San Antonio light. [volume] (San Antonio, Tex.) 1911-1993, 1923-03-11

purposes should be provided by the pres
ent session, an extra session would be
necessary to pass regular appropriation
bills.
But now comes new possibility to
add to the worries of the taxpayer. Sup
pose that whatever tax bills the present
Legislature enacts should be regarded by
the governor as being inadequate? The
assumption is that he would call special
session to raise still more revenue-"ad-
ditional" revenue in a double sense.
That possibility is suggested by a
commentator who says that the rates
specified in the tax measures which still
have a chance of becoming laws were
based upon the assumption that the Sat
terwhite tax equalization bill Would pass.
But the Satterwhite bill was defeated.
The conclusion which the commentator
referred to draws is that the aggregate
revenue produced by the tax bills which
the Legislature may enact during the
present session may be insufficient to
meet the states expenses and that if the
governor took this view he would surely
call a special, revenue-raising session.
Thus, the commentator reasons, the
sweet uses of adversely might be ex-
emplified in the reviving of the tax
equalization proposition.
Possibly so. Almost anything seems
possible in the light of recent legislative
developments. But the .fulfillment of
such possibility as the commentator
suggests would only emphasize the fact
that business principles have had no
part in the process whereby the states
financial affairs have fallen into their
present sorry condition.
There has been no cooperation be-
tween the legislative and executive
of the government, and when
the latter branch was called upon to
raise additional revenue there was ap-
no attempt to coordinate the
various plans proposed for performing
hat task. THE LIGHT does not know
whether the tax rates in any of the bills
in the Legislature during the
present session were based upon the as
sumption that the equalization measure
would go through. If the authors OF
hose new ways of raising revenue have
Known. what they were talking about,
t would seem that there was little if
my calculated relationship between the
5atterwhite bill and other tax measures.
If they haven't known, then there
couldn't have been any such relation
ship. Each bill has been presented by its
author as a great revenue:producer, and
when all claims are added the total far
exceeds the highest estimate of the
states needs.
AS matter of fact the amount of
revenue that most of the bills would
raise could not be calculated accurately
the exact amount would appear only
litter all collections had been made, at
he end of the year. However, the
in some cases could be closely
Observation-Disclosures so to enable
he governor and the lawmakers to make
/ working agreement fair to the tax
payers if the problem were undertaken
n business-like way.
But when a legislator introduces a,
AK bill specifying a certain rate, without
having data on production volume of
he commodity to be taxed, the governor
night call for additional revenue meas
Tres on the ground that the ones that
lad already been passed would yield less
han the total amount needed because
hey would place handicap upon in
lustry.