Evening star. [volume] (Washington, D.C.) 1854-1972, 1947-09-15
TuckWiNConfer
WithDirectorsof
Budget Today
Talks Are Preliminary;
400-MiIIion OutIoy
For z Years Possible

RICHMOND, Sept. 15.-Gov. Tuck
and eight members of his Budget
Advisory Commission will meet with
Budget Director j. H Bradford to-
day for preliminary conference
on the States fiscal plans which
may approach the S400, 900 900 mark
for the 1948-50 biennium.
Anticipated are heavy requests
for more funds for education,
health, welfare and other services.
In the next two weeks the budget
group will make its biennial go-and-
see tour Of various State institu-
tons to learn their needs.
Three days of public hearings are
scheduled here October 6 to to re-
ceive the specific requests of de-
partments, institutions and agencies.
Additional Taxes Possible.
The budget makers then will go
into seclusion and attempt to whip
proposed appropriations into ap-
proximate balance with expected
revenues process sure to include
much ak welding and possibly con-
sideration of additional taxes.
The results will not be known
until Mr.. Tuck sends his budget
message to the General Assembly
early in January The 140 members
of the House of Delegates and State
Senate usually stay pretty close to
the Governors recommendations.
For the current biennium, which
ENDS next June 30, the State budget
provides $4,000, 098, including the
supplemental funds for education
and other allotments made by the
special session Of the Legislature
last January.
Persistent demands for far-reach-
ing betterments in public schools,
mental hospitals, welfare institu.
lions, public assistance, public
health and other services can be
met only by substantial increases in
appropriations. Soaring costs and
the inflationary trend would call for
bigger OUTLAWS to maintain the
status quo.
Half Billion Request Seen.
All of which, plus the general
theory among department heads that
the more you ask for the more you
are likely to get when the whiting
is over, makes it appear that requests
presented to the budgeteers will
total somewhere around $500 900 900.
Even If this total were cut to
$3.50 ,000,0 900, and the States present
revenue sources continue to yield
funds at their present high level,
there would be gap of some $20,-
100000 to be filled either by increas-
ing present taxes or enacting new
ones.
One tax prospect mentioned with
increasing frequency in recent
months is a sales tax. Some obser-
vers have asserted the dominant
Democratic organization is prepar-
ing sales tax program Gov. Tuck.
however, has said nothing publicly
on the subject so far, nor has he
indicated his tax ideas. i,
Commission Report Awaited.
Some indication of the prevailing
thought on the sales tax may come
in the report Of the Moses Com
mission, a legislative group assigned
to study school matters and, speci-
fically, the possibilities of State
sales tax to provide more money for
schools.
Other tax ideas may come from
another legislative study commits
sion, set up by the Assembly to
consider the present segregation
of tax sources between the State
and the localities, and the adequacy
of these, along with general res
view of taxes.
With these study groups to pre-
sent their views, and with other
propositions from individual law
makers-such as Nelson County's
Delegate Robert Whitehead, who
spoke out sharply against the sales
tax last week and suggested alter
native revenue producers-taxes and
budget-making promise to loom far
larger in the 1913 session than in
any legislative meeting Of recent
years.