5 6

THE  A  B  C  OF  TAXATION
to  one  of  the  most  important  business  thoroughfares
in  the  heart  of  the  shopping  district  of  Boston,  an
impressive  lesson  in  the  inequalities  of  the  present
system  of  taxation.
In  this  and  the  following  object  lessons  the  valuations, ­
  unless  otherwise  noted,  are  those  of  1907.  The
total  valuations  on  both  sides  of  Winter  Street  including ­
  the  estates  on  the  Tremont  and  Washington  Street
corners  were:

1898

$5,142,600

LAND
$61.57  per  sq.  ft.

$2,681,989  per

acre

1907

8,272,000

97.50  per  sq.  ft.

4,247,100  per

acre

1898

$675,000

BUILDINGS
$8.08  per  sq.  ft.

$  353.836  per

acre

1907

605,200

7  ■  I 3  P er  s q-  ft-310,582

  per

acre

Showing  for  nine  years  an  increase  of  58  per
cent  in  land,  and  a  decrease  of  11  per  cent  in
buildings.
The  assessed  valuation  of  the  estate  at  the  southwest
corner  of  Winter  and  Washington  Streets  (Fig.  I),  was
in  1907,  1557,000,  of  which  $19,400  was  for  buildings.
The  land  alone,  1,955  square  feet,  increased  from
$342,000,  $175  per  square  foot,  in  1898,  to  $537,600,
banquet  in  a  series  of  seventeen  given  by  the  League  during  the  years  1897-1903
to  the  following  bodies:  (1)  Patrons  of  Husbandry;  (2)  Association  of
Massachusetts  Assessors;  (3)  Labour  Organisations;  4)  Massachusetts
Woman’s  Suffrage  Association;  (5)  New  England  Free  Trade  League;
(6)  The  Massachusetts  Clergy;  (7)  Young  Men’s  Christian  Association;
(8)  Boards  of  Charities  and  Corrections;  (9)  Representative  Taxationists;
(10)  Representative  Business  Men;  (n)  Twentieth  Century  Club;  (12)
Real  Estate  Men;  (13)  The  Catholic  Clergy;  (14)  Members  Boston  Merchants’
Association;  (15)  Political  Economists;  (16)  Professional  Economists;  (17)
Landlords  of  Boston,  followed  by  (18)  A  Dinner-Discussion  of  the  Economic
Club  of  Boston,  and  (19)  Lorimer  Hall,  Finale.