COST OF GOVERNMENT IN MASS. 



209 



The largest increase has been in property taxes, from $67,000,000 in 1910 

 to .'r-i 10,000,000 in 1926, an increase of $143,000,000 or more than 200 per cent. 

 This increase in property taxes makes up nearly three-fourths of the total in- 

 crease in taxes since 1910. In comparison, taxes on corporations, including in- 

 come and excise taxes, have increased 85 per cent. Inheritance taxes collected 

 in 1926 amounted to nearly $7,000,000, or more than four .times the amount col- 

 lected in 1910. The poll tax, which is one of the oldest taxes, has increased 

 nearly 31 per cent, or at about the same rate as population. The increase in 

 poll taxes from 1920 to 1923 was due to a special tax for the soldiers' bonus. 



CHART 10. A Comparison of Public Expenditures with Total Taxes, Property Taxes, 

 and Taxes ou Real Estate, 1910-1926. 



MILLIONS or 

 D0LLAR5 



400 



360 

 320 

 260 

 240 

 200 

 160 

 120 

 50 

 40 



1910 



1914 



1918 



1922 



!926 



The Relative Importance of Different Tatxes 



The relative unportance of the various taxes is shown in Table 38 and in 

 Chart 10. It will be noted that property taxes make up over three-fourths of 

 all taxes collected for State and local purposes. Corporation taxes, the next 

 group in importance, are less than 10 per cent of the total, while all of the re- 

 maining taxes are only about one-eighth of the total. The importance of prop- 

 erty taxes has been decreasing slightly with the introduction of new taxes,- 

 although in 1910 property taxes were 80 per cent of the total collected. 



Federal internal revenue now makes up nearly one-third of the total taxes 

 collected in Massachusetts as compared with about 7 per cent in 1910. 



