Evening star., 1947-04-12
NoreU. 5. Funds
Neededioi D. c.
Teacher Raises
Commissioners Young
Expects Congress
To Increase Shore
BY Don S. Worren
By Don S. Worren

.F =
An increase In the Federal pay
ment viii be needed, the Commits
sioners have informed Congress, to-
keep the District out Of the ..red, q
If the pending pay boost for WASH
ington school teachers Is adopted.
Belief that Congress will adopt a
formula regulating and increasing
the size d the Federal share OF Ma
tional Capital costs wSs voiced yes
terday by Corniatss sioner John RUS
sell Young.
The teacher pay increase bill now
is before the fiscal subcommittee of
the House and Senate District Com
mittees, jointly considering the city'sI
big revenue problem. A companion
bill offered earlier by Chairman
Dirksen of the House Committee was
placed before the Senate yesterday
by Senator Cain, Republican, Of
Washington, head of the Senate Dis
trict fiscal group.
Bowling tc the almost unanimous
public reaction, the Commissioners
notified the joint fiscal subcommit-
tee they believed their proposed new
taxes on annusements and public
utility bills could be dropped from
their revenue program.
Commissioner Young had indi-
Gated this earlier, but the joint
group awaited final answer from
the city heads.
Rest of Program Pressed.
With the dropping of these two
measures, however, Comnlissto
Young advised Senator Cain a bal
anced budget could be achieved only
II all the rest OF the new revenue
program were enacted. This would
include the proposed 2 per cent gen.
eral sales tax, which would exempt
necessities, and broader collections
OF income taxes.
Also, Mr.. Young noted, it was
assumed there would be no substan-
tiaI' increase in the pending 1948
budget.
This brought into sharp focus
the. teacher pay bill. 1t is estimated
to cost the District $1,700,000 over
the old basic pay levels in the fiscal
year beginning June 80, and ulti-
mately about $4,000 900 year more
after all veteran teachers reach the
new maximum levels.
The bill would give teachers $3.50
more year than they get under
the present temporary levels and
$700 year more than the old basic
pay scales.
Hearings On the teacher pay hill
are to be held soon by the joint
District hscaf subcommittee, either
next week or the week after.
In his summation, Commissioner
Young wrote Senator Cain:
There was submitted to the Con-
gress by the President and on behalf
of the District of Columbia ball
ancee budget amounting to $685.
100000. The estimated receipts
under that budget included addi-
tional revenues from proposed new
tax legislation.
Greater Yield Seen.
Some of these legislative pro-
posals involving additional taxes are
naturally less desirable than others.
In the opinion of the Commissioners,
the two least desirable are the
amusement tax and the tax on
utility bills.
1.-THE most recent estimate of our
revenue availability indicates that
there will be greater yield than
we had originally anticipated. A
very careful analysis indicates that
the yield from the existing tax
structure will produce an additional
$1,350,000. (This was indicated re-
Gently in testimony to the joint
committee and is based largely on
larger revenue expectancy from the
realty taxi
CAS- it was estimated that the
amusement tax and the utility tax
would produce $1,250,000, the Com
missioners are of the opinion that
1t would be possible to drop them
from the program if they could be
assured, first, that the budget as
submitted would not be substantially
increased and, secondly, that Con-
gress would enact all the other taxes
recommended.
'"There is pending before the Con-
gress a proposal to amend the
Teachers Salary Act which, If en-
acted into law, will very substan-
TALLY increase our budget require
ments; but the Commissioners feel
that this increase will be taken care
of through the. adoption of a
formula establishing an equitable
financial relationship between the
Federal Government and the Gov
ernment of the District of Columbia.