Evening star., 1936-03-12
Evidence Repeatedly Placed
Before Committees
of Congress.
SAYS TEXANS FIGURES
ON REDUCTION WRONG
Total Amounted to Far Less Than
$130,oo0,OO0 Sum He :.
Quoted.

yesterday by Representative Blanton,
Democrat, Of Texas that the law re-
quiring 100 per cent fair-value assess
ments en- real property is ignored and
violated.
THE clear record Of assessments
conclusively shows that real estate
here is assessed at figures as close TO
100 per cent of their market value as
it Is humanity possible to attain" said
Richards. I'm some cases the assess
ments are higher than their market
value.
Evidence to this effect has been
placed before the committees of Con-
gress repeatedly, and any one who
cares to study these data must be con-
vinced. The record shows the state
ment by Blanton cannot be correct"
Says Figures Incorrect.
Blanton has repeatedly referred 10
what he called an arbitrary" reduc-
ton of $3.50 0000,000 in the total of real
estate assessments Richards today
fatty denied the accuracy of that
statement.
In the first place the reductions In
assessments on properties were not
arbitrary, and in the second place the
total reductions amounted to far less
than s130 100000
1T had been roughly estimated sew
eral years ago that reductions in as
sessments, which should have been
made by reason of the corresponding
falling in market values, might reach
a total of $3.50, 100000. The facts are
the cuts amounted to approximately
$97, ,000. 900. and more than a million
dollars of that decline was due to ex-
emption of properties from taxation
rather than from a reduction in the
assessment base." said Richards.
New Attack Surprise.
The new attack by Blanton In his
efforts to justify the 100000 cut
made by his committee and the House
in the Federal payment toward ex-
penses of the National Capital took
Richards somewhat by surprise, since
the subcommittee, which Blanton
heads, has twice commended Richards
as a worthy public official because
of his ability to maintain assessments
in relation to the 100 per cent market
value law.
However, in a speech to the House
yesterday in opposition to protests
over the slash in the Federal pay
ment. the Texan said: While the law
requires all real property in the Dis
trict of Columbia to be assessed at
full value, this law is generally ignored
and violated, and in most cases prop
erty is assessed at about one-half, or
less than one-half, of full value"
Richards bristled when he read the
statement and when questioned by
The Star, replied:
Evidence showing how the District
has maintained fair market value
assessments has been submitted to
congressional committees time and
again. Any one studying this record
must know We are obeying the law.
Records Were Submitted.
"For instance, we submitted to the
committee the records of the assess
ments for all banks as fled with the
Treasury. This shows that the Dis
trict government assessments on rea!
estate are per cent higher than such
assets claimed by the banks In their
statements to the Government-and
the banks list their assets as high as
can be reasonably computed.
Our records show that sales OF
downtown properties. high-class bust
ness properties, have brought prices
lower than our assessments. Properties
are being offered for sale at much
lower figures than what their assess
ments would total.
Again, we have taken the rentals
obtained for IL representative build
ings, computed the earnings at 5 per
cent and found the assessments al
most exactly equal to the earnings
capitalized at per cent, these earn
ings being computed on a net basis.
Assessments Above Value.
again, there is the case Of the
estate of the late Mrs. John B. Hen
derson. The real estate agent for the
estate, Harold e. Doyle. has sworn to
us he would sell those properties at
two-t thirds of their assessment.
Some years ago the Wardman
properties were before court for sale.
The assessments at full value were
listed in information before the court.
Those in charge of the proposed sale
found that they could not get offers
anywhere near what the assessments
totaled.
Finally, real estate is assessed here
at rate amounting to $4,000 per per-
son, on the supposition that our popu-
lation is approximately $4,000. There
Is no city In the country where the
real estate assessments per population
is as high as the average shown here,
with the exception of New York City,
and it is acknowledged that assess
ments In New York are at least 100
per cent of market value, and possibly
higher"
Only Delayed Action.
Answering the Blanton argument
that there was $4,000, 900 "arbi-
trary" reduction in real estate assess
ments here, the veteran assessor said
what reductions were made amounted
to delayed action in recognizing re-
duction In property values caused by
the depression.
Richards produced the actual rec
ords to show that in the fiscal year
1888 the assessments were at the all
time high total of $1,229, ,359, ,566, de.
spite the fact the depression had hurt