Evening star., 1932-05-15
ARTICLE NO; s.

ARTICLE NO. 8.
NY transferring $4,000 ,00C
- charge against the Federal Gov
eminent to charge against the
IL local taxpayers, and thus re-
ducing the lump sum to the un-
precedented low figure Gin relation
to the total amount carried in the bilD
of Sc, 500, 900, the House has placed the
lump sum issue before the Senate Sub
committee on District Appropriations.
The Senate consideration of that issue,
in connection with its study OF the Dis
trict appropriation bill, will be OF ex-
traordinary importance this year to
the people of the District.
Strangely enough, the same issue, but
in another form, is awaiting disposal
by the Senate's Legislative Committee
on the District of Columbia through its
pending study of the Mapes bill for
abolition of the fixed ratio. The Fed
eral payment to the District is fixed
by unrepealed law, and any change in
the Federal payment would ordinarily
be settled after a legislative commit
tees study of the equities and other
matters bearing on the question. The
House has made the appropriation bill
its vehicle for reducing the lump sum
by application of the Holman rule, "
however, and reducing it below the
compromise figure of $9,500, ,000-the
amount agreed upon, pending study OF
the fiscal relations issue by both Houses
of Congress, in the closing hours of the
Seventy-flrst Congress. after the Senate
had held out for a larger increase IN
the lump sum.
Legislature Study Pending.
The study of the equities involved in
the lump sum, the amount that should
be paid in proportion to the total, etc.
will later come before the Senate Dis
trict Committee, of which Senator
Arthur Capper of Kansas is chairman.
Before that committee considers 1t,
however, the Subcommittee on District
Appropriations will be called upon to
consider it through the appropriation
bill.
1t will have before it. in connection
with consideration of the amount OF
the Federal contribution that should
equitably be made to the District, not
only the Senate's traditional stand in
favor of the fixed ratio and against
reducing the annual lump sum, but the
report delivered to the Mapes Com
mittee of the House by the Bureau OF
Efficiency, which went into the subject
exhaustively and found that the lump
sum should at least be $10,l83 ,39l-
which is S3,683, 800 in excess Of the
amount recommended by the House.
Would Probably Be Larger.
The bureau made that recommen-
dation, however, for the fiscal year
1882. and. according to the formula
upon which it was based, the amount
would probably be greater this year
than last.
The bureaus basis for computing the
size of the Federal obligation was valua-
ton Of Federal real, tangible and intangi-
BILE personal property, and the amount Of
hypothetical taxes that would be paid
on this valuation If the Federal Gov
ernment was a taxpayer-these taxes"
being estimated for that year at 1885,
722. In addition, the bureau estimated
that the loss of revenue (to the munich
pal government) occasioned by the fact
that Washington is the National Cap
ital-a figure arrived at by estimating
the tax on the excess of ordinary real
property that is exempt from taxation
here-amounted to $733,581, while ex-
traordinary expenditures occasioned by
the fact that this Is the Capital
dIIlOuItCu W D1OO,OUO, anu IllC COoL Ol
excess park development, that rightly
should be borne by the Federal Gov
ernment, amounted to s77,588.
Not an Actual Tax"
OF course, the Bureau of Efficiency
did not propose that the Federal Gov
ernment would tax itself on its prop
erty here-an erroneous Interpretation
which proved confusing to some men,
bers of the House. The bureau merely
attempted to reach some basis of esti-
mating the amount that the Federal
Government would contribute to the
District If 1t occupied the status, in
this city, occupied in comparable cities
by large, dominant industries.
The Citizens Point Of View.
The Citizens Joint Committee on
Fiscal Relations Between the United
States and the District of Columbia,
in its petition and argument to Con-
gress, has held that the correct fiscal
relationship should be as defined In Or
ganic law; but while the lump sum
practice remains, the lump sum should
be increased. It has taken the view
that there is special equitable obli-
cation upon the Nation to maintain
obligation being extraordinarily heavy
under each of two heads: First, the
obligation arising from the circum-
stances of the creation of the Capital;
second, the obligation that is coupled
with and measured by the Nations abb
solute control of the Nations city.
The true basis of the Nations obli-
cation of proportionate contribution
toward the maintenance and develop
ment of the Capital, the citizens have
argued is not solely or primarily the un-
taxed real estate, though a substantial
and continuous obligation does arise in
connection with such ownership, as
pointed out by the Bureau of Efficiency.
The strongest obligations, it has been
contended, are equitable in their ma
ture and based primarily on the cir
cumstances Of the Capitals creation and
the treatment of the Capital by the
Nation ever since the birth of the city.
Reasons for Increase.
In the argument accompanying the
petition to Congress by the Citizens
Joint Committee, the general and spe-