Mr. BATES. The committee will come to order and we will proceed with witnesses with respect to views on the pending tax bills, for the purpose of raising additional revenue for the District. I have here, Mr. William Howard Payne, representing the District American Legion. Will you step forward, Mr. Payne? We will be very glad to hear your views. STATEMENT OF WILLIAM HOWARD PAYNE, VICE CHAIRMAN, LEGISLATIVE COMMITTEE, AMERICAN LEGION, DISTRICT OF COLUMBIA DEPARTMENT Mr. PAYNE. Mr. Chairman, I come here as vice chairman of the legislative committee of the District of Columbia Department of the American Legion. There are today 57 posts of the American Legion in the District of Columbia with 25,000 members and 30 units of the American Legion Auxiliary with 3,000 members. I am advised that the American Legion is the largest fraternal organization in the District of Columbia and the largest veterans' organization. The District Department of the American Legion, at its annual convention in August of 1946, unanimously adopted a resolution voicing opposition to the proposed imposition of a general sales tax. If the committee please, I would like to offer a copy of that resolution for the record at this point. Mr. BATES. It will be included in the record at this point. (The copy of the resolution referred to is as follows:) RESOLUTION OF THE AMERICAN LEGION, DEPARTMENT OF THE DISTRICT OF COLUMBIA, IN RE PROPOSED DISTRICT OF COLUMBIA SALES TAX Whereas prominent citizens and public officials, including Members of the Congress and of the administration, have publicly advocated the imposition of a sales tax within the District of Columbia to alleviate the revenue difficulties of the District government; and Whereas said proposals do not exclude the purchase of cost-of-living items and will have the effect of taxing corporations and individuals with large incomes at a rate no greater than people with fixed and limited incomes, including members of the armed services and veterans who are for the most part living upon the limited incomes earned by day-to-day labor, clerical positions, or veterans' educational allowances; and Whereas the present revenue difficulties of the District government are primarily attributable to the ever-increasing amount of tax-exempt Federal-Government property holdings in the District and the steadily diminishing percentage of District government revenue which is supplied by the Federal Government; and Whereas said proposals would cause a portion of the normal revenue of District businesses and individuals, including veterans who have commenced small businesses, to be diverted to surrounding States: Now therefore be it Resolved, (a) That the District of Columbia Department of the American Legion publicly announce its opposition to, and take necessary and proper steps to avoid, the imposition of a general sales tax within the District of Columbia; and (b) That the District of Columbia Department of the American Legion advocate that Congress alleviate the present revenue difficulties of the District government by either an increase in the portion of the District government revenue which is contributed by the Federal Government or by an increase in the District of Columbia income-tax rates. (NOTE.-Adopted unanimously by 1946 convention of the District of Columbia Department of the American Legion.) Mr. BATES. Is that because of force of circumstances or because it is more economical? Mr. CANNON. Well, you cannot get the money to buy a new one; you cannot advance enough money ahead to make a down payment; so as a result, as the car grows older, you have got to get out of it. Mr. BATES. If you had money enough to buy a car, could you get a car, and would your permit to drive apply to that car? Mr. CANNON. I do not quite understand. Mr. BATES. In other words, if you bought a car today, could you drive on the driver's permit you now have? Mr. CANNON. I have a District driver's permit; I have a hacker's permit and license. Mr. BATES. Then you could drive any car, including your own? Mr. CANNON. That is right. Mr. BATES. I see. What do you find the general condition of the streets to be? The previous witness spoke about the condition of the streets being bumpy and so forth. Mr. CANNON. Well, I find that there are just a few streets in town that are in bad condition. The most of them are in good condition. Of course, they are doing a lot of work digging, tearing up streets, which is natural after the war years when they did not do much. Mr. BATES. Mr. Keller, while you were out of the room testimony was given that the cost of gasoline has increased 2.6 within the year. Are those the facts? Mr. KELLER. Well, the price, the most recent price in gasoline, Mr. Chairman, was an increase of 1 cent per gallon, and the previous increase before that was three-tenths of a cent per gallon; that is all reflected in the official statistics which I released from the BureauMr. BATES. What was it, say, a year ago? Mr. KEETING. Say, VJ-day? Mr. KELLER. VJ-day? It may be true back there. I do not have any information on that. It might well be at that time. Mr. BATES. What was the 0.3 increase; when did that take place? Mr. KELLER. I think about 3 months ago; 3 or 4 months ago. Mr. BATES. And the 1-cent increase? Mr. KELLER. The 1-cent increase went into effect about 3 weeks ago. Mr. BATES. Three weeks ago? Mr. KELLER. Yes, sir. Mr. BATES. And the preceding increase was when? Mr. KELLER. The preceding increase, I do not have any recollection of it, any independent recollection of it; it might have been-I think there was some price adjustment around after VJ-day. Mr. BATES. VJ-day? Mr. KELLER. Yes, sir. Mr. BATES. So, these taxi drivers who are large consumers of gasoline have to pay 2.6 over and above what they did after VJ-day. Mr. KELLER. That may be a perfectly proper figure; I do not know what the figure is, but it may well be right. Mr. BATES. So, if this is another cent, it would be 3.6, and it would be about 36 cents a day over and above the VJ-day price. Mr. CANNON. It would run over a hundred dollars a year. Mr. CANNON. And you have to remember during the war our average workday was around 7 hours. Now it is 12, and the amount of money coming in is not as great-far below. Mr. BATES. Thank you, Mr. Cannon. Mr. KEETING. Mr. Brown. Mr. BATES. Sit right down, Mr. Brown. STATEMENT OF ARTIN BROWN, WASHINGTON, D. C. Mr. BROWN. My name is Artin Brown, and I am a driver of a Yellow Cab. It is a rental cab. I have been driving cabs in Washington for some 14 years. I drove in the latter thirties, called by some drivers the "terrible thirties" and by others the "dirty thirties," when conditions among them could best be described by the word "desperate." Then it was necessary to save up for months to buy a new pair of pants, while a new suit was just about out of the question. I do not expect to drive a cab all my life, since I am at present studying horticulture and expect to make that my profession. However, I have a deep interest in the cab business and the drivers, and sincerely hope that they will never again reach that state of semiexistence in which they labored during the thirties. I am, therefore, opposed to the proposed gas-tax increase which I view as an opening wedge in another decline in the cab driver's livelihood. While I appreciate the beauty of Washington and would like to see its appearance maintained and even improved, I do not think it should be done at the expense of this group of men and women whose failure to organize into a pressure group places them at the mercy of considerate men, such as I hope compose the membership of this committee. As a single man, it is beyond my comprehension how the fellows with large families are able to make ends meet under present conditions. I hope you will vote down the demand for an increase in gasoline taxes. Mr. BATES. Let me ask you a question. How many hours a day do you drive? Mr. BROWN. Well, sir, my condition is entirely different from the others. I do not work too much. I work about 35 or 40 hours, sometimes maybe 50 hours. I spend a lot of time on my studies; I go out of town with the Department of Agriculture; I do a lot of work at home on agriculture. I work just enough to make my ends. meet. Mr. BATES. What do you mean by your studies? Mr. BROWN. I am studying horticulture. Mr. BATES. You are a veteran, you mean? Mr. BROWN. Yes, sir. Mr. BATES. Under the veterans' program? Mr. BROWN. No, sir; we do not get that. I have not gone into it. I am taking two different courses, landscaping and horticulture, and it takes much of my time. 99538-47-47 to encourage unwise spending, and this certainly is not in keeping with the general tax policy of this Congress. Several gasoline-station operators have appeared this morning to explain more in detail why the gasoline tax increase will affect their business. They are small businessmen who feel the impact of unnecessary taxation. They must watch their operating cost to make a living. I do not think it is the intention of this committee to do anything to make it difficult for these men to make a living. The proposed increase in gasoline could very well mean the difference between profit and loss to this group of small businessmen. Mr. BATES. Mr. Herrick, can you tell me when that first increase after VJ-day took place? Mr. HERRICK. I believe that the first increase took place the early part of last year. Mr. BATES. The early part of 1946. Mr. HERRICK. 1946, I believe it was. I might state this, that I have just assumed the duties of this position since the middle of last month. I have been in contact with the service-station operators. I heard a moment ago that the price of gasoline had gone up 2.6. I do not believe that is general. I think in some stations it has gone up 2.6, and in other stations, I think, it has gone up 1.6. In the District of Columbia at the present time you have some stations selling gasoline for 1 cent higher than other stations. Mr. BATES. Today in the District of Columbia? Mr. HERRICK. Yes, sir. Mr. BATES. Well, now, do the gasoline or the oil companies sell gasoline to the dealers here at a cent differential? Mr. HERRICK. That is correct. Mr. KELLER. Not the companies, sir; that is the individual dealer. Mr. HERRICK. Individual dealers. Mr. KELLER. Who set their own price. Mr. BATES. What I am interested in is when the increase was made after VJ-day. Mr. KELLER. As I stated yesterday, I do not have any price information at all, but that is a matter of public record. I would be very glad to get the exact time when the price increase was effective and furnish it to you. Mr. BATES. Is that all, Mr. Herrick? Mr. HERRICK. Yes, sir. Mr. BATES. Now, Mr. Keller, is there anybody else? Mr. KELLER. No, sir. That completes our list of witnesses this morning, Mr. Chairman. I certainly would be ungrateful if I did not take this time to thank you for your very courteous and attentive hearing this morning. We all appreciate it very much. Mr. BATES. Mr. Keller, have you seen this program that the Highway Department has laid out for, let us say, the next 10 years or so? Mr. KELLER. Yes, sir, I have; and I have given it a very great deal of attention. I appeared at the public hearing which the Commissioners held on March 26, when that program was first presented at the public hearing. Mr. BATES. Did you find any fault with any specific project or projects that they have planned that might well be delayed? Mr. KELLER. I think that there are two things that I could say about that. One, there are specific projects which I do not think the traffic flows would justify. Secondly, I think there are other methods of going at the problem involved, in changing routes which we have now and concentrating on a few main routes to get traffic out of the city and into the city, and there are many other improvements which very competent traffic engineers have suggested, and I might say that there was very severe criticism of that proposed program by a number of different organizations. That is all a matter of public record, and the chairman may be interested in looking at that. The National Capital Park and Planning Commisison is at variance with the Highway Department with reference to many features of that program, and there was a public hearing that day, and we even had a lot of traffic engineers who came there and talked about it; and we heard from a number of civic organizations and businesses. The Capital Transit Co. was very critical of the program which they had planned. Mr. BATES. That is a program over the period of years or the program in the next, say, 3 or 4 or 5 years? Mr. KELLER. No, sir; this hearing was based on the program generally from 1950 to 1955. Mr. BATES. Yes. Mr. KELLER. They had a hearing last October on this program, and then Mr. BATES. What does that program embrace, 3 years? Mr. KELLER. Yes, sir; 3 years. Mr. BATES. Was there any specific opposition to that program or any part of it? Mr. KELLER. The 3-year program? Mr. BATES. Yes. Mr. KELLER. Well, a number of people-I was interested only— that was on the gas tax only; that was on the question of the gas tax; they had had on Friday, October 25, a 1-day hearing on the thing, and at that time a number of people appeared in opposition to the tax at that time. The three who appeared in favor of it, the Board of Trade was down there, and they favored it; and the American Automobile Association, Mr. Howett was down there advocating the increase in the tax at that time. He has advocated it all along, and the Capital Transit Co. came down and testified about the mileage tax, which the District Commissioners had proposed, and the mileage tax would have placed a very considerable burden on them because it was based on the number of miles that they travel in the District; and then the District Commissioners withdrew the mileage tax, and then the Capital Transit Co., after that tax was withdrawn, said that they would not oppose the gasoline tax. So that was the way that thing developed that day; and the other witnesses Mr. HARRISON. Mr. Chairman, can I insert a remark here? Come right up, Mr. Harrison, and we will be glad to hear you. Mr. HARRISON. I merely wanted to refresh Mr. Keller's memory. At the hearing on March 26 the Commissioners did not take any action on any of the proposals. The Capital Transit Co. appeared; they |