200
DRESDEN.
The figures in this table relate to conditions as they were on the date of
the Housing Census of December 1, 1900 ; but in the opinion of municipal
officers of great practical experience in matters relating to housing in Dresden,
the proportions shown above are not likely to have undergone any material
change in the meantime. A similar census, of which the results have not yet
been published, was undertaken at the end of 1905, and from the material
collected on that occasion the Director of the Municipal Statistical Office has
been good enough to furnish particulars of the rents of 1,502 working-class
tenements consisting of not more than four rooms and distributed over the
17 urban districts into which the town is divided. Of the 1,502 tenements, of
which the rents have been supplied, 955 consist of either three or four rooms.
The tabulation of these gives the following results :—
Predominant Rents of Working-class Dwellings.
Number of Rooms per Tenement.
Three rooms
Four rooms
Predominant Weekly Rents.
3s. 10(7. to 5s. 2d.
4.S. to 5s. 9(7.
This result strengthens the conclusion to which one inclines after observing
a large number of tenements occupied by working-class families in different
parts of the town—viz., that the bulk of such families are housed in good three-
roomed dwellings, or else in inferior four-roomed dwellings for which they pay
little more (and sometimes even less) rent. Taking rent at Berlin as 100, the
corresponding figure for Dresden is 54.
No element of local rates or taxes (except water rate) is included in the
rents given in the foregoing pages, since the occupier of a dwelling is assessed
for his share of the general local burdens, not in his capacity of occupier, but
in his capacity of earner of an income. One of the main branches of municipal
revenue consists of an income tax levied over and above the State Income Tax,
and standing in a fixed ratio to the latter. In Dresden this ratio is 54 per
cent. All incomes exceeding £20 a year are subject to State Income Tax.
The scale of the tax payable on incomes up to £110 per annum is shown
below :—
Class.
la
1
2
3
4
5
6
7
8
9
10
Yearly Income.
Over £20
,, £25
„ £30
,, £35
„ £40
,, £4?
„ £55
,, £62
„ £70
,, £80
,, £95
to £25 ...
„ £30
„ £35 ...
„ £40
„ £47 10s.
10s. to £55
to £62 10s.
10s. to £70
to £80
„ £95
„ £110 ...
Amount of State
Income Tax.
Shillings.
1
2
3
4
7
10
13
16
20
26
36
The amount of a parent’s income assessed for income tax is reduced by
£2 10s. in respect of every child between six and 14 years of age whom he has
to support, so long as the parent’s income does not exceed £155 per annum.
On the other hand, a child who is beyond the school age and helps regularly
at the parent’s trade (otherwise than as an apprentice), even though such child
receives no remuneration, is assumed to be earning the same amount as the
parent would have to pay a stranger for the same services, and income tax has
to be paid on that amount.
From the scale it will be seen that 'a workman earning 20s. a week would
come under Class 5 and pay 10s. a year State Income Tax. The tax (corre
sponding to our local rates) payable by such a man would in Dresden represent
54 per cent, of 10s, or about os. 5d. per annum, that is a little more than id.
a week.