Lower Taxes Draw Business, Panel Advises; Group Recommends Ways Of Lowering Costs in D.C.
The District government should significantly reduce real estate taxes and cut personal and corporate income tax rates so it can attract new employers to the city and keep the ones it has, a broad-based business coalition recommended yesterday.</br></br>The tax recommendations were part of a sweeping series of proposals to improve the District's business climate, which generally is perceived by government officials and business leaders as worse than in surrounding jurisdictions.</br></br>Private-sector leaders long have complained about the high cost of operating in the District, but yesterday's 38-page report is the most comprehensive effort yet undertaken by the District's private sector to identify problems and propose solutions.</br></br>The report was written by the Washington Committee, an ad hoc group of more than 240 people who spent the last three months formulating the recommendations. Though most of the Washington Committee comes from business, members also represented nonprofit organizations and several arms of the District government.</br></br>The tax proposals were accompanied by a call for reductions in the D.C. minimum wage, unemployment benefits and workmen's compensation insurance. To make up for the loss of revenue to the District that the tax proposals would entail, the committee suggested imposition of a tax on residents of other jurisdictions who work in the District.