Evening star., 1947-02-07

Because the District performs functions
Cities rathsr 2s hsn M s hos. asss &c
cities alone.
There are reasons also for believing
that, between Washington and the
other, cities, it is Washington which
Is closer to full value.
In the first place, District Assessor
Edward A. Dent and his predecessors
are not elected officials. In most other
Jurisdictions, it is said, the job of as
SCISSOR Is political one. To this extent
the reelection or reappointment Of the
assessor elsewhere depends somewhat
upon the satisfaction of the people with
his values and thus encourages keeping
them as low as possible. This does
not apply to Mr.. Dent.
Estimates of Value and Sale.
Some concrete evidence also exists
to prove the truth of District valua-
tions In 1941 there were complaints
filed with the Assessor that valuations
were too high on downtown residential
property-many of the old homes along
Massachusetts, and New Hampshire
avenues NV. that were no longer being
used for private residences. Mr.. Dents
office made an investigation of the 1899
and 1910 sale prices of go such pieces of
property and checked the sale price
total against the total assessment. He
found the group assessed at 1876 per
cent of money paid for the properties!
A similar check was made of 68 apart
ments. They were found assessed at
l06 per cent OF the value fixed by the
sale prices
This does not mean that the assess
ments have kept pace with the war
time inflated values of homes on a
shortage market. Mr.. Dent frankly
has not wanted to penalize the home
owner in favor of the speculative seller.
And besides 1t is almost impossible to
determine what Is true and what is
temporary value. Nonetheless new
valuations have just been placed on the
books increasing them for almost every
type OF property in the city. They
bring the taxable total value to $l,578,-
osS,oo0 and will add some $3,0o0,o 900 to
the revenue from real estate
AS matter of cold and logical fact,
however, comparison of assessments is
not necessarily an accurate means OF
determining relative taxation.
Assessors Are Only Human.
What is an assessment but an opin-
ion?" says Mr.. Dent.
He will tell YOU of a District con-
demnation case in which three rep
utable real estate men appeared for
the defendants and valued the property
in question at more than $1,000 Two
equally reputable real estate men ap-
peared as witnesses for the city and
valued 1t at 100000. All were supposedly
experts in the field of appraisal. The
jury compromised on $65, 1000.
In the final analysis, however, the
only valid basis of comparison of real
property taxation is not the rate, not
the assessment, but the actual taxes
paid on comparable properties. Mr..
Dent is now working up data along this
line comparing the Bethesda COM
munity, both residential and CONNER
cial, with the Cleveland Park area in
the District. This latter area embraces
the uptown Connecticut avenue shop
ping development.
Both, according to Mr.. Dent are COM
n1unities of average-size homes and
stores. He hopes to compare the actual
tax bills on similar stores and homes.
The easiest way for legislators to
find out whether the real estate tax
here is high is to buy property. Those
who already own are convinced. It
remains Ito sell" the others.
BY way of conclusion it might also
be pointed out that tax comparisons
between Washington and, say, Los An
geles have only the effect OF feeding
debates. But differences between this
city and the nearby counties can result
in population movements to the lower
taxing areas.