The lack of uniformity in fiscal systems of the various governmental bodies makes it difficult to get accurate comparative statistical data.

The census reports on the revenues of the Federal government and of the states are accurate enough, however, to show the rapid growth in the amount of funds secured. The following table shows the revenue receipts of the Federal government for 1903 and 1913, the last year which can strictly be classed as a year of normal operations.1

Receipts Of The Federal Government

It is seen from this table that from only one source the revenue was less in 1913 than it was in 1903. The total increase is a little less than 50 per cent. The interest of the table will be enhanced by briefly noting the significance of the items. The important item under special property taxes is the customs receipts. The tax on the circulation of national bank notes and some other small items are included. The four-dollar levy upon each alien entering the United States makes up the bulk of the poll tax. Business taxes consist of the internal revenue collections other than those from liquor. The returns from the income tax, since its inauguration, are also included here.

The receipts from taxes upon liquor comprise the returns under liquor licenses and other imposts, while the amount received from certain liquor and trade licenses in Alaska comprise other business licenses. The important source of interest is the amount paid by banks on government deposits. Formerly the government owned a number of industrial securities, principally railroad, which were interest-bearing, and which helped to swell this item. Many items go to make up the earnings of the general departments. Some of the more important included in these earnings are the returns from the consular, patent, and land offices, rents of buildings and grounds, receipts from the sale of materials, profits on coinage, and receipts from forest reserves. The earnings from public service enterprises include such items as the postal receipts and returns from the Panama Canal.

1 See note p. 31.

Revenues of States. - The principle sources of the revenues for the various states, together with the increase for the period from 1903 to 1913, may be seen from the following table:

This table shows that practically every source of revenue gave substantially larger returns in 1913 than in 1903. In both years the sources of outstanding importance were the general property tax, special property tax, and taxes

upon business and income. Receipts from inheritance taxes are placed with the special property taxes. The remarkable increase in nonbusiness license taxes is due to the general practice of licensing automobiles. The large decrease in returns from public enterprises can be explained in a measure by South Carolina giving up the state dispensary method of handling liquor.

It must be remembered that this is a general table showing the combined figures of forty-eight states. The tendency for particular states might be entirely different from the general results. A study of the general property tax in the states, for example, will show that in some cases it is becoming of comparatively little importance as a source of state funds. Likewise many states show a decrease in a number of the items in spite of the increase indicated by the combined figures.