Expenditure

“ It is through the expenditure of public money that the State works in all of its activities, and it is the first duty of the science of finance to determine their nature and scope. Finance accepts public expenditures as a fact. ”

“ The economy still follows the absolute height of the expenditure. Later on when the volume of business has increased, the importance of the business expenses dwindles; increases in the expenditure totals matter little so long as the transactions and returns can be sufficiently increased. ”

“ The income of individuals is, of course, less than their expenditure by the amount of their savings; but if that objection occurred to him at all, he probably thought that his distinction between potential and actual riches met it well enough. He therefore considered that expenditure measured income. Now income must flow either from property or from labor. The first step, then, is to determine the amount of expenditure; the second, to ascertain from what sources this expenditure is chiefly met. ”

“ In every one of the instances given above, all of which are of articles of very general consumption, the total expenditure, so far from being diminished by the decrease in price, has considerably increased, and in some instances the increase is very great. ”

“ If the estimated revenue, after allowing for normal increase of the principal sources of income, be less than the estimated expenditure, this is deemed a case for the imposition of some new, or the increase of some existing, tax or taxes. On the other hand, if the estimated revenue shows a large surplus over the estimated expenditure, there is room for remitting or reducing some tax or taxes, and the extent of this relief is generally limited to the amount of surplus realized in the previous year. ”

“ In this very dynamic aspect of modern life, one observes a tremendous increase in demand for the costly and enervating indulgencies of conspicuous expenditure and a more than proportionate decrease in the productive powers which contribute to the synchronous supply of the staples of life. Here, indeed, resides a fundamental problem in national cost accounting. ”

“ Now, as aggregate expenditure changes, the corresponding expenditure on the products of an individual industry will not, in general, change in the same proportion;3⁄4partly because individuals will not, as their incomes rise, increase the amount of the products of each separate industry, which they purchase, in the same proportion, and partly because the prices of different commodities will respond in different degrees to increases in expenditure upon them. ”

“ In finance the most striking effect in America has, on the first view of it, certainly been good. It has enabled the Government to obtain and to keep a vast surplus of revenue over expenditure. Even before the civil war it did this—from 1837 to 1857. ”

“ Its expenditure swelled the money receipts of many classes and raise the total income of the nation at the very time when it was diverting national activity from production of the goods and services which ordinary people wished to buy. ”

“ Expenditure, revenue, borrowing to meet deficiencies are all, in a sense, developed into their present-day form. Increase in amount and some refinements in procedure, combined with improved views of public policy, are the only changes that occur later on. ”

“ If all commodities were produced directly by the expenditure of labour, and in such a way that capital need not be considered, as in the simple natural state of society taken by Ricardo, then the only element to consider in value would be the quantity of labour. And in a society of a more developed character, in which wages are Elements of expenses production. ”

“ Increase of expenditure is found in the higher wages bills, in the ever-expanding items of rates and taxes, in the heavier cost of raw materials, in the greater amount of clerical and other work resulting from the sending of frequent small consignments in place of consignments in bulk, and in the provision of greater conveniences and luxuries in travel. ”

“ If it shall be found that for one year the net earnings have been less than 31⁄2 per cent., and for two years less than 41⁄2 per cent., unless it shall be proven that this deficit has been fostered by neglect of due economy, or by extravagant expenditure as aforesaid, the rates shall be raised. ”

“ For five or six years the income has not been forty thousand, but there has been no reduction in the style of expenditure. Whence comes the money? Not a burden has been shaken off, fresh are annually heaped on. ”

“ The taxes on expenditure at present in force, either in this or in other countries, fall only on particular kinds of expenditure, and differ no otherwise from taxes on commodities than in being paid directly by the person who consumes or uses the article, instead of being advanced by the producer or seller, and reimbursed in the price. ”

“ If the industrial, commercial and leisure classes of the population are collectively considered, total income and aggregate prices are subject to similar concurrent changes. It is a truism, often overlooked, that the sum of prices paid constitutes the total of wages, interest, rents and profits which compose the money-income of society and, per se, the direct means of acquiring the necessities and comforts of life. The measuring and estimating of changes in the cost of living, therefore, is resolved into a comparative study of incomes and expenditures. ”

“ Few women when they assume the care of a household know the exact value of the household plant; the amount to be deducted each year for wear and tear; the relative proportions expended annually for rent, fuel, food, clothing, and service; the number of meals served and the approximate cost of each; the amount of profit, waste, or unproductiveness that results from all expenditures made. Every manufacturer, every business man knows the value of his plant, its increasing or diminishing value, the cost of materials used and of service employed. ”

“ Besides the general construction (if the phrase may be allowed) of our government, adapted at all times to the purpose of checking excess as well as abuse in its expenditure, there should be an occasional adoption of enquiry to suit particular cases and particular departments. This mode is rendered indispensible from the complication, as well as the novelty, of many articles of public expence to which important and critical periods give rise ”

“ Suppose that a rich individual, A, expends a certain amount daily in wages or alms, which, as soon as received, is expended and consumed, in the form of coarse food, by the receivers. A dies, leaving his property to B, who dis- continues this item of expenditure, and expends in lieu of it the same sum each day in delicacies for his own table. ”

“ On the other hand, the increase of the developmental expenditures must, if wisely directed, be a clear national gain. The facts can only be surmised from the general statements of public expenditure which are classified statistically by administrative departments rather than by classes of expenditure. ”

“ The readiest way of expressing in figures the expenditure of materials and labour required to produce any article is to give the supplies to be consumed, the number of working days, the number of tons of coal, the time during which machinery is at work, the figure of each of the infinite number of items used in the production, and so on. ”

“ Under Appropriations, enter all disbursements voted by the Exchange Council for Athletics, Dividends, Sick in Hospital, etc. Under Fixtures should go all expenditures for permanent equipment (new) of the Exchange, and under Maintenance, all money spent for repairs, replacing of old equipment by new, and the like. In the Expense Column we carry such items as wastage, breakage, telephone and telegraph bills, fuel, light, insurance, printing and stationery, and such expendable supplies as twine, paper, etc., as are used in carrying on the business. ”

“ This done, taxation may be imposed, either directly upon the expenditure or upon the property which makes the expenditure possible, as administrative considerations may dictate. He assumes, accordingly, that the average of annual expenditure in England is £6 13s. 4d. per capita. No ground whatever is assigned for this assumption; and I cannot help suspecting that he reached it by guessing at a total annual expenditure of 40 million pounds and dividing that sum among an assumed population of 6 million people. ”

“ The amount of saving is partly determined by the cost of the articles consumed.It may also be remarked that the amount of an individual's expenditure is to some extent determined by the cost of the commodities which he consumes. The consumption of some articles diminishes in proportion to the rise which may take place in their price. ”

“ Our late excellent king's regard for economy led him, in the early part of his reign, to approve a new arrangement of the civil list expenditure, by which he accepted of a fixed revenue, in lieu of those improvable funds which had formerly been appropriated to the crown. ”

“ The chief source of revenue is from indirect taxes, which bring nearly 10,000,000, while the greatest expenditure is for the payment of the interest on the debt, which with the sinking fund demands upward of 7,000,000. ”

“ The economic demands which make up the budget of a particular person at a particular time are clearly interdependent. A man's income or the greater part of it is usually distributed among various channels of expenditure in a certain fairly constant way. ”

“ The proportions of these major items of expenditure can be varied within narrow limits, but no reasonable arrangement would cause a wide change in the increase in the total cost of living as given above. For instance, if, instead of this average distribution of the budget, food be allocated as much as 45 per cent., rent and clothing 15 per cent. each, fuel and light 5 per cent., and sundries 20 per cent., the indicated increase in the total cost of living, using the Board's percentages of increase for the respective items, would be 54 per cent. ”

“ The second practical problem encountered is when we attempt to apply the faculty principle in practice; how is ability to be measured? Three measures have been suggested: expenditure, income, and property. Expenditure is open to the objection that it would place an unduly large proportion of the tax burdens on the poor, whose expenditures are larger in proportion to their means than those of other classes of society. Property is objected to [Pg 156] because large classes of society, including professional men with large incomes, would then escape taxation largely or altogether. ”

“ B spends his income chiefly on American pictures and other works of art. C spends most of his income on American servants. D saves and buys United States bonds. E employs most of his income in the production of manufactures. Explain the various effects of these different modes of expenditure on the amount of wealth in the United States, and on the working-classes of the country. ”

“ The same is true of the expenditure of all so-called unproductive labourers, State officials, physicians, lawyers, etc., and others who serve economists as an excuse for explaining inexplicable things, in the role of the ‘general public’. ”

“ One may build a house or purchase a motor-car instead of going abroad. And whichever choice is made, related expenditures must be made in consequence for which, on the assumption of a definite amount of income, compensation must be made by curtailment of outlay at other points. What seems clear316 in general is that one's total budget is relative to the general plan and manner of life one deems for him the best possible and that this plan, more or less definitely formulated, more or less steadily operative, is what really determines how far expenditure shall go in this direction and in that. ”

“ Passing from foreign to domestic affairs, your attention is naturally directed to the financial condition of the country, always a subject of general interest. For complete and exact information regarding the finances and the various branches of the public service connected therewith I refer you to the report of the Secretary of the Treasury, from which it will appear that the amount of revenue during the last fiscal year from all sources was $73,549,705, and that the public expenditures for the same period, exclusive of payments on account of the public debt, amounted to $51, 018,249. ”

“ Take care that you know definitely what sum you can afford to spend on your household expenses, and make it a point of conscience never to exceed it. Market with ready money, if possible; but, if it is more convenient to pay by the month, or quarter, never make that an excuse for letting your bills mount up to double what you can afford to pay. With accounts, carefully kept, it is quite possible to regulate the expenditure to the income. ”

“ In a general way, the need of expenditure in this direction grows as fast as the means of satisfying [Pg 395] it, and, in the long run, a large expenditure comes no nearer satisfying the desire than a smaller one. ”

“ The revenue received in most of the States is nearly equal to the expenditure within them, and when a deficiency occurred in any one, it could be supplied by arrangements with the different banks, by transportation, or inland bills of exchange, in the manner that the public engagements are fulfilled abroad. ”

“ The methods of appropriations are similar to those employed by the
Federal government.
The expenditures of the local bodies, and particularly cities, are much larger, in proportion to their population, than those of the States, and are increasing at a greater rate than the increase of population. The objects of expenditure are numerous and very important. The chief ones are: (1) Interest on local debts; (2) maintenance and care of the streets and roads; (3) lighting of streets; (4) police; (5) salaries of officials. ”

“ It may be stated broadly that nearly £15,000,000 of the expenditure of the central government for education, for the post-office, for inspection of factories, and for the miscellaneous purposes of civil government, is entirely new as compared with fifty years ago. So far as the expenditure is beneficial, the masses get something they did not get before at all. ”