Evening star., 1945-06-07
Plenty of Evidence

flenty or EvIdence
In their report to the Senate Sub
committee on District Appropria-
tions recommending a fixed formu-
la for measuring the annual amount
of the Federal payment in the Dis
trict BILL the investigators mention
the continued controversy and de-
bate" as sufficient evidence of the
need for such formula.
The evidence does not rest merely
on the fact that there is controversy
and debate. 1t is more tangible than
that.
We find 1t in the incredible con-
trast between the Spick-and-Span
quarters maintained for the snakes
and other reptiles at the National
Zoo and the dirty, inadequate,
ancient facilities for child wards of
the District of Columbia-both de-
irving their support from local taxes.
We find it in expenditures of over
a million dollars a year for main
tanning the grand eXpanse of ma
tional parks in Washington, while
a recently hired director of mental
hygiene quits his job in disgust be-
cause the municipal government in
this National Capital is unable to
provide decent office space for
small clinic.
We find it in the contradictory
policies which are apparent, on the
one hand, in lavish expenditures
which affect the National Govern
ment's own interests in Washington
and, on the other, the parsimoniouS
economy which rigidly restricts
services to the local taxpayers who
foot the bills.
And we find 1t in warnings from
sympathetic members of Congress
that in spite of the highest taxes
and highest tax revenues ever col
lected in Washington, the Commis-
sioners must either trim their recon-
mendations or 60 hunting for new
ways to tax that portion of the resi-
dents of Washington who are al
ready paying over go per cent of the
annual appropriations.
There is all the evidence in the
world to support the sound con-
clusions of the Senate's investigators
that the National Government has
a real and measurable obligation to
pay a measurable part Of the ex-
penseS of its Capital City; that it is
not meeting that obligation now and
that the local. voteless taxpayer is
paying more than his share.
1t is evidence which goes all the
way back to the founding of this
Capital under the exclusive control
of Congress. 1t is evidence in the
record. which shows that more than
once the Nations City has been on
the verge of bankruptcy because of
the inability of local taxpayers to
support, alone, the extraordinary
expenses of the Capital. The Capt.
tails greatest development occurred
during the period when the Nation
al Governments obligation was
fixed, measured and met.
The effort is made in this report
to select a convenient method of
measuring the amount of the an
nual Federal payment. The one
chosen is based on the ratio between
the National Governments tax-ex-
empt land and the total land area
of the District. The actual ratio of
taxed to untaXed land in the Dis
trict is about $3.50. with the area
of tax-exempt land steadily increas-
ing. The proposed formula makes
certain deductions and arrives at a
figure of Is per cent. 1t recon-
mends that the Federal payment
should be Is per cent of total revenue
from local taxes.
The formula has the advantage of
fixing a definite relationship between
what Congress orders the local tax
payer to contribute and what Con-
gress orders the Nation to pay. How
1t works out in dollars and cents is
not as important as the principle
represented. For that principle is
paramount In any equitable fiscal
relationship Without it. the tax
paying residents of Washington are
In for hard shedding after the war