Jasper County Democrat, Volume 23, Number 78, Rensselaer, Jasper County, 25 December 1920 — HOUSTON WARNS OF DEFICIENCY [ARTICLE]

HOUSTON WARNS OF DEFICIENCY

Secretary Says New Sources if Revenue Must Be Found te Aid Treasury. SPEAKS ON SOLDIERS' BONUS Senate Finance Committee Told Government Must Not Incur New Burdens During Next Flsoal YearWashington, 24.—A gross dets dency In national fiscal transactions of $2,100,000,000 this tiscal year and 11,500,000,000 the next fiscal year was, forecast by Secretary Houston ini speaking on the soldiers’ bonus bill. He said the government must find new sources of revenue nud incur no new bunlens. • Receipts Should Exceed ExpendituresConsidered aside from the public debt, Mr. Houston said, the ordinary) receipts for this year should exceedl ordinary expenditure;] by about SBOO,000,000, and next year the excess should be $586,000,000. These sums, however, are inadequate to take cara of the interest on the public debtwhich is about $1,200,000,000 annually., Mr. Houston said, as well aS the interest on the current floating debt and the total laid aside annually for retiring the public debt “We will start the year of 1922-25 with a deficit of $1,500,000,000, said Mr. Houston. “We face, in the fact that many sources of revenue are declining, so we will have to loot around for new sources to tap without placing greater burdens on the treas* ury.” Profits Tax Source of Doolins. Asked as to what sources of revenue were declining, the secretary said principally the excess profits tax, but that the productivity of higher groups of Income taxes also was falling offBe eited Internal revenue figerea showing a steady decline in tax payments by those receiving larger in-* comes of the country. Mr. Houston warned, incidentally,, against "tampering with the sinktar fund." He declared the present arrangement for retiring the great war debt was “sound and workable" and should be allowed to continue in force. “When we go to tampering with the slklng fund I believe we are gone,” he said. , , Opposes War Flnancs Body. < In connection with the requirements, immediate and future, of the treasury, Mr. Houston reiterated his opposition to a revival of the warfinance corporation. He declared the whr finance “corporation would calk upon the treasury for depayment of the credit of $886,000,000 It had with the treasury, which would be compelled to embark on a new borrowing period to the extent that the corporation called for money. The secretary expressed the belief that the solution of the problem of aiding exporters was through private financing rather than by government action. There were indications, he said, that exports woulcf continue to Increase without treasury help. No Agreement on Loans. Asked regarding the status of the) government loans to the allied and associated powers, Mr. Houston said the treasury had not yet reached an agreement with them relative to final maturity dates on the nearly $10,000,000,000 of loans. Few of them, he added, have paid any Interest in actual cash, most of the Interest accredited to them being In the form of “book adjustments against credit authorized.” The hearing was adjourned until Monday, when Mr. Houston is expected to be asked for a direct expression on the soldier bonus bill.