessed valuations between
1920 and 1880 ranged from Portland's
1l33 (the lOWeSt) to RoCheSter'S 127 09
(the highest) in the case of cities COM
pared with washington, the increase
here has been 16l SO; that whereas
the percentage of increase in total tax
levy ranges from Atlanta's 1926 Cthe
lowestl to RocheSter's 1928 (the high
esO in the case of cities compared with
WASHINGTON, the increase here has been
1926: that while the percentage OF
tax rate increase of some other cities
has exceeded the percentage OF IN
crease here. Washington's increase OF
tax rate has been 1888 per cent, as
compared with the average tax rate in
crease of 1854 per cent for the other
cities. These increases can be studied
with the fact in mind that whereas
the average percentage of increase OF
population of the cities has been 17o6
the percentage Of population increase
In washington has been only 1l.3.
As tie repeated comparisons OF tax
burdens between 1915 and 1880 have
shown that Washirgton's tax burden Is
relatively high, and as the Mapes report
is authority for statement Of the tre-
mendous increase in assessment and tax
levy here within the last 10 years, rs
compared with those Of other cities,
how is one to justify the Mapes report S
conclusion that Washington is now un-
dertaXed?
To Justify the Mapes report conclu-
sion the method of reaching it must
also be justified, and, in addition, the
methods that lead to contradictory
findings must be shown to be worth
less.
The article in today's Star raises GER
tain facts that Immediately contest the
reliability of the Mapes report method
and the accuracy of the yardstick thus
set up to measure comparative tax bur-
dens. The Mapes report is found, with
other authorities, to condemn the &C
curacv of its own method by pointing
out it's weaknesses, fundamental among
which is the difficulty of determining
the actual ratio of assessed value to full
value in other cities. The Mapes COM
nnittee's figures, which it adopts as rep
resenting full value" in other cities,
condemn themselves when the simple
test is applied of reducing them to per
capitas-a result which shows that Wash
ington's per capita full value realty as
sessment exceeds the per capita OF any
other city compared which shows that
Washington's per capita realty assess
ment. excluding all Of the vast property
holdings of the Government is greater
than the per capitas of such larger
cities as Cleveland, st. Louis, Baltimore,
Boston, Pittsburgh, San Francisco, Mil
waukee and Buffalo. That such a con-
dition could actually exist cannot be
granted. That the assessments Of these
cities even when raised to mythical
full value are still low is established
beyond a doubt.
The article also tests the accuracy Of
the Mapes committees yardstick by
applying substantially the same instru-
ment to a comparison between other
cities-a comparison which produces
such amazing results as to show that
the tax burden in Waco, Tex, is twice
as high as the tax burden in Dallas of
the same State; that the tax burden in
Jacksonville is more than twice as high
as the tax burden in Miami and Tampa;
bizarre comparisons that could be con-
tinued indefinitely to show that the tax
burden in Dubuque, Iowa, is higher
than the tax burden in Chicago, Ill,
but the tax burden in Troy, N. Y, is
about sixty-three per cent higher than
in Dubuque, etc. Or, taking the Mapes re-
ports findings, can one accept as truth
the assertion that the people Of Louis
Vile, KY, pay S3O8 real estate tax on
a $4,000 property, while the people of
Cincinnati, $50 miles away and with
a population greater by 100000, only
pay SIT? Or that the people of st.
Louis population, 821 $500 pay SITS on
$4,000 worth of property while the
people of Memphis population, 253,143)
pay S289?
The moral is the same moral drawn
from such fables by the Citizens Joint
Committee in 1920: You cannot breed
truth and reliability by crossing tax
rates with lies or widely varying local
euesses concerning full valuation
Heredity taints with falsity and per-
meates with deception every atom of
the offspring of such parents"
If the Mapes committee method is
faulty, which is admitted, its conclu-
sions are faulty, which is established.