180 



MASS. EXPERIMENT STATION BULLETIN 266 



Mwnicipal Extravagance 



The statement is often made that municipal extravagance has been respons- 

 ible for the increase in public expenditures. In some cases this has been true, 

 if by extravagance is meant expenditures for things not essential to the pub- 

 lic welfare. However, judgment as to what is extravagant may well be based 

 on what the voters demand and are willing to pay for. A town or city may 

 put more money into beautiful schools, libraries, parks, boulevards, or city 

 buildings than appears to be justified by its size and rate of growth; but if 

 such things are demanded by the public they are not extravagances of of- 

 ficials, at any rate. 



One factor in the situation is that a great many voters are not property 

 owners. In 1926 more than one-half of the individual taxpayers paid poll tax 

 as the only direct tax, and apparently a substantial majority of the voters 

 either did not own property, or were taxed merely on personal property. As 

 long as this situation exists it is somewhat doubtful if the rate of increase in 

 town and city expenditures can be confined to the requirements of a normal 

 increase in population. In rural and other towns where most voters are prop- 

 erty owners, it seems likely that as soon as taxes become burdensome the 

 property owners will regulate expenditures more nearly in accordance with 

 their ability to pay. 



Table 8. — Index Numbers of Population, Commodity Prices, and Public 

 Expenditures in Massachusetts, 1910-1926. 



1910 = 100 



^ Census figures are available only at five-year intervals. Other years were estimated from 

 the average change between census periods. 



2 United States Bureau of Labor index converted to a 1910 base. 



