The Bennington evening banner. (Bennington, Vt.) 19??-1961, 1922-07-29
STATE TAXES. ETC.


State Auditor Benjamin Gates last
winter predicted dollar state tax
next year but after seeing the July ! |
figures covering state income and ex'
pendture Mr.. Gates reyises his est |
mate and declares that the present
income of the state will cover ex
penses and leave small balance IN
the state treasury.
This does not mean that there will
be any reduction in state taxes for
the assessment mis- year Is 60 cents
,on a dollar and this assessment ie|
enough to raise near,y two million
dollars in addition to the great indi'
rect revenue otherwise collected.
Two years ago the state was fool
ed by q report claiming Eat there
was a considerable surplus in the
state treasury, when in fact there
was nothing of the kind There was
as always balance of uneXpended
money but all of IL had been appropri-
ated and was merely awaiting its
cal. There was no surplus then and
there will be none now and the legis
laturo next winter can be confident
ly expected to assess a state tax as
usual.
Lieutenant Governor A. w. Foote,
who is a candidate for governor has
repeatedly put forward the claim that
no direct tax is necessary but in the
opinion of the banner it is better
that the state revenues be quite
largely collected by direct state tax
rather than by indirect as the direct
tax brings rome to the people bet
ter idea OF what they are called upon
to pay.
In this connection it seems to the
Palmer that both candidates for gov
ernor are offering rather trivial rem
edies to overcome the extravaganza
which exists in nearly every depart
ment of the Vermont government
They have had before them a
splendid Opportunity to offer a rea-
&nable plan of rotrenchment but
they have actually neither proposed
nor endorsed remedy that will have
more than slight effect.
This extravagant expense of Yer
mont is not all due to the lack
of a budget system, to the number .!
commissions nor to the special ap
preparations. The spending of Yer
mont money for little in return is
done chiefly by a few departments
which have built up big bureaus &c
do business that was better done a
few years ago with less than one
quarter of the present overhead.
The worst offenders are the de
sDartment of education and the depart
tment of highways. These two car
{ be easily reduced 100000 year ant
1 Irobab.y $l50,OO0 without the leas
etrment to the services. Follow
sgr as fast as it can in the footsteps
vi these is the new county healtl
!S&btlicer arrangement which is an ex
pensive failure 1t has taken away
the health officers in most of thu
i towns and gives TEEN nothing in re
turn except a county health officer Sc
far away that he cannot be reached
| when needed
The Palmer is inclined to suspec
that the fish and game department
needs watching and that there arr
already few men on the pay rol
who are not doing much to earn thei
money but this department has no
yet gone so far astray as the others
/ What the state needs is a firm!
sauad-not to shoot the accused
against a blank wall at sunrise bu
to shoot them off the state pay roi
even if it does hurt the feelings of
few chronic salary hunters who havt
been supported by the state of Yer