OCR Text |
Show GOVERNMENTAL COST IN STATES ON INCREASE Further indication of the increase in local governments is1 given in figures just made public by the- Census Bureau of the Department of Commerce which, show that the governmental cost of the forty-eight forty-eight states has tripled in the last nine years. In only twenty-one of the states wast the revenue in 1924 sufficient suf-ficient to' meet all the payments during the year. Payments in excess ex-cess of receipts were made from the debt obligations. In 1915 the revenue receipts were $458,233,000,000 while in 1924 they had grown to $1,370,000,000. Most of this increase in the state revenues reven-ues came from, increased taxes. A little morel than 60' per cent of the cost of the state governments wasi for operating the various state departments. Outside of this the expenditure of nearly 80 per cent of the remaining revenue was for highway and waterway construction. Thei figures put the total cost of state governments in 1924 at $1,513,628,021 and the comparable figures for 1915 were given as $494,907,000. The gross debt of the states outstanding at the end of 1924 was $1,738,605,571, or $$5.62 per capita, consisting of $1,449,460,355 funded or fixed, $44,949,526 floating. $65,199,-55 $65,199,-55 7 in revenue loans, $33,033,508 outstanding warrants and $ 1 45,-962,625 45,-962,625 in obligations on private trust accounts. A net debt remained of $1,183,467,000, or $10.63 per capita, capi-ta, after making provision for sinking fund assets. The net debt in 1915 was but $424,155,000, or $4.31 per capita. The analysis shows ' that the assessed valuation of property of the states subject to general property taxes amounted in 1924 to $1 31,333,55 7,565, or a per capita of $ 1 , 1 0. The total levy for the government of the states of the general property tax amounted to $368,083, 7$0, or $3.31 per capita. |