The Tupelo journal., 1916-03-03
Salient Facts of Mississippi's Financial
Condition

Condition
In this letter / will attempt to set out a con-
else statement of the financial situation as it
affects finances of the state.
From the table below it will be seen that
the state has been running short in receipts
from it's sources of revenue, and at each session
of the legislature for several sessions a two
years deficit in current expenses must be pro-
vided for. There are only two ways to prevent
a deficit in the state treasury and those are:
First, to increase the tax levy, or, second, to
increase the values of the taxable property by a
raise in the valuation. The first of these can
only bedone by the Legislature, which has all
along refused to do so, keeping the tax levy at
six mills on the dollar. The second proposition
is in the hands of the people who own the prop
erty and list it and value it for taxation, and
the eighty boards of supervisors of the state
who review these assessments. Quite a num-
Der of the counties have followed the policy of
making a low valuation of the property which
keeps the money out of the state treasury and
thus relieves the counties from any of the bur-
den Of supporting the states machinery and its
Institutions. For county purposes, the boards
of supervisors in these counties fix a high rate
and thus get money to run their county affairs
while at the same time they are avoiding any
responsibility which rests upon them in sup
porting the state government. There are about
twenty of these counties in the state. The table
below sets out the conditions that usually arise
at each session OF the legislature. The item of
bond redemption of $500, 900 is to refund the
bonds for that amount which were sold in 1906
to run ten years and falls due on the first of
July this year.
This is the situation which confrontS us:
States average ordinary disbursements,
based on 1914 and 1916, are .--~-~--- 50, $50, 163.O 90
Annual ordinary income is (average) .~~ 1904, 28S 90
#t c 445, 875 90
To which must be added, on account of
reduced assessment, and consequent
loss of income, approximately ~--- 1000. 90
Making an annual deficiency for 1916 II of S 570,875.0O
Deficiency for 1915 reduced by cash on
hand Oct l, 1915 u.m..-..m.-. PSI, 1862. 90
Leaving deficiency for 1916, approximately 5 sos, 1900
provided averages of income and dis @
burseYaents shown above be not changed)
To thisf must be added redemption of
bonds July 1, 1916 -~--- 5000 90
Making amount to be provided for 1916
at least 8O8, O13.O 90
Normal deficiency for 1917 --.~-~ -~ 5O,s75.O 90
Total deficit outstanding to be provided
for at this session for 1916-17---- 81, 379, $500
The state, under past conditions, has been
wholly at the mercy of the eighty boards of
supervisors of the respective counties in its
Efforts 20 raise the necessary revenue TO meet
current expenses. The legislature has been
powerless under our revenue system to prevent
this condition. To correct the evil it has been
necessary to devise some means of meeting this
unusual condition. The legislature realizes the
fact that if the boards of supervisors have au-
thority to lower assessments and did so to a
point where the state failed to get its necessary
revenue, there must be some higher authority
that would be able to increase assessments in
order to give the state money enough to run on.
For instance, last fall the board of supervisors
of Lauderdale county at their meeting to equal
ize the taxes of the county, issued a blanket
order reducing the entire assessment of the
county twenty per cent, thus cutting off from
the state one-fifth of the revenue from that
county. If the board of supervisors can reduce
the assessment twenty per cent. by a blanket
order, the Legislature decided that there should
be authority vested in somebody to raise this
assessment the twenty per cent. cut and add
thereto any other per cent. necessary to bring
that %county's state revenue up to the point of
meeting it's just obligations to the state. To
meet this end, Representative Kyle, of Pamela
county, introduced a bill creating a State Board
of Equalization. There shall be one from each
of the three Supreme Court districts who shall
receive a salary of So, 500 per annum and the
necessary travelling expenses. 1t will be their
duty to visit any county in their district or in
the state where the county's assessment fails to
show up on a parity with the counties in its i'm
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