18 Not reported. 19 Seattle, Wash.: County rate includes $3 for port authority. 20 Indianapolis, Ind.: City rate includes $0.54 for township. 21 Oakland, Calif.: City rate includes: Water and sewer, $3.700; park, mosquito, and flood control, $0.717. 22 Portland, Oreg.: City rate includes $2.60 port of Portland rate. 23 Louisville, Ky.: State rate for tangible personalty is $5. 24 Fort Worth, Tex.: City rate includes $3.20 for water district. 25 Akron, Ohio: City rate includes $0.256 for metropolitan park district. 26 Omaha, Nebr.: Intangible personalty total of $184,052,814 is not included. Intangi- 27 Long Beach, Calif.: City rate includes $2.500 metropolitan water authority, $3.411 28 Miami, Fla.: City rate includes $1 drainage rate. 29 Salt Lake City, Utah: City rate includes $1.75 water levy and $0.30 mosquito abate- 30 Hartford, Conn.: City rate includes $1.21 metropolitan district rate and $0.67 civic 31 Youngstown, Ohio: City rate includes $0.10 for township. 32 Wichita, Kans.: Intangible personalty is taxed at 0.5 percent. City rate includes 33 Bridgeport, Conn.: City rate includes $2.37 levy for welfare and $2.39 for debt service. 35 Sacramento, Calif.: City rate includes $0.50 mosquito abatement, $0.50 port district, 36 Gary, Ind.: City rate includes $3.37 township, $1.40 library rate, and $1.56 sanitary 37 Fort Wayne, Ind.: City rate includes $1.50 poor relief and $1.70 library rates. 38 Evansville, Ind.: City rate includes $0.45 tuberculosis hospital rate, $1.45 library 39 Baton Rouge, La.: City rate includes sewer tax by districts ranging from $0.70 to 40 Scranton, Pa.: Čity rate includes $6.25 institutional district rate. City rate is a 41 Tampa, Fla.: County rate includes $0.20 navigation district rate and $0.50 port 42 Canton, Ohio: City rate includes $0.10 township rate. 43 Berkeley, Calif.: County rate includes $3.70 utility district, $0.63 park, and $0.13 44 Peoria, Ill.: City rate includes $0.97 township, $0.63 sanitary district, $1.16 park, and 45 Pasadena, Calif.: County tax rate includes $3.411 flood control and $1.411 sanitation district rates. 46 Duluth, Minn.: County rate includes $1.879 county school rate. 47 Richmond, Calif.: City rate includes $2.69 water district and $2.14 hospital district rates. 48 Lincoln, Nebr.: City rate includes $2 sanitary district rate. 49 St. Petersburg, Fla.: City rate varies from $16.05 to $18.15 in 4 districts. 50 Glendale, Calif.: County rate includes $3.411 flood-control rate. 51 San Jose, Calif.: County rate includes $0.48 flood control district rate. Additional tax on land only of $7.54 for Santa Clara Valley water conservation district. 52 Rockford, Ill.: City rate includes $1.52 township, $0.76 sanitary district, $0.42 park 53 Saginaw, Mich.: City rate includes $3.20 debt service and school rate includes $4 54 Fresno, Calif.: City rate includes $0.575 mosquito abatement and $1.156 library rates. 56 Huntington, W. Va.: City rate includes $0.60 park board rate. 57 East St. Louis, Ill.: City rate includes $1.055 township, $0.50 health district, $3.30 58 Springfield, Ill.: City rate includes $1.32 township, $0.59 park, $0.54 sanitary district, 59 Topeka, Kans.: City rate includes $3.92 municipal university rate and $1.45 city 60 Burbank, Calif.: County rate includes $3.41 flood-control rate. 61 Springfield, Ohio: No assessed valuation reported. City rate includes $0.03 township 62 Portland, Me.: City rate includes $3.84 debt service and $3.88 capital improvement 64 Stamford, Conn.: The city is divided into 3 districts with respective rates of $36.70, 65 Evanston, Ill.: 4 school districts have different rates causing variation in the total 67 Santa Monica, Calif.: City rate includes $2.50 metropolitan water district rate. 68 Macon, Ga.: No school or county rates were reported. 69 Wichita Falls, Tex.: City rate includes $3.50 water district rates. School rate in- 70 Cicero, Ill.: City rate includes $0.76 tuberculosis sanitarium, $1.68 park district, 71 Springfield, Mo.: No total assessed valuation reported. County rate includes $3.50 72 Bethlehem, Pa.: The city lies in 2 counties. The rate listed is for Northampton 73 Decatur, Ill.: City rate includes $4.23 township rates. 74 Covington, Ky.: City rate includes $1.47 for bond and sinking fund. 75 Terre Haute, Ind.: City rate includes $1.50 township rate. 76 Pueblo, Colo.: City rate includes $6.78 special assessments. 77 San Bernardino, Calif.: County rate includes $1.80 flood-control rate. 78 Alexandria, Va.: The city rate is a weighted average of a $27.50 levy on real estate and $30 on personal property. 79 Wheeling, W. Va.: The rate varies for different classes of property. The rate is given for class No. 1. 80 Muncie, Ind.: City rate includes $0.70 township and $1.60 library rates. 81 Greenville, S. C.: City rate includes $6 debt service and $2 library rates. 82 Ogden, Utah.: City includes $1.75 rate for special assessments. 83 Gadsden, Ala.: County rate includes $4 county school rate. 84 Kenosha, Wis.: City rate includes $1.35 township rate. 85 Green Bay, Wis.: City rate includes $1.52 metropolitan sewer district rate. 86 Bay City, Mich.: City rate includes $2.50 sewage disposal rate. 87 San Angelo, Tex.: School rate includes $2.50 college rate. 88 Joliet, Ill.: City rate includes $1.82 township, $1.10 park district and $0.05 forest 89 Alhambra, Calif.: County rate includes $3.41 flood control and $1.41 sanitation dis- 90 Berwyn, Ill.: City rate includes $1.42 public health and tuberculosis sanitarium, 91 Lorain, Ohio.: City rate includes $0.12 township, $2.59 bond retirement, $0.43 park 92 South Gate, Calif.: County rate includes $0.77 library, $3.41 flood control, $2.30 sani- 93 Aurora, Ill.: City rate includes $0.72 township, $1.05 road and bridge rates, and $1.92 94 Norwalk, Conn.: City rate includes $9.30 inner district rate. 95 Rock Island, Ill.: City rate includes $0.30 township and $0.95 airport rates. 96 Muskegon, Mich.: City rate includes $1 city debt law. School rate includes $5.25 levy for debt and improvement. 97 Compton, Calif.: County rate includes $8.51 special assessments. 98 La Crosse, Wis.: City rate includes $3.78 debt service and $0.87 recreation rates. 99 Anderson, Ind.: City rate includes $1 township and $0.70 special assessment rates. 101 Inglewood, Calif.: City rate includes $3.36 metropolitan water district and $7.59 103 Santa Ana, Calif.: City rate includes $1.68 flood control, $0.30 harbor district, $0.12 104 Colorado Springs, Colo.: School rate includes $4.44 county school rate. 105 Elgin, Ill.: The city lies in two counties. The rate listed is for Kane County. Cook 106 West Palm Beach, Fla.: Homestead rate is $5.80 up to $5,000 valuation. County 107 West Allis, Wis.: City rate includes $1.71 capital improvements rate. 110 Champaign, Ill. City rate includes $0.30 public health, $1.09 township, $0.15 park 11 Waukegan, Ill.: City rate includes $1.52 township, $0.62 park and $0.65 sanitary 112 Joplin, Mo.: County rate includes $3.50 special assessment levy for roads. 113 Kokomo, Ind.: City rate includes $1.23 township rate. 114 Yakima, Wash.: City rate includes $1 metropolitan park district rate. 115 Norristown, Pa.: Additional taxes of $5 per capita are levied for city purposes and $5 per capita for school purposes. 116 Danville, Ill.: City rate includes $2.46 township and $0.90 sanitary district rates. 117 Moline, Ill.: City rate includes $0.67 township, $0.56 street and bridge and $0.95 119 Spartanburg, S. C.: City rate includes $1 library and $5 special assessment rates. 121 Steubenville, Ohio: City rate includes $0.10 township rate. 125 Pomona, Calif.: City rate includes $3.67 sanitary district, $3.41 flood control and 126 Danville, Va.: Total rate listed is a weighted average of $11 realty rate and $25 127 Fayetteville, N. C.: City rate includes $0.30 cemetery rate. 128 Irondequoit, N. Y.: City rate includes county rate and includes averages of 129 Boise, Idaho: School rate includes $5 junior college rate. 130 Newark, Ohio: City rate includes $0.05 township rate. 131 Bloomington, Ill.: City rate includes $0.90 township and $0.87 sanitary district rates. 132 Manchester, Conn.: City rate includes $2.50 fire district rate. 133 Bellingham, Wash.: County rate includes $2.63 port district rate. 134 Hutchinson, Kans.: City rate includes $1.11 library rate. 135 Lafayette, La.: City rate includes $8.80 bond issue levy. 136 Wauwatosa, Wis.: City rate includes $0.92 metropolitan sewer district. 138 Burlington, Vt.: City rate includes $2 pension, $1.20 salary increase, $2 highway, 139 Belleville, I.: City rate includes $0.70 township rate. Separate school district 140 Alton, Ill.: City rate includes $1.30 township and $0.32 airport rates. 141 Clarksburg, W. Va.: Rates listed are for Class 4 property. Class 1 rate is $4.76 142 Columbia, Mo.: County rate includes $2 hospital, $0.30 road bond, and $3.50 road 144 Newport, Ky.: County rate includes $0.60 courthouse rate. STATE NOTES Alabama.-Homestead exemption: 1st $2,000 of assessed value of homestead is exempt from State levy only. Arkansas.-Homestead exemption: 1st $2,000 of assessed value of homestead exempt from State levy only. Florida.-Homestead exemption: 1st $5,000 of assessed value of homesteads exempt from State and all local taxes except assessments for special benefits. Georgia.-Homestead exemption: 1st $2,000 of assessed value of homesteads exempt from State, county, and school taxes except for taxes to pay interest on and retire bonded indebtedness. Illinois.-Capital stock and railroad valuations are determined by the Illinois Department of Revenue. Indiana.- Mortgage exemption: Mortgaged real estate is subject to $1,000 exemption on its assessed value. Iowa.-Homestead exemption: Credit of 25 mills (per dollar) is allowed up to $2,500 valuation. Kentucky.-There are 3 classes of property taxed at different rates by the State as follows: Real property, $0.50; tangible personal property, $5; intangible personal property, $2.50 per $1,000 assessed valuation. Louisiana.-Homestead exemption: $2,000 general exemption on owner-occupied resi- Minnesota.-There are 5 classes of property assessed at varying percentages of true Missouri.-Intangible personal property is assessed and the tax thereon collected by the State. Railroads and other utilities are also State assessed but are payable to the county collector. Montana.-State classified property tax law levies are extended against taxable valua- New Jersey.-Household exemption is $100. The estimated ratios of assessed value to Oklahoma.-Homestead exemption: 1st $1,000 of assessed value of homestead exempt Texas.-Homestead exemption: 1st $3,000 of assessed value of homestead exempt from Utah.-Household exemption: $300 maximum exemption allowed on owner-used house- Source: Citizens Research Council of Michigan. Tax Rates of American Cities. Dr. BROWNELL. I think, if I may answer, you have had testimony before this committee which would indicate some of the practices in various parts of the country in regard to that Now, if I may point out this problem of the size of the school district as a problem that we find is an important one in reference to keeping districts from going ahead to build the schools that they need. There are some 63,000 school districts at the present time. Of that number, 11,000 operate no schools. They may have a few children, in which case they are transported to some other school district. Half of the school districts, approximately, 31,000, have less than fifty pupils, and there are some 12,000 school districts where they have 50 to 300 pupils, leaving some 9,000 school districts where there are from 300 to 1500 or more pupils. Now, from the standpoint of providing education, particularly a high school education, you can see that these very small districts are just not in a position where they can provide-I won't say financially, because some of them may have a good deal of wealth, but they certainly have no opportunity to provide an adequate high school for these children. The result is that most of them have to send their children some place other than their own school district for high school education. Under the laws of most of our States, the charge these communities will pay to the other high school district is the operating cost per pupil for that high school pupil. The result is that these small districts do not contribute to the cost of new buildings where their children go. Now, it is true in some States that they do have provisions that outside districts can pay the debt service cost as well as the operating cost per pupil, but any one of these districts that is contemplating construction of a school is very hesitant to go ahead and construct a school that will take care of its own children plus the children in some other district when it knows that it will not be able to receive a part of the debt service cost, the capital outlay cost for those children. That is retarding, therefore, the construction of a good many high schools in this country where they need them, because the local district is unable to afford it itself, and it is unable to work into combination with other districts on a tuition basis. Now, the possibility is either for them to form a larger school district which they all share the cost of, or to have other provisions made, so that the other districts would, in some way, contribute to the cost of the construction of the high school building. That is a problem faced in most of our States; this matter of the reorganization of school districts to make the financing of the schools more equitable, and also more possible by the school district. Senator LEHMAN. To what extent has the policy of creating consolidated school districts for the purpose of erecting high schools been followed in the nation as a whole? Dr. BROWNELL. Well, a great deal has been done along that line. In fact, back in the 1940s, early 1940s, we had 112,000 school districts, so there has been a great deal of progress made in that direction up to the present time. One of the problems, it is true, in some States, is that there are overlapping school districts, where they have one district that is for the ele mentary schools, another district for the high schools, and so on, and that is a troublesome problem when it comes to setting up school construction programs and financing. Senator PURTELL. Some of these States have regional high schools, do they not, where you have two or three school districts in one high school? Dr. BROWNELL. That is one of the common ways in which they are working, some form of a regional or central school, and, of course, the transportation change that has taken place in this country has made that much more possible. Senator SMITH. Dr. Brownell, is there any State-wide movement to try and make these school districts more uniform? There seems to be a wide variation in the different States as to whether they handle this. Dr. BROWNELL. That's right. Senator SMITH. We can't enforce that. This is not a Federal question, that is a State question. There might be some uniformity between the States. Dr. BROWNELL. Well, there is a good deal of uniformity in all phases of education in this country, that comes about through the cooperation of the school people and school boards, on a voluntary basis. Their exchange of information and their working together has meant that this is true. I remember not so long ago talking with a man who is Director of Education in a country where they have a federal system of education, and he had great difficulty in understanding how it was possible for my children, who started their education in Michigan, to move to a school system in Connecticut and then to move to Washington, D. C., and be able to move without difficulty, although all of those communities were independent in the control of their schools, and this uniformity has been brought about not by any compulsion but by the voluntary association of our school people. Chairman HILL. You may proceed. Secretary HOBBY. Thank you, Mr. Chairman. Mr. Chairman and gentlemen of the committee: Dr. Brownell has shown the intricate nature of the problem and the conditions which prevent many districts from building more schools. As you have seen, what one school district can do to meet school construction needs, another may not be able to do. Clearly, different solutions will be required to help the States and local communities meet their varying needs. S. 968 is, we believe, a realistic response to the varying conditions existing in the States and school districts. This is the essence of the bill. It offers alternative financing methods to supplement the usual channels of public school finance, and it provides for Federal-State grants to those districts which need initial financial assistance to make use of one or the other proposed methods of financing. The four titles of S. 968 provide for: I. Purchase by the Federal Government of bonds issued by local school districts to finance school construction when such bonds cannot be sold to the public at reasonable rates of interest. II. Support by the Federal Government, in association with the States, of the bonds issued by State school building agencies estab |