**jU5r REMEMBER.^ My FRIEND — 

 THAT'S MY MONEy YOU'LL SPEND 1 ^ 



YOUR MONEY 



JaksA a fUds. 



LAST November you went to your 

 polling place and voted for local, 

 state and national officials. You 

 and the other voters in your senatorial 

 district elected one state senator and 

 three state representatives. 



These persons together with 150 

 others similarly elected in other districts 

 go to Springfield early in January. They 

 will be members of the 65th General 

 Assembly of the State of Illinois. The 

 Assembly probably will continue in ses- 

 sion through June 30, 1947. 



While in the Capital city, the state 

 legislators will make appropriations to 

 carry on state affairs for the next two 

 years. These appropriations may ap- 

 proach a total of a billion dollars. You 

 and your family, your neighbors and 

 fellow citizens of Illinois will have to 

 pay taxes to meet those appropriations. 



You'll have to pay every time you 

 buy something to eat or to wear. You'll 

 have to pay whenever you make a pur- 

 chase for the farm or home. You'll 

 pay and you'll pay and you'll pay. 



No one escapes state taxes. The big- 



gest state tax is the "sales tax." Of- 

 ficially, it ■ is a retailers' occupational 

 tax, but dealers are permitted to pass 

 the cost of it on to the consumers. The 

 state collects two per cent on all retail 

 sales. Most retailers, however, charge 

 a minimum of one cent for "tax ex- 

 pense" on all purchases of 15 cents and 

 up. When little Johnny and Mary buy 

 a 15-cent ice cream soda, there's usually 

 an extra penny charged for tax expense. 

 On such small purchases the cost to the 

 purchaser figures out to be nearly seven 

 per cent. The sales tax costs Illinois 

 residents more than 120 million dollars 

 a year. 



The next largest state tax is the 

 "gasoline," or motor fuel tax. The 

 motor fuel tax is three cents a gallon. 

 That's 30 cents every time it takes 10 

 gallons to "fill 'er up." For this tax 

 alone, automobile and truck owners in 

 Illinois are paying about 44 million 

 dollars a year. 



In addition to the gasoline tax, auto- 

 mobile and truck owners pay around 

 25 million dollars a year in the form of 



By L. H. SIMERL, Director, 



lAA Research DapartnMnt 



vehicle license fees. The fee for most 

 small cars is $10.50, and the cost is pro- 

 portionately greater for larger cars and 

 trucks. 



Liquor taxes cost state residents 

 about 28 million dollars a year. Ciga- 

 rette taxes take another 17 million dol- 

 lars. In addition to these, there are 

 inheritance taxes, indirect taxes paid 

 through public utilities, unemployment 

 compensation taxes, and several other 

 state taxes. 



It should also be remembered that a 

 substantial part of the income tax and 

 other federal taxes collected from Illi- 

 nois citizens is returned to and spent 

 by the state. All together the typical 

 Illinois family of four persons pays 

 nearly $200 a year to meet state ex- 

 penditures. 



State taxes go for many different 

 purposes. The 1945 General Assembly 

 passed about 125 different appropria- 

 tion bills. Most of the money, how- 

 ever, goes for welfare, highways, educa- 

 tion and general government. 



The lion's share of state funds goes 

 for public aid and relief. Appropria- 

 tions for these purposes for 1945-47 to- 

 talled 248 million dollars. Old age 

 pensions require more than one-half of 

 the total relief funds. Part of the 

 money for relief is obtained from fed- 

 eral grants. 



Last year an average of about 250,000 

 persons received relief checks each 

 month. Of these, approximately 125,- 

 000 received old-age pensions, 50,000 

 received general relief, 70,000 were de- 

 pendent children, and 5,000 received 

 blind pensions. There is a constant de- 



(Continued on page 22) 



12 



L A. A. RECORD 



