Arizona republican., 1905-09-18
ISLAND FINANCE Monetary Conditions in
 Porto Rico HER INTERNAL REVENUES
The Methods of Their Collection and the Manner of Their Disposition. Municipal Governments and How Their Finances are Handled.

Washington, Sept. 1.-The bureau
 of the census has just issued as bulle- I tin 24 a discussion of insular and mu- 1 nicipal finances in Porto Rico for the l fiscal year 19O2-3. The bulletin was written by MT William F. WilIocghby
 treasurer of Porto Rico. and consti-
 tUtes a portion of the general inquiry
 into wealth, debt, and taxation now | being conducted by the bureau of the | census.
 INSULAR FINANCE.
 Porto Rico is not subject to the in l ternal revenue system of the United i States, but has power to devise one of 1 its own, and also to impose such oth- | CT taxes as t deems advisable. On | January 31, 1901. the insular legisla- ! ture passed an act completely revis- | ing the financial system of the island. 1 This new revenue law provided for 1 five distinct taxes: CD A general ] property tax upon real and personal ! property in the island; (2) a system of
 excise taxes upon liquors, tobacco, and ! certain other articles and upon certain documents; (3) an inheritance tax; | (4) tax upon surety and insurance companies; and (5) a special license tax upon foreign corporations doing business in the island. The details l connected with these taxes are very ! interesting, there being many progress sive arrangements both in the levying and in the collecting of them. It is noteworthy that the government re-
 ceives interest on deposits of public
 funds.
 The greater portion of the proceeds
 of the insular revenue laws Is assign
 ed to an account or fund known as
 ''insular revenues" from which is paid
 most of the expenses of maintaining
 the insular government. Some receipts
 are assigned for meeting specified ex- penses and outlays. or to the trust
 funds" of which there are six. as fol-
 lows: CD Insular public improvement
 trust fund; CD insular harbor i'm
 prOvement trust fund; (3) insular tel
 egraph trust fund; (D municipal rev
 enue trust fund; (5) private deposits
 trust fund; and (6) teachers pension
 trust fund. The insular public inn
 provement trust fund consists of the
 money transferred to the treasury of
 Porto Rico by the federal government, as described above and can be used
 only for public Improvements, etc. The municipal revenue trust fund arises from the fact that the insuIar govern ment in collecting its general property tax at the same time collects the tax levied on the same property by the municipalities
 The receipts and expenditures of the | insular treasury for the fiscal year ending June 30, 1903, are presented in | this bulletin in accordance with the l census classification in the report re- lating to the finances of municipali- | ties. These facts are of especial in l terest- At the beginning of the fiscal | year the insular treasury was charged | with s1,35S, ,46S.S6, of which amount | S1.O43,S6S.46 stood to the credit of va | rious trust funds, leaving a balance of | S314,600.40, constituting the real bal l ance of the insular treasury available | for the purpose of meeting ordinary current expenses. During the year there was paid into the treasury a to- tai of s3,527, ,406.4S. of which S2,502.- 6S1.07 was on account of insular rev enues proper and $1.O24725.41 on ac- count of trust funds. The treasurer had, therefore, at the end of the fiscal year to account for a total of S4,SS5,- S75.34. of which S2.817, ,281.47 was on account of insular revenues and S2 ,06S, ,593.S7 on account of trust funds. There was paid out during the year a total of s3.6OO, ,S32.1S, of which $2,472,- 910-S9 was on account of insular ex- pendltureS proper and Sl,1ZG, ,Sbl-29 on account of insular expenditures from trust funds. This left a balance of $1, 2S5,043.16, made up of S344,310.5S on account of insular revenues and $94O.- 732.58 on account of trust funds, which constituted the balance with which the insular treasury began the new fiscal year of 19O3-4.
 The great bulk of the revenues is from the three items of eX- else stamp sales, customs receipts, and general property taxes. In respect to expenditures, the two largest items are for the department of education and the bureau of public works.
 MUNICIPAL GOVERNMENT.
 The municipal government of Porto Rico differs greatly from that of the United States in that the municipali- ties do not consist of cities in our sense of the word but of combinations of urban centers and outlying dis tricts. The island is divided into 46 of these municipalities. Over each there is a mayor and a municipal the former receiving a small salary. The powers and duties of these municipal governments are in general those pertaining to local gov srnment, but there are some impOr- tant exceptions. The insular govern ment has practically the entire charge of maintaining public order etc. and Is also responsible for matters of ed rcation and public roads. The man 1 lgement of schools and public roads l'- Is partly in the hands of local bodies elected by public vote, but separate from the municipal councils. The ex-