Evening star., 1948-06-13

rect on private MONIES. THIS increase
together with the increase in the
tax rate. resulted in an increase OF
20 per cent in the real estate tax
There are large number of small
residences ip the District of Colum-
bia owned and occupied by retired
Government empioycs, veterans and
others who are in the loW-income
brackets.
A large majority Of the new
homes constructed in the District
during the past three years have
been small homes sold to persons in
the low-income brackets. When the
substantial increase in real estate
taxes was made for this fiscal year
this Office received hundreds Of COM
plants from this group.
Il have been advised by the Office
of the Administrator OF Rent Control
for the District of Columbia that
approximately 1881 applications
were received by that Office for ar
increase in rentals because of the
increase in real estate taxes. The
majority of these complaints were
received from owners of four family
flats and private dwellings I am
informed that approximately 80 pei
cent of these increases were grant
ed, so that it is presumed that any
further increase in real estate taxes
will cause further increases in rent
ais
THE area of the District Of Co.
lumbia is fixed by definite bounda-
ries. 1t cannot expand and there
is very little privately owned vacant
land left upon which to build
This scarcity of available land, to-
sether with the further fact that
land values are lower in the sur
rounding counties, is the principal
reason why in l947 only 17%o OF
the value of permits isued in the
Metropolitan Area were for dwelling
units in the District of Columbia as
compared with 83qo in the adjacent
areas of Maryland and Virginia
This is complete reversal of the
situation in 1897.
Movement Out Of District.
Looking back on the develop
ment Of the District Of Columbia for
many years, have seen many ex-
cellent residential areas become OBJ
solete as more modern homes have
been constructed closer and closer te
the District boundaries. Now we are
reaching the point where there is
little left to build upon and, con-
sequently, new areas are being de-
veloped in Maryland and Virginia
There are many houses in the
District of Columbia that are fifty
years or more old, and as time goes
on these homes are bound to be
affected in value by reason of de-
probation and obsolescence. There
fore, I believe that every effort
should be made to preserve reaI
estate values in the District of Co
lumbia and, in my opinion, further
increase in real estate taxes would
not contribute to that end.
II would like to invite your atten.
tion to the fact that from 1877
through the fiscal year 1947, $632,
140,70l have been levied in rea
estate taxes, and of that amount
there remains an uncollected bal.
ance of only 3253,217, which rep.
resents a collection of 80 SO per cent
The estimated population Of the
District of Columbia is now approx
imately S50,000 Real estate taxes
are pa,d by approximately 10000
persons and incomes taxes by ap-
proximately 95 600 persons. Due to
the domicile provision in The pres
enJ income tax law, large num-
aer of persons are exempted from
! the payment OF the individual in
come tax.
To further increase the real
estate tax rate would place an ad-
ditional burden on those persons
in the District of Columbia who are
already contributing heavily to the
revenues Of the District of Co
lumbia. In order to distribute the
tax load more evenly and more
equitably, I am of the.opini that
sales tax should be enacted rather
than an increase inNthe tax rate