Money Basket

It was New Year's Day at the Treasury Department. Instead of making resolutions for the future, the Treasury custom is to review the past. Secretary Mellon issued his report on fiscal* 1928. Meantime, Brigadier-General Herbert Mayhew Lord, Director of the Budget, worked away at plans for fiscal 1929 preparatory to laying them before President Coolidge at Brule next month. Secretary Mellon began by talking about the biggest figures of all on the national ledger--the national debt. It had been reduced by $907,000,000, bringing it down to $17,604,000,000. The average rate of interest paid upon it had been reduced during the year from 3.96% to 3.87%, a saving of $55,000,000. Secretary Mellon had predicted that the surplus of receipts over expenditures would be about $405,000,000. He was within if % of the mark. Receipts were $4,042,000,000, expenditures $3,644,000,000, leaving a surplus of $398,000,000. Of this sum $367,000,000 was applied to effect the debt-reduction. Government spending increased $150,000,000 in 1928. This was $27,000,000 less than had been planned. Collections dropped $51,000,000. Customs receipts dropped $36,000,000. Internal revenues dropped $24,000,000. Secretary Mellon explained that the falling off in revenues was due to "a sharp diminution" in receipts from the Federal estate (inheritance) tax and to the tax-cutting Revenue Act of 1928. He also said: "In view of the amount of discussion that has taken place as to the accuracy of the Treasury's estimate of income taxes, is is worthy of note that with collections aggregating over two billion dollars they exceeded estimates by the narrow margin of nine million dollars, or error of .42 of one per cent."

*From fiscus (Latin)--"money basket."