The Pittsburgh Graded Tax Plan: Its History and Experience

Appendix of Tables

Table I
City of Pittsburgh - Municipal Tax Rates, 1913 - 60

Year Land
Rate
Building
Rate
1913    .0089    .0089
1914 .0094 .0846
1915 .0102 .00918
1916 .0126 .01088
1917 .0155 .0092
1918 .0145 .0116
1919 .0157 .01099
1920 .019 .0133
1921 .020 .0140
1922 .020 .0120
1923 .020 .0120
1924 .020 .0120
1925 .0195 .00975
1926 .0224 .0112
1927 .0224 .0112
1928 .025 .0125
1929 .025 .0125
1930 .026 .013
1931 .0255 .01275
1932 .0230 .0115
1933 .0206 .0103
1934 .0206 .0103
1935 .0206 .0103
1936 .0206 .0103
1937 .0206 .0103
1938 .0206 .0103
1939 .0206 .0103
1940 .023 .0115
1941 .023 .0115
1942 .0225 .01125
1943 .0225 .01125
1944 .025 .0125
1945 .025 .0125
1946 .028 .014
1947 .028 .014
1948 .028 .014
1949 .028 .014
1950 .028 .014
1951 .028 .014
1952 .033 .0165
1953 .032 .016
1954 .032 .016
1955 .032 .016
1956 .034 .017
1957 .033 .0165
1958 .033 .0165
1959 .037 .0185
1960 .037 .0185


Table II
Assessed Valuation - Land and Buildings - City of Pittsburgh

Year Land Buildings
Total
1914 $480,858,940 $282,069,870
$762,928,810
1915 480,191,010 290,833,300
771,024,310
1916 483,316,070 299,247,850
782,563,920
1917 482,149,040 310,793,800
792,942,840
1918 482,132,590 320,438,820
802,571,410
1919 480,131,130 325,889,600
806,020,730
1920 479,850,740 334,658,810
814,509,550
1921 480,461,700 349,386,420
829,848,120
1922 487,939,620 380,238,310
868,177,930
1923 532,688,420 396,176,380
928,864,800
1924 530,675,130 420,482,780
951,157,910
1925 547,475,280 441,354,840
988,830,120
1926 548,219,170 465,897,650
1,014,116,820
1927 554,616,950 505,396,600
1,060,013,550
1928 573,738,300 535,104,140
1,108,842,440
1929 574,589,080 562,017,070
1,136,606,150
1930 576,882,690 587,781,070
1,164,663,760
1931 590,968,170 617,201,910
1,208,170,080
1932 586,692,810 621,573,310
1,208,266,120
1933 586,380,100 625,257,730
1,211,637,830
1934 566,584,170 614,224,490
1,180,808,660
1935 562,365,560 609,719,210
1,172,084,770
1936 591,172,360 620,695,530 * 1,211,867,890
1937 556,552,050 543,891,880 ** 1,100,143,930
1938 552,691,800 546,169,870
1,098,861,670
1939 551,239,420 547,532,170
1,098,771,590
1940 513,117,520 533,906,340
1,047,023,860
1941 504,089,300 532,013,980
1,036,103,280
1942 498,984,600 532,854,480
1,031,839,080
1943 471,359,772 572,650,892
1,044,010,664
1944 456,030,196 554,171,127
1,010,201,323
1945 430,707,673 549,619,688
980,327,361
1946 421,415,078 541,061,079
962,476,157
1947 419,182,075 542,280,329
961,462,404
1948 414,584,807 557,368,549
971,953,356
1949 413,682,935 567,399,829
981,082,764
1950 412,663,176 577,131,134
989,794,310
1951 412,528,625 605,357,129
1,017,885,754
1952 409,837,170 618,976,086
1,028,813,256
1953 414,326,522 650,846,910
1,065,173,432
1954 412,629,034 695,063,971
1,107,693,005
1955 411,613,575 701,224,268
1,112,837,843
1956 403,829,072 712,167,076
1,115,996,148
1957 407,382,041 723,109,910
1,130,491,951
1958 412,403,924 733,310,951
1,145,714,875
1959 405,182,700 744,505,304
1,149,688,004
1960 424,652,123 777,149,801
1,201,801,924
* Includes Public Utilities Valuations, $41,019,540
** Does not include same




Table III
Tax Savings, 1960 - Office Buildings And Hotels

Property Flat
Tax
Rate
Graded
Tax
Tax
Savings
United States Steel Building $369,821.50 $308,376.87 $61,444.63
Gateway Centers Buildings 1-2-3 452,028.40 400,946.09 51,082.31
Alcoa Building 201,847.00 165,533.56 36,313.44
Gateway Center Building No. 4 183,080.25 150,708.77 32,371.48
Gulf Building 127,679.75 112,746.03 14,933.72
Grant Building 103,215.10 88,673.53 14,541.57
Koppers Building 117,210.00 102,558.08 14,651.92
Porter Building 84,300.00 73,482.00 10,818.00
Bell Telephone Company Building 117,205.00 95,704.20 21,500.80
Law and Finance Building 22,075.00 19,129.00 2,946.00
Investment Building 17,051.75 14,414.09 2,637.66
Union Bank Building 26,400.00 24,161.00 2,239.00
Remington-Rand Building 19,734.25 17,440.69 2,293.56
Commonwealth Building 25,533.37 24,184.50 1,348.87
Benedum-Trees Building 9,915.00 8,846.70 1,068.30
Hilton Hotel 173,338.75 146,455.25 26,883.50
Carleton House Hotel 116,852.25 105,765.00 11,087.25
Sherwyn Hotel 29,903.50 28,106.68 1,796.82
Pittsburgher Hotel 24,591.75 23,730.69 861.06
Fort Pitt Hotel 20,215.00 19,343.60 871.40


Table IV
Tax Savings, 1960 - Manufacturing Plants and Warehouses

Property Flat
Tax
Rate
Graded
Tax
Tax
Savings
Jones & Laughlin Steel Corporation $298,643.12 $272,008.64 $26,634.48
H. J. Heinz Company 166,426.75 135,088.30 31,338.45
Duquesne Brewing Company 58,487.00 45,702.22 12,784.78
Blaw-Knox Corporation 37,168.13 33,073.93 4,094.20
Rieck Dairy Company 30,717.88 26,560.36 4,157.52
Williams & Company, Inc. 23,786.93 14,785.02 9,001.91
Armstrong Cork Company 17,266.87 10,843.67 6,423.20
Joseph Horne Company Warehouse 32,217.50 26,183.05 6,034.45
Kroger Company Warehouse 28,566.25 25,516.13 3,050.12
Westinghouse Electric & Mfg. Co. 13,305.00 11,746.02 1,558.98
Federal Cold Storage Company 18,901.75 17,236.82 1,664.93
North Pole Ice Company 10,311.50 8,926.42 1,385.08
National Casket Company 11,797.25 10,537.41 1,259.84
Graybar Electric Company 10,119.00 9,138.63 980.37
Hubbard & Company 14,179.88 13,249.52 930.36
Galveston Corporation 8,232.50 7,340.80 891.70
Allis-Chalmers Company 23,343.75 22,824.37 519.38
Beatrice Foods Company 8,021.37 7,063.39 957.98
National Biscuit Company 2,049.50 1,878.86 170.64
Pittsburgh Tin Ware Mfg. Co. 2,231.2 f 2,017.42 213.83


Table V
Tax Savings, 1960 - Apartments And Clubs

Property Flat
Tax
Rate
Graded
Tax
Tax
Savings
Bigelow Apartments $63,948.75 $54,642.52 $ 9,306.23
Park Plaza 56,159.38 45,136.30 11,023.08
University Square 31,474.42 25,306.22 6,168.20
Fairfax Apartments 22,875.00 18,315.00 4,560.00
Royal York Apartments 24,954.75 19,079.79 5,874.96
Noble Manor 35,014.75 30,904.25 4,110.50
Chatham Village 32,059.00 28,138.50 3,920.50
Park Mansions 17,615.00 14,962.80 2,652.20
Center Court Apartments 22,218.75 18,361.25 3,857.50
Negley Apartments 7,945.00 7,068.35 876.15
Royal Gardens 13,598.75 12,174.85 1,423.90
Fifth-Neville Apartments 9,523.70 8,026.13 1,497.57
Morewood-Fifth Apartments 15,776.25 14,311.60 1,464.65
Amberson Gardens 33,670.00 29,217.05 4,452.95
Royal Windsor Apartments 7,450.75 6,049.68 1,401.07
Ruskin Apartments 19,974.00 16,496.08 3,477.92
Forbes-Craig Apartments 8,463.00 6,691.32 1,776.18
University Club 13,728.00 11,973.94 1,754.06
Twentieth Century Club 7,696.26 6,154.95 1,541.31
King Edward Apartments 7,575.00 6,179.00 1,396.00


Table VI
Tax Savings, 1960 - Homes

Property Ward Flat
Tax
Rate
Graded
Tax
Tax
Savings
1310 Beechwood Blvd. (14) $ 595.00 $ 529.10 $65.90
6865 Penham Place (14) 427.50 371.85 55.65
5564 Aylesboro Ave. (14) 1,927.00 1,871.46 55.54
1310 Inverness St. (14) 618.75 573.50 42.25
510 Glen Arden Drive (14) 375.00 333.00 42.00
1106 Goodman St. (14) 237.50 181.30 56.20
450 S. Dallas Ave. (14) 304.37 282.12 22.25
5558 Aylesboro Ave. (14) 880.00 867.65 12.35
5529 Dunmoyle St. (14) 366.37 357.23 9.14
5817 Wayne Road (11) 355.00 331.15 23.85
904 Wellesley Road (11) 225.00 203.50 21.50
4341 Andover Terrace (5) 126.25 94.35 31.90
2535 Alliquippa St. (5) 162.50 128.75 23.75
2051 Frankella Ave. (13) 160.00 137.82 22.18
8357 Perchment St (13) 149.50 128.76 20.74
1313 Oakridge St. (19) 117.50 98.05 19.45
535 Woodbourne Ave. (19) 153.75 131.75 15.00
3009 Mt. Allister Road (26) 201.00 169.83 31.17
109 Belplain St. (29) 239.75 197.58 42.17
2005 Dowling Road (29) 163.75 131.35 32.40


Table VII
Business Properties Paying Higher Taxes Under Graded Tax, 1960

Property Graded
Tax
Flat
Rate
Tax
Tax
Increase
200 Fifth Avenue $30,210.50 $21,600.00 $8,610.50
212 Fifth Avenue 4,184.70 2,902.50 1,282.20
225 Fifth Avenue 5,920.00 3,894.00 2,026.00
226-28 Fifth Avenue 6,972.65 5,007.25 1,965.40
237-39 Fifth Avenue 7,252,00 5,112.50 2,139.50
256 Fifth Avenue 18,315.00 12,750.00 5,565.00
310 Fifth Avenue 29,674.00 21,807.50 7,866.50
319-21 Fifth Avenue 15,605.12 11,648.50 3,056.62
514 Grant Street 2,221.85 1,620.00 601.85
631 Smithfield Street 2,244.05 1,597.50 646.55
520-22 Wood Street 3,552.00 2,550.00 1,002.00
230-34 Diamond Street 5,476.00 3,950.00 1,526.00
311 Fourth Avenue 3,953.30 2,985.00 970.30
627 Liberty Avenue 3,071.00 2,200.00 871.00
901 Penn Avenue 2,294.00 1,800.00 494.00
3702 Forbes Avenue 940.72 688.12 252.60
58362 Forbes Avenue 1,726.60 1,341.62 384.98
6001 Penn Avenue 10,915.00 7,900.00 3,015.00
502 Federal Street 1,184.00 900.00 284.00
504-06 Federal Street 2,166.16 1,698.00 468.16


Table VIII
Other Downtown Buildings Having Tax Savings

Commonwealth Building
Plaza Building
Jones Law Building
Manor Building
Century Building
Bessemer Building
House Building

Other Downtown Buildings Having Greater Building Value

Penn-Sheraton Hotel
Commerce Building
Federal Reserve Bank Building
Keystone Building
Oliver Building
Empire Building
Keenan Building
Peoples Bank Building
Frick Building
Berger Building
Clark Building
Stanley Theatre
Gimbels Store
Roosevelt Hotel
Joseph Horne Company Store
Harris Theatre
First National Bank Building
McCann Store Building

(Above properties show no net tax savings, but higher land taxes are largely offset by lower building taxes on major portion of the real estate assessment.)



Some Magazines Reporting on Pittsburgh and Its Redevelopment

Saturday Evening Post, August 3, 1946; June 9, 1956
Commonwealth, September, 1947
Pittsburgh Bulletin Index, January, 1948
Business Week, March 12, 1949; June 21, 1952; April 2, 1955
Greater Pittsburgh, April, 1949
National Geographic, July, 1949
Time, October 3, 1949
Architectural Forum, November, 1949
The American City, July, 1950
Town and Country, August, 1950
Harper's, January, 1951; August, 1956
The Atlantic Monthly, May, 1951
Fortune, June, 1952
The Spectator (London), December 19, 1952
Real Estate, March, 1953 ; January, 1960
Collier's, May 30, 1953
USA, Tomorrow, October, 1954
National Municipal Review, March, 1955
Reader's Digest, May, 1955
Liberty Magazine, February, 1956
Life, May 14, 1956
Look, January 8, 1957
The Nation, February 8, 1958
Holiday, March, 1959
Engineering News-Record, November 19, 1959
Esquire, September, 1960
Newsweek., October 24, 1960