Morris tribune., 1900-09-29

Funding tax. 58,60210
i Permanent school. .... 237. 245. sc
General school. .............. Isl, 20
Permanent university. 9.851.14
| General university IS. 500 0q
Internal Improvement. 1890. S,746.34
Internal Improvement land. :. 68,133. 90
/ state institutions. .........f... 99,60719
swamp land. ................ 1883 70
Grain inspection. ........s.. 21,575.2S
All of these funds, except the general
revenue fund, are trust funds in the
j hands of the state treasurer, each fund
/ held for separate and distinct pur-
/ pose; for instance the permanent
school and university funds are de-
rived from the sale of school and uni
i Vers1ty lands and must be permanently
/ invested. This is a constitutional pro-
/ viso. 5y
! True, there was STA, ILL ~ in .theqrey =
enue fund on July 81, but in all proba@y
bll1ty that fund will be oVerdrawn9 on
January first next. All the running ex-,
penses of the state government are
paid out of the revenue fund. The
| heaVy tax collections are all in BY the
| hrst of August, and the revenue fund
viii not be replenished to any great
extent until the railroad taxes COM
mence to come in after Jan. 1. At the
end of every calendar year there is a
deficit in the revenue fund Let me
Illustrate: On Aug. 1, 1897, there was
S5l4,39S.35 in the revenue fund, and on
Dec. 81 of the same year it was over
drawn to the extent of $1S5, 461.21;. on
Aug. 1, 1898, there was $543, 660.29 in the
revenue fund and on Dec. 81 of the
same year it was overdrawn to the
amount of $SO,877.34; on Aug. /, 1899
there was $687,O27.52 in the revenue
fund and on the following December it
was overdrawn in the amount Of
$96, 925.23.
The oyerdraft is provided for by sec
ton S53, Stat. MINI. 1894 Last year /
reduced the tax levy one tenth of az
mill below the rate fixed by the Iegisla-
ture, and this year intend to reduce
the rate still another tenth of a mill
but below that it would not be safe to
go. The increased revenue derived
from railroad, insurance and other cor
porations made it possible to reduce
the tax levy. It would be poor policy
to fix the tax levy so low that there
would not be enough revenue raised to
meet the current expenses of the state.
The time is fast approaching, in my
Judgment, when hardly any direct tax
will be necessary for the support Of the
state government. The taxes derived
from railroad, insurance and other cor
porations will be sufficient to meet all, 4
or nearly all, the expenditures for
purely state purposes. j repeat what I
said in my report to the legislature Of
1895: The modern tendency in taxa
ton by states is to lessen the tax rate
upon realty and derive increased reve-
nue. from taxes upon corporations, in
heritances, etc. Foreign corporations
doing business in this state, and domes-
tic corporations may be required to paw
an annual tax or license into the state
revenue
Tax Laws.
Referring to the matter Of taxation.
! have been firmly convinced for some
years past that our tax laws need re-
vision to the end that the burden of
taxation be more equitably distributed.
Under present conditions persons OF |
small means who can least afford IL
pay more than their proportionate
snare OF the taxes, while many wealthy
ana unscrupulous tax-dodging corpora
tons and individuals escape by paying |
1.-THE Of what they ought to pay. i
am q firm believer in a permanent
BOARD OF tax commissioners for this
state, and shall strenuously recon-
mend IN my next report to the legisIa-
ture the creation of such a board. n
the state of Michigan the board Of tax
commissioners have succeeded "a
placing on the tax rolls this year
$1,000 600 worth of property which
has heretofore escaped taxation.
State Board of Control
81 also believe in a non partisan board
Of control for all the charitable ana
correctional Institutions of the STATE.
Such a board, composed of practical
busin ess men. not mere politicians, de-
Young It's entire time to the care and
; OF state institutions, viewed
ron an economic or humanitarian
stanopolnr' IN my opinion, is highly de-