The times-news. [volume] (Hendersonville, N.C.) 1927-current, 1933-04-19
MUST BALANCE
BUDGET. said
Murphy Declares This
Necessary to Prevent
Condition of Chaos
BY J. c. BASKERVILL
Tn" Timcs-Ncws BurCau
Sir Walter Hotel

RALEIGH, April ia great
many people throughout the state
as we'll as members Of the gen
eral assembly. do not seem to
realize the necessity for balanc-
ing the states budget, not rcaliz,
ing that if the budget IS not bel
anced that the state government
will collapse. that all the schools
and institutions will nave t.
close and worst Of all, that viz
tualIy ali the banks that are now
open would be forced to clos,
and all business brought 10 (
stand~till, according to Represcn.
tative Walter Murphy of Sails
bury, Rowan county. He is con.
WINGED, however, that this gen,
cral assembly is going to adopt
a revenue bill that will balance
the budget and save the stat
from defaulting.
There are TWO things for Ink
general assembly to do il it /,
going TO balance the budget, how
ever, Representative Murphy
states. One - to levy 4 sales tal
that will bring in the required
revenue. The other is to 90 bacI
to the property tax principle anC
levy a statewide property tax OF
at least IS cents on the %l0t
valuation.
"Since all Of those who have
thought the matter through real.
iZe that the state budget must be
balanced and that it is Impossible
to balance it without some new
sources Of revenue, the genera
assembly must do one Of two
things" Representative Murphy
said. at must either levy SALES
tax or go back to the principle OF
the ad valorem tax and levy {
statewide tax on property.
eve already know that gen
eral sales tax OF 3 per cent iii.
yield the revenue needed to bal
ance the budget, and that this
will bring about an average re-
duction in property taxes OF
about 50 cents on the $500 Valu-
alton. If the general assembly
does not ADOPT a sales tax OF
some sort, the only other alter
native is to put on . statewide
property tax. 1t is conservative
to estimate that a property tax
of at least 45 cents per SlOG
valuation would have to be levied
to yield the $10,000,OO0 in new
revenue needed. If the people as
a whole realize the situation as
as it really is, I do not think 1t
would take them long TO decide
between the sales tax and the
property reduction of 35 cents
and no sales tax and q statewide
property levy of at least 45
cents"
The contention that the state
budget could ever have been bal
anced, even with a siX-months
school term, without recourse to
some new form of revenue, has
been and still is utterly fallaci-
Gus, Representative Murphy con-
tends. He also believes that ma
terial reductions in the cost of
government has been made. in
that the state has reduced its OPP
Grating expenses more than SO
per cent up to January l, 1888,
exclusive Of debt service and that
the present appropriations bill
represents a further reduction in
governmental costs. of 81 per
cent as compared with 1881 ap-
preparations. The appropriations
made for state purposes, other
than debt service. by the legiSla-
ture TO rthe next two years,
amount to $53,530,695 as COM
pared with appropriations made
in 1881 of $83,486,S54 for the
present biennium, representing a
decrease of $26,956, 159. despite
the fact that the state is taking
over an eight-months instead of
six-months school term.
"The trouble has been that
there have been so many new
members of the general assembly
who have not understood all