214
DÜSSELDORF.
By the law of Prussia incomes not exceeding £45 are exempted from the
State income-tax, and in Düsseldorf this exemption has since 1901 applied also
to the communal income tax, which is 140 per cent, of the State tax. The
amount of direct taxation which falls on small incomes is therefore as
follows :—
Income Groups
State
Income-Tax.
£45 to £55 10s.
£52 10s. to £60
£60 to £67 10s.
£67 10s. to £75
£75 to £82 10s.
£82 10s. to £90
£90 to £105 ...
£ s. d.
0 6 0
0 9 0
0 12 0
0 16 0
110
16 0
111 0
Municipal
Income-Tax.
£ S. d.
0 8 4#
0 1% 7f
0 16 91
1 4 4f
1 9 41
1 16 41
2 3 5
Total.
£ s. d.
0 14 4f
1 1 7J
1 8 9i
2 0 41
2 10 41
3 2 41
3 14 5
The aggregate number of State income-tax payers in 1905 was 60,965, and
of these 54,187 or 88*88 per cent, paid on incomes not exceeding £150, their taxes
forming 22*09 per cent, of the whole. The persons paying on incomes between
£45 and £52 10s. numbered 18,689, or 30*6 per cent, of the whole, those
paying on incomes between £52 10s. and £60 numbered 16,018 or 26*2 per
cent., between £60 and £67 10s. 5,261 or 8 6 per cent,, between £67 10s. and
£75 3,894 or 6*4 per cent., between £75 and £82 10s., 1,834 or 3 per cent.,
and between £82 10s. and £90, 2,281 or 3*7 per cent.
The supply of working-class dwellings at Düsseldorf has for some time
been in excess of the demand, with the result that rents are stationary and
building operations on any large scale have temporarily ceased. Nevertheless,
the housing question is regarded as an urgent one, and both the municipality
and philanthropic associations have incurred considerable expenditure in the
provision of healthy and commodious tenement dwellings for people of small
means. The town has erected about 150 such dwellings, which are tenanted
almost exclusively by workpeople and officials employed in public services.
The majority (84) consist of three rooms, the rents of which range from £12 60*.
to £21 6a. per annum, but 43 are tenements of two rooms, let at from £10 to
£14 2s. ; the remainder of the houses are of four rooms. The property is well
built, and the internal arrangements are superior in convenience to those met
with in private property of the same class.
The Düsseldorf Building and Savings Society (Bau- und Sparverein) has
also done good work in the same direction during the few years of its existence,
though it has a far more ambitious programme on hand. The association was
formed for the purpose of erecting workmen’s dwellings by means of money
offered on loan by the Old Age and Invalidity Insurance Board for the Rhineland,
and 39 blocks containing some 300 tenements have been built in various
parts of the town. The plan of building followed admits of every dwelling
being cut off from the landing by a separate corridor, thus securing greater
privacy than is possible when living rooms are entered direct from the landing.
Each block has from six to eight tenements of two or three rooms, exclusive of
separate larders, attics, cellaring, and washing and drying loft for common use.
Many of the houses have balconies either in front or at the back, and each block
has a large piece of garden ground for the use of the tenants. The kitchens of
two typical two-roomed houses have dimensions as follows:—Length, 15 feet
5 inches and 15 feet 7 inches respectively; width, 15 feet 2 inches and 11 feet
7 inches ; height, both 13 feet. The bedrooms of the same houses are of the
following dimensions :—Length, 15 feet 10 inches and 15 feet respectively ;
width, 11 feet 8 inches and 10 feet 10 inches, and height 13 feet. Whatever the
type of house and whatever the situation, the rents are uniform at the rate of
9s. per room per month for parterre, and 9s. 6d. for the first and second floors.
Attic rooms are let when desired for extra sleeping accommodation at 3s. per
month each.
. Each dwelling is let by formal contract, by which the tenant binds himself
to observe certain regulations embodied in a “ House Order,” to keep the
