Evening star., 1945-10-21
Embassy Holdings Cut
Districts Revenues
Sentiment Held Growing for
Revival of the Overton Plan
BIZ John w. Thomson.

By John w. Thompson.
Fifty-two foreign governments own
| nearly 20 acres of District land assessed
including Improvements, at more than
$l0,000000. Since this property is tax
exempt, 1t means loss In revenue to
the District of s17S776 annually at the
current property tax rate.
Moreover, in recent years. there has
been a slight tendency along embassy
row to acquire bigger and better estates
for diplomatic purposes, thus removing
some choice tax plums from the reach
of the District Building. The govern
ments of Switzerland, Belgium and Peru,
for example, have acquired sizeable
estates assessed for a total of $750,000
The overall average value of embassy
and legation owned land. according to
District records, is about $186 a foot
The significance of these figures is
certainly not a criticism of the foreign
governments since reciprocal rights are
granted American diplomatic holdings
in other countries. It is simply one
additional financial cross which the
residents of the District bear because
Washington happens to be the National
Capital. Nor is there any limit to the
amount of land a government may
acquire. So long as it is used for en-
bassy or legation purposes it is exempt
from taxation.
Actually, privately owned tax-cxempt
properties cost the city an annual loss
in revenue of. more than s2,0o0000 and
the bulk of this is in holdings by reli-
gious and educational institutions. But
the average citizen here draws COM
pensatory benefits by the availability of
these institutions for his own use.
Benefits from foreign government own
ership are less obvious.
Meanwhile, the Federal Government
is continuing to take over land from
the District to the point that for the
first time in its history fraction less
than half of the area is actually taxable
The United States owns close to AZ per
cent of the total area. District Govern
ment and privately owned exempt prop
erty carry the exempt total slightly
beyond the halfway mark.
Other comparable cities have. Of
course, certain tax-exempt properties
and States have Federal parks of many
acres which are lost to them for tax
purposes, but these cities and States
are not limited by the Constitution to
an area 10 miles square. Inf1exible boun-
Iax aI% 1f
from District tax rolls to throw heavier
burden on the shrinking privately owned
and taxable remainder-the principal
source of District income. And these
large Federal holdings together with
the diplomatic holdings can only be
status as the Capital of the country.
For this reason the Commissioners,
confronted with l947 budget estimates
of more than 100000 from the vari-
GUS departmental heads, which. even
if cut by $4,000 900. would leave them
faced with a new high in city ex-
penses. are wondering If Congress will
deviate from the arbitrary S6000,000 an
nual contribution to a more equitable
share in the yearly venture. Investiga-
tors for the Senate District Appropria-
that the real estate taxes on federally
owned land alone would amount to
| more than $6000,0o0 not even consid-
ering the water and other services now
provided free to the United States by
the citizens of Washington.
Sentiment in responsible quarters at
the District Building is already grow
year the old Overton formula under
which the Federal Government would
pay the District proportionately accord
ing to the percentage which federally
owned land bears to the total Capital
area.
While the plan, developed by Sem
ator Overton of Louisiana four years
ago, ignores comparative values be-
tween Government held and privately
owned land, and while 1t also ignores
improvements on real estate-perhaps
equitably since many of the Govern
ment buildings are monumental in char
acter it none the less would provide a
flexible relationship between District
and Federal payments which does not
now exist. 1t would certainly protect the
residents of the District by increasing
the Federal payment annually as Fed
eral holdings here increase. thereby
causing revenue loss.
Thot Civic Center