New Britain herald., 1930-06-27
IN SPITE OF ECONOMY" VIE PAY MORE TAXES

VIE PAY MORE TAXES
 Tax Commissioner Blodgett's re- port on where the rax money paid by Nutr eggers goes is an Illuminating document. The tax commissioner IS 10 be congratulated upon shedding light on a subject that interests everyone in the state 10 the tune of &8- per capita.
 That means that every man, Hom- an and child ln the sttse, directly or indlrectly-perhaps mostly indirectly - pays ss7 for what IS known as government.
 We think government is worth il, Eighty-seven dollars per head, how ever, is considerable money 10 the tax payers, We agree with those millions who state that something should be done 10 reduce the figures; but we have yet 10 experience 8 tax reduction that actually works after Mr. Blodgett gets through with his figuring
 i, known 10 everyone that talk about economy" started away back in the first Coolidge administration, if not before; at least, MT. Coolidge made slogan of the word. And 1t holds sway during Governor Trum- bulls state administrations, It Vas q watchword during the city ad minstrations of MT Paonessa, and the lone administration Of Mir. We'd. And it is a red hot vatchword in the present city administration Of Mir, Qugley.
 Yet Mir. Blodgett shows us with figures that cannot be denied that s5T I. s1o more than s77 was in 1923.
 Furthermore. he used baseball bat or the heads of city, town, and village administrators when he de- ctared that almost one-haf of the sum assessed goes for local taxes,
 The news will make Mir, QuigIey change his position in hls easy chair; and every other mayor jn the state likewise will perk an eyebrow and decid. to do something about it.
 The only trouble is
 We'll, lets look over the remainder of tn. Blodgett lesson in taxation mathematics.
 The state gets only 2o45 per cent O. the tax money, says Mir, Blodgett lcompared with local tax districts obtaining 4S.90 per cent, and the federal government seizing sol per cenN.
 That looks fine for the state. until one pauses to consider that it is a rather high ratio IL is the local gov ernments who must hold the heavy load Of maintaining the schools, do the local improvement work, the street paving, run the welfare de- partm ents. and meet the costs of police, fire departments, water sup ply, and a host Of other costly little
  persive jobs the state has compara- lively little to expend. The states heaviest expenditure IS in connection with highways and in this state provision Is made on q pRy-as-you- go basis to build highways largely out Of the returns from the automo- bile and truck traffic, including the income from gasoline taxes.
 One of the easiest viewpoints i'm, aginable Is to counsel the cities or local taxing districts to stop spending g money. We have heard Of no mayors who were any the less anxious to ex- pend money than governors or presidents. Every city that is not standing still is faced with the neces- sity for better public servicees; for more and better schools, better pay for teachers, improved water sys- tems, improved streets; more this and better that In spite of unques- tionable efforts at economy it has been necessary to expend sums to obtain what are necessities to the cities Here and there one may find an extrayagant municipality; but or the whole mayors and city admins 5trations arc as inclined to be eco nomical as state administrations and the federal administration,
 AS President Cleveland once said 1t isa condition and not a theory that eorfronts us.