Milford chronicle., 1926-06-04
JUDGE BOYCE TELLS
OF TAX INCREASE
(continued from first pagel

600 of such bonds making an issue
of State highway bonds aggregating
SS.68O,O0O, which will bring the to-
tai bonded indebtedness of the State
20 $1O,S41,7S5,
The annual interest alone on this
sum at 4 1-2 per centum (some of
the bonds bear a higher rate),
amounts to $487 $50. Add to this the
sum required eacs year for the sink
ing fund necessary to meet the pay
ments of the bonds at or before ma
turity, as they may be called, and
there is imposed upon the Treasury
of the State an annual debt charge,
alone, considerably in excess of a
half million dollars, until payment
of the bonds is begun.
The bonded Indebtedness of Sussex
county, January 1, 1926, was $2,242,-
500, and authority to issue 100000
additionally, making an Indebtedness
of S3.O42, 500. The tax rate in Sussex
county for this year is said to be
S1.35 and it is expected to collect
$685., ,36315 in taxes. Sussex county
very properly seeks to pay current
expenses and debt charges out of re-
ceipts from taxes annually, and Goes
not resort to rowings for such pur-
poses, and thereby create a floating
Indebtedness.
After selling $2OOO,O0O of bonds
authorized, the bonded Indebtedness
of Kent county will be $2,1S5,0 900.
The proceeds from bonds issued and
sold for concrete roads in Kent cOun-
ty is said to be $1,000,000.
From all reports, it would seem
that Kent county IS not meeting cur
rent expenses and debt charges of
the county from receipts of taxes
but is borrowing money to meet such
expenses and charges. 1t is said
that those in authority in Kent
county have already borrowed $40,-
OOO for the current year and will be
Obliged to borrow considerably more
TO meet current expenses up to the
close of the present fiscal year. 1t
is also said that fund of $4,000
which has been accommodating for the
past five years has been practically
exhausted, so that there has been eA-
pended this year approximately $4O,-
coo more thai was raised by taxation
and borrowing.
Mr.. Clements, you suggested in
your address 20 the Grange that
taxes this year will probably lun
short $4,000 Of the actual needs of
the country, and you expressed the
opinion that taxes this year will have
to be increased fifty per csntum in
order to meet the county demands
of the next fiscal year. 1t is now
known fact that the taxes levied last
year were not sufficient to meet the
current expenses of the county and
the debt charges, and that borrow
ings have been resOrted to in order
to meet these demands, therefore it
is self evident that unless the tax
rate is increased this year there will
be a large deficit at the end of the
next fiscal year than will exist at the
end of the present year.
It should be manifest to every in
telligent, thoughtful citizen that the
credit of the county cannot be main
tanned by borrowing money to meet
current expenses and debt charges.
The credit of the county will be i'm
paired if sufficient taxes are not
levied and collected to meet such eX-
penses and charges, and'it will prove
to be a harmful policy to do other
wise. There should be no hesitancy
on the part Of any one in providing
for the payment Of the expenses and
obligations of the county annually as
thew become due from money derlV-
ed from taxes and not from borrow
ings and in this way avoid adding
to the liabilities of the county.
Those in authority should pro-
vide for revenues sufficient to meet
I county expenses and debt charges as
they accrue and thereby make pcs
sible the Iessening Of taxes.
1 understand that the debt charges
for this year apart from the interest
charges is $4,000, and that next
year such charges will be 100000.
If it be the intention to increase
county Indebtedness, to say nothing
about the State, then the necessary
county taxes will be increased; and
any indifference to this fact Will
soon bring up on the citizens OF the
county, in a rural community ike
= ours, with the increased cost OF nV-
ing, a condition which most OF our
people will soon find burdensome TO
b meet.
Mr.. Clements, you state fact
when you suggest that but few OF
our people seem to take into ac-
count how much money is raised by
taxation, or how it is expended. In
this the taxpayers make a great ms
take. Tax levies beyond the abllltles
of persons, of small, or lnilIeu
means to pay should be avoided as
far as possible. High taxes, unoesIr-
able as they are, are not to be fear
ed as much as unreasonable, bur-
densome bonded indebtedness, When
such indebtedness brings about a
fixed overhead charge which must De
met however burdensome and Will
out any curtailment.
1t is most desirable that taxes Oh
real estate and tangible personal
property shall not be continually in
creased. In recent years, since the
World War, local governments nave
Ioosened the purse strings and have
greatly increased local taxation, so
much so that the increased taxa
ton has been reflected in higher
rents and higher costs of living.
Conditions are such, especially
among the farming class, that the
necessities for taxation should be
kept at a minimum. No species OF
property is more heavily taxed than
is real estate and tangible personal
property, in proportion to the cap
itaI inunstr,nnt cnnsidered N con