The Cape Girardeau Democrat. (Cape Girardeau, Mo.) 1876-1909, 1893-01-07
STATE FINANCES
The Decrease in the State Rove
lug Discussed.
A Problem for the General Assembly tc
solve-The Expenses OF the State Will
be Greater Than the Revenue
What Can be Dono.

ef. LOUIS. Dec. 2-By reason Of the devel.
opment Of Missouri and the growth Of her In.
terests the demand upou her finances for the
support OF the state government rs Annually
increasing, while the receipts are being de.
creased BY opsfsoon " b, constitutional re
auircrhsrt reducing the stato t,k Whenever an
asssssed valuation q sspoeo.eo should be
sNscbsd. - S
Ia houstitution declares that 'the state Ia,
on property. exclusive cf tho tax nee essary to
pay the bonded debt Of the state. shall not ex.
ceed % cent? on the 500 valuation. and WHEN.
ever the taxable property shall amount to $780,
100000 the rate shall not exceed Is cents"
l. Ia other words, tbs Tram srs Of the constitu-
ton believed that the state would be SO rros-
porous that when the $500. oW, 100 point was
reachsd the receipts for state purposes could
Ne maintained even with q reduction Of taxa
ton. But they neg 'ected to consider the fact
that a statss growth carries with 1t q CORE
sronding increase Of expenditures, and o con
sequcnt necessity for increased revenues
1t is fair to presume that when the constitu.
tiou was adopted. sixteen years ago, the receipts
INTO the treasury were ample to meet all de-
mands. This is proven by the fact that there
have been no deficiencies, except in the matter
OF costs in criminal cases, But the time has
come when increased expenditures appear to
be q necessity, and while the revenues have
bsen ample for state purposes and might still
be sufficient, the constitution requires n large
reduction of taxes In view, therefore, OF the
constitutional requirement, the state board Of
equalization finding the S9O1, 0OoO.u limit
reached in the way Of assessment, proceeded
last spring to declare tho fact, and also the
further fact that the taxes for state purposes
were Of necessity reduced from twenty TO f.-
teen cents
This msds a decided difference in the esti
mated amount Of receipts, and will have an i'm
rortant bearing upon the future OF legi ,lst;on.
In other words. the general assembly will be
competed to 'cut its garment according to the
%clot,," and the cloth will be decidedly narrow.
Tho total amount OF real, personal, railroad
ald telegraph property for 1891 taxes was ST.
12e,'O0. which, NJ on a basis of % cents on the
han lred dollars valuation. yielded q revenue
for state purposes Of 81, 755. "A.
The total amount OF real. personal, railroad
and telegraph property for ls9! taxes was s9ll,-
sel. GO, which on the new asse ssment OF Is
cents yielded q revenue for state purposes OF
only s1,367. fe6. or a Difference in recaipts be-
tween the years 1921 and lsa. Of SIS. 657, ?
Thisneans tha. the rsvenus for sbs ensuing
two years win be s1fss as less tfan FOR the pre-.
] The ssste auditr, inhis report for last year,
says:
csztsunfhe Sf6S voluation on al assessment Of
sslO,0p,00 will not DO sufficient to meet this
transfer Of one-third Of this receipts into the
Teys1us i1Sd sappr9Dri.ted for lsa: by the
port Of public schools and to pay the exp-ns, IS
Of the state government. The Difference be.
tween the taxes raised on this sum at this rate
will b. s39o. AIS less than 20 c ,nts on the 500 on
ssIl,72a,97s The total assassin snt for 1891 taxes.
This iS.A serious problem which must bs
solved. for it will be impossible to meet the d.
mands on the revennc fund with a reduction
OF Ss0.4i5 in the receipts"
In view OF this fact it is proposed to reduoe
the appropriation for the support of the public
schools. or rather to restore it to tho constitu-
tioral limitation Of one fourth Of the total
reyenuo instead OF the existing one third. II
this should b, done by tho general assembly Ii
would saw, to the revenue fund for thu years
1894 about SIZE. 90, which would be availabl,
for other purposes.
With a loss OF thru quarters Of a million
dollars In receipts for two years, what can be
accomplished in the way of supporting the
state government in the way II should be sup
pored' II, state au iitor estimates that the
new receipts viii be sufficient for ordinary
purpoe S. And by ordinary purposes" he
means all those expenditures now rr5vil,d by
law, such as the civil list, assessment and col
lection OF tae %revenu,, contingent funds and
such other expenses as the existing laws direct
shall be incurred and met. But IL it is
desired to rebuild the state university,
or to construct . new wing on
soma one of the state Institutions, that
would be construed as an extraor-
binary expense, and would have to be provided
for accordingly. The appropriations made 10y
the list general assembly for this years 1891 81
were 81. i59. al. against nearly all OF which war
rants have been drawn. or will bs drawn before
the tim. for this lapsing Of the appropriations
occurs, leaving an estimated deficiency OF s3l.-
DO 1t Is reasonable ~tosuppose that the forth
coming general assembly will End it necessary
20 appropriate both in an ordinary and extra
or1iuary way t5 an amount somewhere near
these figures. AMI in that event the necessity
Irises, as il must Inevitably arise, for til, rails.
Ing Of an Additional amount OF revena,.
The appropriations Of the last Legislature
- 40 foI1ovu.