Evening star., 1944-10-31
.Anti-chorter

: AZ lar 4S 1uQue eStlmateS can De
certain, the charter would bring
higher: taxes. The supporters Of
the charter have not, after three
yeary campaigning, stated any SIN
gle economy they expect to &C.
complish In the operation OF. any
Of the several score services Of the
county government. Their most re-
cent pamphlet contains agitated
last-min,lte language about greater
eeneral economy, which economies,
however, continue totally underlined.
q do most Of the utopian promises
In, the name OF the charter.
(, The easiest thing to do with pub
Nc money is for, the ofncials with
spending Jurisdiction to spend.
economy only results when the pub
Hc iofacials who practice the econ
omy. hase some reasonably strong
vuting. Or political support Of and
Tor their practice Of economy.
Every uneconomical. group, from
the standpoint OF public spending
In Montgomery County Is now sup
porting the charter. This includes
any group Of county citizens who
think that any existing service OF
the county government has hitherto
received too little financial support
. Neu rs arg &erosip who desire q
tneWs s1rvice Of county .governuReni
inch q sosdA1lx16 me- 1iejne, or gfee&-
n. spending n WeifG2e, Or for spe.
ctai e education for backward ,cliA.
dfen,. etc. ~T{ss..s ). e.s.a Z.
-. 20 esFyicss DECLARED Anpse.
Nnst u tie oomsrtAi1ye people q
the county and -uasSt of the loca.
busiAesG and professional people in
clhding particularly We substantial
taxpayers, ara opposed b the charter
partly from the very. definite fear
That It win greatly increase taxes.
They are q the opinion; that both
the services. and the cost Of the
ooQnty 6oyernment are as ample and
hare ineressed as fast as the county
can a6erd. Their general opinion
is cited in confirmation of the belief
that charter.<wiu raise taxes both
shatply and regularly.
:. Charter can mean, and probably
viii mean, q shift IN tax, burdens,
both by areas and classes. The
ehsstsr stsikes down most Of the
checks and halances:s sthat have been
developed In fhe American system
Of government and increases the
velocity with which local changes In
lay and tax plans and practices csn
he rnade By otitlawing the two
party system In county elections, 1t
increases the Importance of the
groups or sectional groups.
That.means that since the several
Thousand Montgomery County rest
dents with really large incomes
would, Through . high-brxcket In
come tax contribute enough,sto the
country treasury to pay for, say,
sociaA4edS medicine and the opera
tionsof several, other widely enjoyed
igns which, would please many thou
sands ao6s voters, that this relatively
small groap at hig1-income people
Are ia considerable DANGER Of hav-
Ing the County Council, which u sub
ject to no veto, pass, 1 high-hracket
county i1eeme tax law, Any small
group Of potential taxpayers that
could be tapped for q relatively large
return to the county treasury can
except such treatment under char
ter.
Obviously, If the creation Of spe-
ciaf road or school districts, with
special read or school taxes, win be
advantageous to the 5000 voters of
the Silver Spring -Takoma Park sec
tion and the H. 900 voters OF the Be-
thesda- Chevy Chase section, such
school or road special taxing dis
trdcts win be created whether the
l1Q00 voters In Rockville, Gathers
burg and the agricultural county
IKE II or not. :.
:, SpesiAI Taxing Areas.
Since special taxing areas are Gre
ated by local law and the State con-
stitution gives the County Council
local legislative power under char
TER, The County Council win GER
tain1y have jurisdiction over the
special taxing areas. The County
Council could either completely re-
pel1 the acts creataing' the taxing
areas or. could greatly limit the pow
erp now exerrissd by the local cit
iaens' committee. s :.
Even 70 distribute portions OF the
State income tax 10 special taxing
areas itwas necessary to, amend the
STATE law and include the following
proyisaon: TOR the purposes OF this
Dection, the special taxing areas In
Montgomery County corresponding
b. Incorporated towns or villages
shAlI BE- treated rs incorporated
t0wnsr This Is further proof that
HE state Legislature. which by
public local Law created the special
taxint areas, never intended 10
create them Is Incorporated towns
md that therefore Hhev are not h..