The Lee County journal. (Leesburg, Ga.) 1904-19??, 1923-11-16
U. S. SPENDS HUGE
SUM TO RULE US
Cost Of Governing Has Doubled
in Last 10 Years.
S1OO PER CAPITA ANNUALLY

! Government is now costing approx
I mately 500 year for each man, wom-
sn and child in the United States.
Compilations being made by the
United States census bureau at Wash
ington as to federal, state, municipal
and county taxes have progressed sufi-
GENTLY to warrant the broad statement
that the average per capita cost of
government Of all kinds in this cour-
try Is about 500 annually.
II this cost were spread evenly over
the 110,000,000 Inhabitants Of the Unit
ed States, there would be many fam
lilies whose entire earnings would be
taken for government alone, leaving
nothing for food, clothing, housing and
the other necessities Of life. Many
have a total income Of $500 a year,
which would be It's cost for government
on a stralghtout per capita basis.
i Enormous Local Increases.
Figures now in the hands Of the
census bureau officials show enormous
increases in local taxation, state and
municipal duling the last decade. The
latest figures are for the year 1922,
but those serve to show that in the last
ten-year period state taxes have more
, than doubled, while the municipal taxes
of many cities have trebled. Complete
figures are available for seven states
and about fifty of the largest cities.
Most Of the cities run around $50
per year, but a lower per capita cost
of county government to persons liv
ing in the country tends to cut down
the average throughout the nation.
Senator Reed Smoot Of Utah, known
as "the watch dog Of the treasury"
and the Statistical wizard OF con-
gress," because he has specialized on
money problems of the United States,
both in the appropriations of billions
of dollars annually and the collection
Of revenue to make the payments pos
sible, says that the people Of this coun-
try have several weapons in their
hands which may be used in beating
down the ever-mounting costs Of gov
eminent. Here are the major points
Of the program he outlined:
Puts Budget System First.
LIMITED support Of the American
people for the budget system, even
though it means the loss of an appro-
priation for some particular thing the
community is interested in. The bud
get has accomplished great economies
in the few years it has been in use by
the United States government, but 1t
will stand or fail according to the
support it receives from the people.
Adoption of constitutional
amendment to prohibit further i6Su-
ance of all tax-exempt securities. Sen
ator Smoot holds that the present
system not only allows the wealthy
to escape their fair share Of the finan-
cial burden of government by putting
their money into taX-eXempt securl-
ties, but the favorable market afford
ed such securities is q constant In
centive to state and federal govern
lneutS 10 Spenu.
3-Any new proposal for joint fed
eral-state aid should be rejected out
of hand, no matter how meritorious
1t may seem, according to Senator
/ SmOot. The plan whereby the federal
government matches dollar for dollar
appropriations made by the various
states for good roads and similar i'm
provements is already costing the
United States tens of millions of dol
lars annually, but its worst evil, as
Smoot sees it, lies in the fact it often
encourages states to make expendi-
lures they cannot afford on the false
premise that 1t costs them only half
price.
4-When new propositions for ex-
penditures are advanced, Smoot
would have the fact emphasized to
the taxpayer that in the last analysis
1t is he who pays the bill. To put
the idea in the words OF the Utah
senator, LET the taxpayer ask him
self not just whether it is a worthy
object, but whether it Is worth the
cost"
Effect on Living Cost.
While the tax burden is not distrib-
uted upon per capita basis, the fact
that 500 year goes to government
for every person in the United States
means that it enters into the cost of
living In some form or another for
the rich and poor alike. The present
high cost of living Is attributable in
no small degree to the high cost Of
government.
The analysis Of costs of government
have been completed for Wisconsin,
Rhode Island, New Jersey, Minnesota,
Michigan, Kentucky and Illinois, and
the statisticians are at work on others.
Here are the per capita costs Of
state government: