Evening star., 1938-05-29
QFF|C|ALS0PPOSE
LEVY EXEMPTION
of F0UTS|DEF|R
D. C. Heads Rap Bill to Lift
z License CIauSe-WouId
Free Them of Tax.
PLAN is HELD UNFAIR
TOlOCAL MERCHANTS
Passage Is Seen Resulting in
Exodus of Concerns Over
District Boundary.

Exemption of nonresident firms
doing business in the District from
the requirement of obtaining licenses
under the District business privilege
tax was opposed fatty yesterday by
the Commissioners
In reports to Congress on the bill
offered by Senator Byrd of Virginia
and supported by Chairman Palmi-
sano of the House District Committee,
the Commissioners voiced fears that
its passage would result in removal
from District of many firms now
located here in order to claim ex-
emption.
When he recently conducted an
unsuccessful fight against continual
ton of the business privilege tax for
another year, Mr.. Palmisano insisted
1t would be unfair to Baltimore mer-
chants to be forced to pay for the
privilege of doing business in the
District.
The Commissioners have replied
with suggestions that it would be un-
fair to District merchants to have to
compete with outsiders not subject to
the license feature.
License a Vital Feature.
In their report on the bill, the Com
missioners said:
The matter of license is q very i'm
portant feature of the bill It is the
means by which the taxing authority
Of the District exercises control over
the taxpayers and is able to check to
see whether the persons liable under
the act pay the tax.
The provisions of the proposed bill
affect two classes of persons, namely,
residents and non-residents. With re-
spect to residents there are many per-
sons, such as vendors, hucksters and
others. who carry on business at large
and have no fixed location of business
within the District.
81, LAS to non-residents, the provisions
;ef the proposed bill would exempt
every nonresident person who trans
acts business in the District but who
has no fixed location of business here.
For instance. it would permit mer-
chants from Alexandria, Bethesda,
Silver Spring, Baltimore and Philadel-
phia and other places within easy
trucking distance of Washington to
compete with Washington merchants
without the requirement of license.
Business Exodus Seen.
In addition the taxing authority of
the District would have no check at
all upon such nonresident merchants
or manufacturers, who in many in
stances carry on business in large VOL
un1e in the District.
If the proposed bill were enacted
into law the inevitable result would
be an exodus from Washington of
many business houses, and the crea-
ton of rim of business houses and
plants around the District, where it
would only be necessary to step across
the District line and compete with
the few local merchants who would
remain in the District"
The Commissioners also sent up re-
ports voicing opposition to the bill to
exempt agricultural co-operatives in
the District from the business privi-
lege tax and to change to Rhode
Island avenue the name of NJ street
from Connecticut avenue to Thirty
sixth street NV
The Commissioners gave their ap-
proval to passage of a bill to extend
to trust companies in the District the
same right to decrease their capital
as is now granted to national banks,
with trust powers, doing business in
the District. 1t provides method
whereby decrease in capital may be
accomplished through reduction of the
par value of the outstanding shares
of stock rather than through a reduc-
tion in the number of outstanding
shares The Commissioners Endorsed
an outline of the purposes of the bill
recently given by Wayne c. Taylor
Of the Treasury Department.