ASCHAFFENBURG.
68
The income tax is the only tax which falls on the working classes, and it
falls lightly owing to a system of graduation which relieves small incomes. At
present the super-tax levied for local purposes is 140 per cent, of the State
income tax, so that wage earners pay taxes as follows :—
Class.
Income.
£25 or less
Over £25
but not over £37 10s.
£37 10s.
£45
£52 10s.
£60
£70
£80
£90
£45
£52 10s.
£60
£70
£80
£90
£100
State Income
Tax.
S. d.
0 6
6 0
8 0
10 0
Municipal
Super-tax.
s. d.
0 8&
1 5
2 9&
4 2&
5 74
7 0
8 4§
11 2&
14 0"
Total.
s. d.
?
!
12 0
14 4|
19 2%
24 0
There is no absolute exemption, since the local franchise is dependent upon
the payment of taxation.
There is a good deal of speculative building at Aschaffenburg, for banks
and other loan agencies freely advance money on first mortgage at 4 per cent,
and these credit facilities are largely used. Such owners count on living rent
free by the letting of a couple of houses. A net return of 6 per cent, is
obtained without difficulty. Thus in one case investigated a house of three
tenements rented at £2 14^. per month together gave the owner £6 Is. 3d.
per cent, upon his purchase money after the payment of repairs and water rent,
and a larger property, whose three tenements were rented at £3 12s. per month,
yielded £6 4s. per cent, after the same deductions. So far neither the
municipality nor the philanthropic employer has seriously invaded the private
builder’s domain. The town owns but a few dwellings, and they are intended
for officials only. One of the larger firms of paper manufacturers owns twenty
houses, divided into tenements of three and four rooms, which are let to the
workpeople at the reduced rent of 18s. a month. Each tenant has also a small
garden plot. The houses were bought standing, however, and were not built
as an experiment in housing reform.
The municipal authority exercises a systematic though not over-rigorous
form of house inspection by means of a Housing Commission which was called
into existence in 1901. The members consist of the President of the Building
Bureau (Bauamt), the local Medical Officer of Health, a legal official, and two
citizens, who are appointed for a period of six years. It is the business of this
Commission to supervise all dwellings of three or fewer rooms, all dwellings in
which lodgers are received for payment, all professional lodging-houses, and
such others as may for special reasons need oversight. In the event of abuses
being discovered the offenders are first " admonished,” then “ warned,” andonly
in bad cases are severer measures resorted to, for the .Commission is a
tentative institution and it prefers the velvet glove method of reformation.
Retail Prices.
The prices of ordinary groceries of the kind comprised in the term
“colonial produce” naturally do not differ materially between town and town.
It is in respect of country produce that Aschaffenburg complains of high prices.
Its own rural “ Hinterland ” does not provide the requisite supplies, for in the
Spessart region kitchen gardening is not extensively followed, the peasants
beino- too much engrossed in industrial employments, and the market is largely
supplied from other towns, like Schweinfurt and Würzburg. Moreover
Aschaffenburg suffers from the propinquity of Frankfort, which attracts
supplies that should naturally remain in Bavaria. On the whole, however, it
cannot be said that prices in. Aschaffenburg are high. Taking predominant
prices in Berlin as 10Ò, the Aschaffenburg index numbers are. 98 for groceries
and dairy produce, 102 for meat, and 99 for these two groups combined. The
