The San Francisco call. [volume] (San Francisco [Calif.]) 1895-1913, 1911-12-04
Interests ARE
Behind Deficit
CRY, ISCHARGE
Corporations Want Second Exz
ira Session and Lighter
Taxes, Says Nye
Controller Maintains There Was
Never Less Excuse for
Financial Scare
AssembIyman Replies, Declar=
ing State Official Beats
Around Bush"
Especial Dispatch 10 The Call

Especial Dispatch 10 The Call
NAIL HEAPQTARTERs. SACRA-
NMENTO. Dee. 3.-State Controll-
Ter \. s. Nye holds up to thinly
yelled ridicuie Senator Charles
.cutteh. chairman of the finance COM
:: mitteef and Assemblyman ?. +. cogs-
:. well, chairman of the ways and means
committee in statement issued by
him decrying the fears of certain
alarmists that an extra session Of the
. Legislature Will be necessary to pro-
vide sufficient revenue for the main
tenance of the state.
That there viii be no deficit is the
opinion of Nye Even if there should
he a slight deficit he can see no occa-
Sion for alarm, as such things have
happened before without embarrassing
the state In his words. There was
never less excuse for trying to get up d
financial scare lie asserts that the
state viii get enough money to pay
its bills this year and therefore no
one should complain. and that "by
abandoning the ad valorem tax for the
time being the state has lost only what
1t refrained from taking out of the
pockets OF the taxpayers unnecessarily,
(which the taxpayers are likely to re-
gard as being a good sort of loss"
AssembIyman Cogswell merely
laughed when he read Nyes statement.
Views Alike, He Says
"IIe seems to beat the devil around
the bush and not get anywhere at all 2
observed the-Los. Angeles .assemblyman.
IF Nye had carefully read my state
ment he would have seen that my views
were practically the same as his.
did not mention anything about a def
cit this year. and I said, as he now
says. that we must provide more reve-
nue in future"
On his statement Nye intimates that
the prophecies of a second extra ses-
sion were by men whose personal
.. preference would be to abolish some Of
the taxes we already have particu-
Iarly the corporation and license taxes.
and says that even If a deficit OF $780,
600 or 100000 in this years revenues
should occur, it viii be more than
Offset by an increase of $500, 900 in cor
out that the corporation taxes for the
second half Of the fiscal year ending
next June will soon be due and viii
relieve all possible stringency The
statement is in part as follows:
Talk about the necessity for a
second extra session to provide for
more taxes has been induIged
There is no need for any extra ses-
sion, and, if we may Judge from
present appearances, there will be
none. The state treasury is in suf-
fciently good condition to have
more than s7O0,ooOOoo of unused
funds on deposit in the banks. the
second half of the corporations
taxes is due and will soon be called
and there was never less excuse
for trying to get up financial
scare
Revenue Uncertain
Tie present situation is not diff i
ferent from what has been looked
for at any time during the past
year Upon the assembling of the
legislature last January it was rec
ognized by everybody from the gov
ernor down that it was uncertain
how much revenue the new and un-
tried system would produce and
that unless a deficiency tax was
going TO be levied. the appropria-
tions must be kept as small as pos
sible The aggregate amount of
appropriations proposed was un-
precedentedly large. but the brake OF
retrenchment was applied with
some effect as may be seen from
the following comparisons. For the
last four regular sessions the ag-
gregate of appropriations has been
Session of 1905, se,96S, 1895 ses-
sion of 1907. s1LssI,7 ,777os; pei. cent
of increase 1868. Session of 1903,
S13.4O6.9ls.5O; per cent Of Increase
1881. Session OF 1911. Sl4.524,-
002.66; per cent Of Increase, S.33
These figures show that at the regu-
lar session this legislature made quite a
remarkable record for economy by re-
tarding that regular growth Of appro-
priations which goes on from session
TO session, in keeping with the growth
Of the state and it's institutions. But
notwithstanding this. it was not dis
puted by any one, least of all by the
tax commission or the board of equali-
zation. that a deficiency tax might be
required to carry US through the year.
Revenues Sufficient
The revenues in sight proved to be
sufficient to raise the amount named in
the tax levy bin, and so no deficiency
tax was needed
This outcome was more than the tax
~. 1L.a. ....I - - 4 4