Legislative Messages of Hon. James V. Allred, Governor of Texas 1935-1939 Page: 41 of 263
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- 42
official
has estimated that the deficit in the General Revenue Fund as
of August 31, 1935, will be $9,443,822.89. There will be also a deficit
of $5,181,783.83 in the Confederate Pension Fund. In addition to this
inherited liability, we must remember that in the past two years the
State has spent more than $16,000,000 out of the $20,000,000 bond issue
voted by the people for relief of the needy and unemployed.
Present relief demands necessitate an almost immediate expenditure
of the remaining part of that $20,000,000. A short time before February
1 the Federal Government gave notice of its intention to discontinue
all direct relief. The State must bridge the gap between February 1
and that nebulous time in the future when either permanent work projects
have been approved by the Federal Government for the State, or that
more nebulous time when the unemployed will find again private employment.
In
my judgment, it is not a sound business policy to try to liquidate
the total obligations of the State and retire this deficit within a single
year or even a biennium. Few concerns of any magnitude find it possible
to liquidate a deficit within such a short period of time. Taxpayers
should not be called upon to keep the State's assets liquid during this
.period of economic hardship. The deficit, however, is of such alarming
proportions that we should at this time begin a constructive effort toward
its ultimate retirement; and, in any event, it should not be permitted
to increase.
It is apparent then that this Legislature finds a deficit of $14,625,606.72,
the current expenses of a government whose demands have
necessarily increased, and the tremendous problem of relief, with practically
all of the twenty million dollar bond issue already spent by
those who have preceded us.
Eqzualization of Tax Burddens
The owners of real estate, particularly farm and home owners, are
borne down with tax loads too heavy to bear. They are entitled to relief;
and as a part of our tax problem this Legislature is charged with the
duty, yet is given a golden opportunity, to devise a method whereby a
portion of these burdens may be shifted on to the shoulders of those more
able to pay.
In equalizing the tax burdens you and I are going to tread on somebody's
toes. We may as well frankly understand this at the outset. We
are, however, confronted with a patriotic duty of necessity. The great
masses of the people have got to have tax relief. If they are to get it,
it must be at the hands of a Legislature and a Governor of conviction
and courage. It would be easier, of course, for us to sidestep the issue by
the Governor failing to make such tax recommendations or the Legislature
failing to act. This would, however, but postpone the day of reckoning
and none of us would have any genuine respect for ourselves.
One of the greatest difficulties in Texas government today is the fact
that our State is an immense empire within itself with varied and conflicting
interests. In many instances, that which is for the welfare of one
section of this great State is opposed to the best interests of another section.
lMore and more political campaigns and administration of the government
are becoming conflicts between powerful interests. Various
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Allred, James V. Legislative Messages of Hon. James V. Allred, Governor of Texas 1935-1939, book, 1939; (https://texashistory.unt.edu/ark:/67531/metapth3899/m1/41/: accessed April 26, 2024), University of North Texas Libraries, The Portal to Texas History, https://texashistory.unt.edu; .