US Presidency
1931

FEDERAL GOVERNMENT FINANCE The first requirement of confidence and of economic recovery is financial stability of the United States Government. I shall deal with fiscal questions at greater length in the Budget message. But I must at this time call attention to the magnitude of the deficits which have developed and the resulting necessity for determined and courageous policies. These deficits arise in the main from the heavy decrease in tax receipts due to the depression and to the increase in expenditure on construction in aid to unemployment, aids to agriculture, and upon services to veterans. During the fiscal year ending June 30 last we incurred a deficit of about $ 903,000,000, which included the statutory reduction of the debt and represented an increase of the national debt by $ 616,000,000. Of this, however, $ 153,000,000 is offset by increased cash balances. In comparison with the fiscal year 1928 there is indicated a fall in Federal receipts for the present fiscal year amounting to $ 1,683,000,000, of which $ 1,034,000,000 is in individual and corporate income taxes alone.