VI REPORT OF THE COMPTROLLER OF THE TREASURY.
Therefore, there should be deducted this sum of $600,000 from
the actual receipts for the year, viz: $4,493,354.34, leaving
$3,893,354.34 as the ordinary revenue. By a comparison with
previous years, this will be shown to be a marked increase, and
while there is an augmentation of $28,000 from Licenses and Tax
on Insurance Companies and of $34,000 from Tax on Gross
Receipts of Corporations, yet the largest increase accrues from
the increased State Tax rate made by the Legislature of 1904,
Chapter 343.
The State Tax rate for the years 1901, 1902 and 1903 was 17
cents on each $100, and for thirteen years prior thereto 17 3/4
cents, while for 1904 it was 22 1/2 cents and for 1905 23 1/2 cents,
or an increase of 6 1/2 cents on each $100 over that of the years
1901, 1902 and 1903, the Public School Tax being increased from
10 1/2 cents to 15 cents, while 2 cents additional were levied to
take care of the "Public Buildings Loan." Such an increase in
the rate—6 1/2 cents—necessarily augmented the revenue to
Public Schools and the Sinking Funds, the amount received
into the Treasury from Collectors alone amounting to
$1,564,975.71, while the tax from Incorporated Institutions was
$125,215.87. It must be borne in mind, however, that this
increased revenue is applicable only to the purposes for which it
is levied, viz: Public Schools, School Books and Sinking Funds,
not one cent of which can be drawn upon for the ordinary
expenses of the government, such as salaries, cost of Legislature,
etc., a fact very often lost sight of by those applicants for State
aid who suppose the State Treasury to be inexhaustible.
DISBURSEMENTS.
While the revenues of the State have increased as above
shown, the payments from the Treasury have likewise been
much heavier, aggregating last year the unprecedented sum of
$4,462,701.42, or an increase of $384,691.27. This is occasioned
mainly by the large disbursements to the Public Schools of the
State, amounting during the last fiscal year to $1,195,565.22.
In Statement 33 is shown the character of these disbursements
and the Acts of Assembly authorizing the same. At the close of
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