Gainesville daily sun., 1909-08-08
PUBLIC EXPENDITURES.


creasing In recent years Is the theme
Of grave discussion at present in the
three leading countries in Europe
Great Britain. Germany and France,
as well as the United States. The
American taxpayer who may feel
trifie disgruntled by the modest levy
OF one per cent upon corporation
earnings in the new tariif bill will
find food for thought In persuing the
proposals which are pending in Eu'
rOpean parliaments for increasing
taxes TO find necessary revenue, says
The Wall Street Journal.
In Great Britain expenditures have
advanced from Es6.OOO.OOO in 1890 to
nearly fl5O.O00,OOO for the current
year. Il Is not surprising that the
new death duties tax estates OF over
s., ,O00, 900 at the rate Of Is per cent
and tax incomes OF 100000 and up
ward more than eight per cent. Such
proposals. with the proposed levy ON
the unearned increment Of increase I'm
land values, have inevitably aroused
a storm In English financial circles.
but the sardonic reply OF the Govern
ment Is I'm effect that the money must
be found to provide for new Dread
naughts and that Il is the rich who
must find IL.
Germany's consolidated debt stands
at over one thousand millions of dol
lars, on which the interest charge is
about 36.OOO.OOO annually. The an
nuai budget of the empire. which was
about slSO, ,OOO,O 900 In 1858. was $780,.
200 900 In 1885 and $600.OOO. 900 in
1908. In 1908 the expenditures for
the army and navy and kindred pur-
poses had risen to $24O. .O00.0 900, or
more than the entire expenditure for
all purposes twenty years before. IL
Is not surprising that deficit Of $l5,-
OO0. 900 confropts the government and
that the Chancellor of the Exchequer
Is planning to impose new taxes which
will yield sl2O,OOO,O0O annually.
Among the taxes already proposed Is
one upon the transfer OF securities,
which imposes a cumulative tax for
the period during which the security
mas not changed ownership. The
taxes ON the capital and the transfer
Of securities impose such fetters upon
the German market that they reduce
in a large degree the income derived
from fixed investments.
In France the economist, Leroy
Beaulleu, ends additional cause tor
anxiety in the fact that increased ex-
penditure 10 not sustained by increas-
ing population, as in the case OF
Great Britain and Germany. lie
points out that between 1897 aud 1903
the population OF the United Kingdom
increased from about I0.O0OOO0 10
I5, ,O00. 900, and Germany advanced
from 54.0OO,O 900 inhabitants To $4,000.
900. while unhappy France in the
same lapse Of time increased her popu'
lation by only 100000. The French
budget Of 1897 called for about $780,.
O0O, 600: that OF 1910 calls for $685.
O0O, 900. France for the first time is
seriously threatened with the income
tax, which has not heretofore been
imposed as such. although heavy bur
dens have been laid upon wealth In
various forms and It's transfer from
hand to hand. The reason for these
difficulties in France the French
writer finds in the reckless waste in
the civil service rather than In the
larmy and marine, which absorbed
only 2s3.OOO.OO0 francs OF the In
creased outgo OF 737, 100000 francs
He declares that II matters continue
Ito 90 on as In the past the country
will be overwhelmed and that in the
effort to throw the burden upon the
comfortable classes they will be
crushed and the entire country viii
suffer the reflex action OF their disas
ter.
In the United States Secretary Cor
telyou sounded the warning in his last
annual report Of an increase Of dis
bursements from s259. 100000 in 1855
to s659, 100000 in 1908. Fortunately
We are advancing in wealth and popu
latiOn even more rapidly perhaps than
Great Britain and Germany and II