TEXAS. 



793 



The Comptroller's estimate of annual rev- 

 enue, at present rate of taxation (thirty cents 

 on $100 of value), ad valorem, poll and occu- 

 pation taxes, based on the actual assessment 

 for 1882, is as follows: 



Ad valorem tax assessed for 1882 $1,235,844 00 



Revenue poll-taxes 146,518 00 



Occupation taxes 626,000 00 



From redemption of lands sold by State 50,000 00 



Collections from insolvents 9,000 00 



Ad valorem tax in unorganized counties 86,000 00 



Special taxes 100,000 00 



Office fees from several departments 100,000 00 



Total $2,303,862 00 



Expenses of assessing and collecting 838,391 00 



Excess of cash on hand December 

 81, 1882 



Receipts for 1883 $2,000,000 



Ordinary expenses of the govern- 

 ment for 1888 1,663,446 



Excess of receipts over disburse- 



Total net revenue $1,964,911 00 



The Comptroller remarks, in reference to 

 the above : " We may safely assume that our 

 annual revenue, now flowing into the Treas- 

 ury under our regular government system, is 

 in net amount $2,000,000. The annual in- 

 crease, the rates of taxation and regularity of 

 collections remaining constant, there will be 

 at least 10 per cent annual increase in the ad 

 valorem tax, or about $125,000." 



The present assured financial prosperity and 

 the relief from the embarrassments which beset 

 the government of Texas prior to 1879 are 

 attributed chiefly to the provision of the Con- 

 stitution of 1876 requiring the annual sale of 

 lands for taxes. Since 1879 the State has had 

 annually increasing surplus balances, notwith- 

 standing successive reductions of taxes, and 

 now the revenue system is so perfected that 

 an almost exact calculation may be made as to 

 the annual income, and expenses may be in- 

 curred under the guidance of settled experi- 

 ence. In financial estimates it is very difficult 

 to determine with perfect accuracy the excess 

 of cash in the Treasury, as an unexpended and 

 reserve balance at any particular period ; be- 

 cause there may be outstanding unpaid war- 

 rants that have not been presented for payment, 

 representing, perhaps, large sums, and other 

 numerous small considerations confuse as to 

 exact results in estimates. But, by comparing 

 the condition of the Treasury on August 31st, 

 which showed a balance of $526,545.62, and 

 the balance on December 31st $500,121.96 

 it is fairly deducible that, if a balance fluctu- 

 ating from $500,000 to some sum in excess 

 remains constant during a period of several 

 months all expenses of the government being 

 promptly paid an actual excess of revenue 

 over expenditure of at least $500,000 may be 

 counted on. If, then, it be assumed that the 

 further revenues for the year 1883 shall be 

 sufficient to support the government under ex- 

 isting appropriations, and that alt taxes for the 

 year shall be collected and paid into the Treas- 

 ury, amounting, according to the Comptroller's 

 estimate, to $2,000,000, there would be, on De- 

 cember 31, 1883, the increase of unused balance 

 in the Treasury, of the difference between^ this 

 amount and the aggregate of appropriations. 

 To illustrate this mode of determining the cash, 

 balance in excess in December of next year : 



ments. 



$500,121 96 



886,554 00 



Total excess, December 81, 1883 $886,775 96 



This estimated balance will necessarily vary 

 in proportion as the appropriations may be in- 

 creased or diminished ; but it shows to what ex- 

 tent extraordinary appropriations may be made 

 without the necessity of borrowing money. 



The policy of investing the special funds be- 

 longing to the public free schools, university, 

 and asylums, as they accumulate from time to 

 time, in State bonds purchased at 40 per cent 

 premium, is seriously questioned, and by many 

 earnestly condemned as a permanent loss to 

 those funds ; because when the period is reached 

 when all the money that can belong to those 

 special funds shall be deposited in the Treasury, 

 if, in the process of investing those funds, there 

 be consumed a part of the permanent funds in 

 payment of premiums on the interest-bearing 

 securities, the final consumption of the perma- 

 nent fund will be inevitable. It is suggested 

 that this could be obviated by the passage of a 

 law directing the premium and costs paid for the 

 interest-bearing securities in which the invest- 

 ments are made, to be paid out of the annual 

 available fund, and not the permanent fund of 

 those institutions. As stated on November 6, 

 1882, 500 State bonds, of $1,000 each, bearing 7 

 per cent interest, belonging to the public schools, 

 etc., were purchased at 40 per cent premium : 



Bonds purchased $500.000 00 



Premium paid 200,000 00 



Commissions, etc 644 60 



Total expended $700,644 00 



The following is a statement of the assess- 

 ments of property in the State for 1882 : 



The State tax is 30 cents on the $100 of value. 

 The county tax is limited by the Constitution 

 to one half of the State tax. The poll-tax is 

 $2, of which $1 and one fourth of the ad va- 

 lorem tax constitute a part of the available 

 school fund. The average value of lands is 



