26 MISC. PUBLICATION 218, U. 8S. DEPT. OF AGRICULTURE 
this purpose. Borrowings for highway purposes account for the 
largest share of the State debt in all geographic divisions excepting 
in New England and in the West North Central division. In these 
two divisions, and in no others, the larger share of the State borrow- 
ings has been for the purpose of financing public utilities. 
FINANCES OF THE COUNTIES, TOWNS, AND OTHER 
SUBORDINATE GOVERNMENTS 
The governmental cost expenditures of the local governments in 
1929 amounted, according to the estimates of the National Industrial 
Conference Board, to 6,720 million dollars (3, p. 21); this is more 
than twice as much as the expenditures of the Federal Government 
and nearly one-third greater than the combined expenditures of the 
Federal Government and the 48 States. However, about half of this 
sum was spent by cities having a population in excess of 30,000. 
These figures for local expenditures do not include grants from the 
States that were included in the figures for State expenditures. 
Since forests are a part of the tax base of rural rather than urban 
local government, the finances of the rural local governments are of 
particular interest in connection with this report. The local govern- 
ments having jurisdiction over forest lands are the counties or par- 
ishes, the towns or townships, the school districts, road districts, 
and the various rural special improvement and protection districts, 
such as drainage, irrigation, fire, and weed districts. 
Information regarding the expenditures of the rural local units is 
neither so complete nor so reliable as for the larger cities and the 
States. As estimated by the National Industrial Conference Board, 
the expenditures of these local bodies, excluding the cities of popu- 
lation exceeding 30,000, were distributed as follows (3, p. 21): 
Amount Percent 
DOCG b C55) Fi (0) Veter Mere rep bp eh asp Nb caUON Nc Fo Ea 0 Hal SSS eae $1, 113, 000, 000 32. 6 
YB GYR 05h Pea Me ee Seca lS oN gg NU a eo tl ae 621, 000, 000 18.2 
FAV OE Here fIn CEO See el REL toe Te eee a ae 1, 336, 000, 000 39. 2 
ARTA COTS Gis eT IS Saw CU a ME rE RA Tea SACO De A RCSL 341, 000, 000 10.0 
Totals o2e se oe See AS 2 ET eas SEE NPIL AQ oR gen ba UL 3, 411, 000, 000 100. 0 
The tax revenues of all local governments in the United States, 
including counties or parishes, towns and townships, cities and 
villages, school districts, road districts, and all other local improve- 
ae aR protection districts amounted to $4,818,872,000 in 1929 
Fie 4a Talley 
This is only 7 percent less than the combined tax revenues of the 
Federal Government and the 48 State governments. Of the local 
tax revenue, 92.3 percent was derived from the general property 
tax. The local property tax thus stands out as by far the most 
important part of the tax burden on forest property. In each of 38 
States over 90 percent of the local tax revenue comes from the general 
property tax. Oregon is the State receiving the maximum share 
(98.8 percent) of its local revenue from this source. At the other 
extreme is Alabama in which only 75.6 percent of its local taxes are 
general property taxes. 
