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48 Pol. Sci. Q. 1 (1933)

handle is hein.journals/pclscceqry48 and id is 1 raw text is: Volume XL VIII] March, 1933 POLITICAL SCIENCE QUARTERLY THE FISCAL OUTLOOK AND THE COORDINATION OF PUBLIC REVENUES THE present fiscal situation is characterized by two urgent problems. In federal finance the vital question is that of balancing the budget, by the reduction of expenditures, by the increase of revenues, or by a combination of the two. In state and local finance the pressing problem is that of diminishing the tax burden on real estate, the position of which has become exceedingly difficult in the face of a fall of capital values not met by a corresponding reduction of assessed values. These two problems are interwoven. In their anxiety to find additional revenues both state and federal governments are beginning to overlap and to trench upon each other's fields. So far as the individual citizen is concerned, the burden is a composite one, to be treated as a whole. It will conduce to clearness, however, if we make a separate approach to the tangled situation. We shall therefore first treat the federal problem independently 'and then consider the question of the relation of federal and state revenues, with an especial eye to the tax on real estate. I. The Federal Situation A thorough discussion of the federal situation would involve two fundamental topics: What is the actual deficit? And how far can it be eliminated by a reduction of expenditures? The first problem would call for a study of several points which have often been overlooked, such as the distinction between current and capital outlays; the propriety of including in the budget the sums needed for the amortization or sinking of the debt; and the determination of the period to which the con- I [ Number i