Phenix Gazette

VIRGINIA LEGISLATURE
REPORT OF THE COMMITTEE OF FINANCE.
[Submitted to the House of Delegates.]

The Committee of Finance having taken into consideration the revenue and expenditures of the government, have prepared, and respectfully submit, the following estimates of the probable receipts of the current fiscal year, and of the expenses of the government, under existing laws, chargeable upon those receipts.

The probable receipts at the Treasury, with September, 1826, may be estimated as follows, viz:
Tax on lands $146,778 14
On lots 25,083 45
On slaves 114,315 75
On horses and mules 31,116 12
On studs and jacks 6,825 01
On coaches 5,858 58
On gigs 5,390 26
On carryalls 1,015 20
On stages 97 30
On merchants, brokers and jewellers 47,616 64
On pedlars 2,092 84
On ordinary keepers 18,254 81
On keepers of houses of private entertainment 1,784 58
On exhibitors of shows 939 51
$407,183 19
Deduct for probable insolvencies, &c. 2 per cent. 8,143 66
$399,039 53
Deduct, also, for sheriffs' commissions, at 5 per cent. 19,951 97
Ditto, for prompt payments, at 2 per cent. 8,323
28,289 39
$370,759 14
Add estimated nett revenue from the counties of Brooke and Lee, not included above, by reason of the commissioners' books not being returned 2,078 37
Tax on law process, seals of court and notaries public 38,000 00
Surplus of duty on tobacco shipped, held to cover losses for which the State is liable 6,000 00
Militia fines and arrearages 15,000 00
Redemption of lands forfeited 2,500 00
Sale of unappropriated lands 1,500 00
Register's fees 3,000 00
Arrearages of taxes 5,000 00
Miscellaneous receipts, viz: Sundry bonds and judgments 20,127 00
Preston's securities 10,190 00
Rents of water 800 00
$31,117 00
Making the total amount of the probable receipts, within the current fiscal year, $474,951 00
To which add the balance in the Treasury, on the 1st of October, 1825, exclusive of the fund created for the Washington Monument, amounting to $13,063 10, and also of the sum of $38,707 51, part of the revenue of the current fiscal year, which was paid into the Treasury prior to the 1st of Oct. 1825 3,947 42
And the total amount of available funds, of the current fiscal year, will be $478,901 09

EXPENDITURES
Public Guard in the City of Richmond 16,000 00
Representation to Congress and State Senate 509 00
Slaves executed and transported 10,000 00
Public Warehouses 500 00
Civil Prosecutions 5,000 00
Lunatic Hospital at Williamsburg 10,000 00
Public Arsenal at Lexington 4,000 00
Collection and transportation of Arms 1,000 00
Manufactory of Arms 6,000 00
Interest on $319,000 seven per cent. certificate debt 22,330 00
Balances of appropriations unexpended 1st of October, last, viz:
For redemption of old 6 percent. debt $20,500 00
Western Lunatic Hospital 5,000 00
Map of the State 4,333 50
Improving the public Square 800 00
Cleaning, packing, and removing public arms to Lexington 5,000 00
Hening's Justice, expended since 1st Oct last 8,250 00
43,883 50
Transportation and maintenance in County jails, of Lunatics 1,500 00
Total amount of probable expenses of the government within the current fiscal year 451,713 50
Shewing a probable excess of receipts and cash in the Treasury, over, the expenditures of the current fiscal year, under existing laws, of $27,188 43
$478,901 93

A portion of the revenue of each fiscal year is annually paid before the commencement of the year, and constitute a part of the balances in the Treasury at the end of the preceding year. This being a circumstance of ordinary occurrence, it has heretofore been thought not material to vary the estimates on that account. Perceiving, however, that the amount thus paid into the Treasury prior to the 1st of October last, varies considerably from the amount thus paid in the preceding year, your committee have, with a view to the greatest possible accuracy in the estimates now submitted, excluded from the balance in the Treasury at the termination of the last fiscal year, the sum of $38,707 51, part of the estimated revenue of the current fiscal year, which had been previously paid into the Treasury and constituted a part of that balance. Various unexpended appropriations of the last year, amounting to the sum of $43,883 50, are included in the above estimate of the expenditures of the current year.

Among these is a balance of $20,500, of an appropriation to the Sinking Fund, for the redemption of so much of the old 6 per cent. certificate debt of the State as was not held by the President and Directors of the Literary Fund. This balance is believed to be fully sufficient for the accomplishment of that object; and when it shall have been done, there will be no outstanding debt of the State, except what is held for the use of the Literary Fund, consisting of a portion of the old six per cent. debt, and $319,000 of seven per cent. certificate debt, the redemption of which, at this time, does not appear to your committee as desirable.

In submitting the foregoing estimates of the revenue and expenditures of the State, it is pleasing to your committee to be able to state, that, from an attentive consideration of the state of the public finances, there does not appear to them any necessity for an increase of the present rates of taxation. Should any new subjects of taxation be discovered, which ought, in justice, to contribute towards the expenses of government, a proportional reduction from the existing taxes might be made; and, in that event, your committee are not aware of any subject on which the reduction could be more equitably made than the tax on law process.

The expenses of the government, under existing laws within the current fiscal year, may be estimated as follows, viz:—
General \ assembly	100,000 00
Officers of government	76,000 00
Commissioners of the revenue, and clerks of courts for examining commis- sioners' books	28,000 00
Criminal charges, including guards for county jails	40,000 00
Contingent expenses of courts, inclu- ding allowances to attorneys, clerks, she- riffs, &c. for public services	25,000 00
Pensioners	5,000 00
Civil Contingent Fund	15,000 00
Military Contingent Fund	1,000 00
Expenses of Militia	25,000 00
Pay of Adjutant General and Brigade Inspectors	4,500 00
Penitentiary, internal charges	4,000 00
Officers' salaries	6,150 00
Transportation of Convicts	5,850 00