Evening star., 1942-12-13


port accompanying the bill that
along with the matter of tax-exempt
property goes the opportunity to es-
tablish better fiscal relations between
the Federal Government and the
District.
The tax exemption bill OF Senator
McCarran of Nevada. chairman OF
the Senate District Committee, was
substituted in the House District
Committee for the measure OF Rep
resentative Hunter Of Ohio and
passed by the House, with slight
change. 1t passed the Senate Friday.
Board Created In 1910.
The trade groups report, in part,
follows:
I'm December OF 1910 the Board
OF Commissioners created a board
composed of Walter l.. Fowler, as
sistant corporation counsel; F. F.
Healy, surveyor. and Benjamin F.
Adams, assistant assessor, for the
purpose Of reviewing each and every
item of privately owned property
within the District of Columbia now
exempted and to ascertain all facts
in reference thereto including actual
use Of the property in each case, and
determine whether such property is
legally entitled to exemption IN
whole or in part.
The Commissioner study deter
mined that the total assessed value
OF real property and improvements
in the District of Columbia was In
1910, $2091 ,534,784 that of this
amount, holdings valued at $3.50, ,597,-
699 are exempt. OF the exempt
property valuations. 1868, OIL ,457 Is
in the United States Government
holdings; s73,732,O63 is held by the
municipality and $111,794,179 is pri-
vately owned.
"Of approximately 1000 pieces OF
tax exempt property valued at SILL
794,l79, q list of about 1000 cases
was prepared for study with refer
ence to the various acts OF Congress
under which exemption had been
claimed or granted. From this list
property valued at approximately
S24.855, ,397 was found to have been
enormously exempted, in the opln-
ion of the Commissioners, from the
real estate tax Some OF this prop
erty was considered by the Com
missioners to have rightful claim
to exempting that was not clearly
permissible under the wording OF
the statutes On the other hand,
certain property which had enjoyed
tax exemption was held by the Com
missioners to have no well eStab-
lished claim, either under existing
statutes or according to principles
elsewhere governing the exemption
of property. All of the property
found by the Commissioners to be
taxable, either because the eXemp-
ton statutes were not clear or be-
cause the claim to exemption was
weak, was tentatively placed back
on the tax rolls pending clarifica-
ton of the statutes by appropriate
legislation.
Effects of the Legislation.
"Your committee believes that the
bill reasonably effects one purpose
of the Commissioners study, which
is, the clarifcation Of former stat
utes defining exemption and the
definition of conditions under which
tax exemption shall be permitted
in the future.
According to informal interpre-
tations of the bill by municipal au-
thorities, the bill tends to broaden
rather than to narrow. the scope OF
exemption in the District. Under
such informal interpretations, all of
the property, it is stated, which the
Commissioners attempted to place
back on the tax rolls will continue to
enjoy exemption from taxation and
some property which in the past
paid taxes may, under the new leg
islation, claim and acquire tax
exempt status. In this respect, the
provision of the act granting ex-
emption to buildings belonging to
religious corporations or societies
primarily and regularly used for
religious worship, study. training and
missionary activities is considered
by municipal authorities to be un-
duly broad and grants tax exemption
to large group of study houses and
establishments Of like character
which in their opinion should not
receive such exemption.
1.-The provision, likewise, granting
exemption to buildings belonging to
organizations which are charged
with the administration, co-ordina-
ton and uniflcation of activities,
locally or otherwise. OF institutions
or organizations entitled to exemp-
ton under the provisions Of this act
and used as administrative head
quarters thereof is held to be too
broad and in the opinion Of mu-
nicipal officials may grant tax i'm
munity to a number of administra-
tive headquarters in which the Dis
trict as a municipality. has no in
terest and from which the people Of
the District receive no special
benefit.
THE excess land provision of the
legislation also meets with objec-
ton from municipal officials who be-
lieve that certain institutions In the
District already hold more land than
is needed Cor the purpose under
which they are granted tax immu-
nifty.
Your committee sought some es-
innate of potential tax revenue
losses resulting from the increase in
private property exemptions which
municipal officials believe will re-
suit from the legislation. No such
estimates, however, were obtained.