RECEIPTS AND EXPENDITURES
| At the beginning of the fiscal year 1881, there was in the general fund of the State Treasury a balance of | $504,894 94 |
| There was received into the fund from all sources during the year | $1,408,025 08 |
| Total | $1,912,920 02 |
| The total disbursements from the fund during the fiscal year were | $1,634,691 80 |
| Leaving a balance at the end of that year of | $278,228 22 |
| The estimate of expenditure for the support of the State Government for 1881, made in pursuance of law by the Auditor of State in 1879, amounted to the aggregate sum of | $1,206,567 09 |
| These estimates were insufficient with respect to several important items. The expenditures on account of benevolent and penal institutions exceeded the estimates by | $166,878 28 |
| The expenses of the Legislature consequent upon the extra session, made necessary by the revision of the laws, were in excess of the estimates in the sum of | $26,626 58 |
| The estimates did not include the following items of disbursement: | |
| A transfer from the general fund to the State House fund, pursuant to an act of the General Assembly | $100,000 00 |
| A payment of the remaining war loan bonds | $139,000 00 |
| A payment of an old internal improvement bond, principal and interest | $5,563 16 |
| A payment of 2 1/2 per cent. certificate of State stock | $663 22 |
| The salaries of five Commissioners appointed pursuant to an act of the General Assembly, to aid the Supreme Court in bringing up its decisions in submitted cases | $199 66 |
| Expenses of Commissioner of Revised Statues | $500 00 |
| Expenses relating to printing of Revised Statues | $516 69 |
| Total | $44,384 33 |
| Deducting from the total disbursement for the year 1881, which were as above stated | $1,634,691 80 |
| The unestimated amounts above specified, viz. | $443,384 33 |
| A balance is left of | $1,191,307 47 |
| This amount, it will be perceived, is considerably below the Auditor's estimate for that year. The balance in the general fund at the beginning of the fiscal year 1882 (November 1, 1881) was | $278,228 22 |
| The total receipts to the fund during the fiscal year were | $1,269,401 64 |
| Total amount of general fund during the fiscal year 1882 | $1,538,629 86 |
| Deduct disbursements during this year | $1,486,900 64 |
| A balance is left at the end of the fiscal year 1882 of | $101,729 91 |
| The estimates of expenditures for the support of the State Government for 1882, made by the Auditor of State in 1883, were | $1,174,470 20 |
| The disbursements were in fact | $1,436,900 65 |
| Being in excess of the estimates | $319,430 65 |
| This excess is explained by the following disbursements | |
| There was transferred from the general fund to the State House fund | $200,000 00 |
| The expenditures on account of the benevolent and penal institutions exceeded the estimates | $41,677 05 |
| Printing the Revised Statues not estimated for | $21,716 77 |
| Other expenses connected with the revision not estimated for | $2,127 95 |
| Appropriation by the General Assembly to State University, Purdue University, and the State Normal School, in excess of estimates | $11,500 00 |
| Expenses of Board of Visitors to the Normal School not estimated for | $113 85 |
| State Board of Agriculture, Regular annual appropriation and appropriation to pay interest on its bonds | $10,700 00 |
| Supreme Court Commissioners' salaries | $19,951 48 |
| Department of Geology and Natural History | $4,510 30 |
| Commissioner of Fisheries salary and expenses | $808 33 |
| Mine Inspector's salary | $1,500 00 |
| Appropriation for removing a bar in Calumet River, caused by the construction of the State Ditch | $5,802 90 |
| Expenditure under act of the General Assembly for the survey of Kankakee River region | $3,930 34 |
| Erroneous payments by County Treasurers | $956 45 |
| Total | $325,295 42 |
| Deducting from the disbursements for the year 1882, which were, as above stated | $1,436,900 65 |
| The total amounts of the items last mentioned for which no estimates were made | $325,295 42 |
| Leaves | $1,111,605 23 |
This amount, it will be perceived, falls considerably below the estimate for 1882.
The estimate required by law to be made by the Auditor of State to the General Assembly at each biennial meeting, of the expenditures to be made from the Treasury for the ensuing two fiscal years, can not, of course, anticipate all the expenditures which may prove to be necessary. There are always in the case, even items included in his estimate, appropriations which exceed the sums estimated, and there are always appropriations for other proper and necessary objects which naturally could not be foreseen when the Auditor's estimate was made. A chief purpose of the Auditor's estimate is to enable the Legislature to perceive within what limits other disbursements must be confined. In order to avoid the necessity of a higher rate of taxation. When appropriations, however, have been made by the Legislature in excess of sums estimated, or for objects not included within the estimates, it is proper that they shall be brought to public attention, in order to undergo a fair public scrutiny.
It will be perceived that the receipts to the general fund from all sources during the fiscal year 1881 and 1882 have fallen short of like receipts during the fiscal year 1881. The receipts to the general fund in 1880 were $1,477,609 92, and in 1882 were only $1,260,401 64, falling off of $217,208 28 during the latter year. The cause of this decrease is as follows:
The appraisement of all taxable real estate in this State was, prior to the passage of the statute of 1881, required by law to be made once in five years. The last appraisement was made in 1880. The next preceding one was in 1875, when the prices of real estated were yet inflated. The appraisement of 1880 fell below that of 1875 $155,424,597. The assessed value of personal property in 1880 was also less than 1879 by $54,223,545. None of the taxes levied under this lower assessment were payable to the State Treasurer until in May, 1881. At that time half of the State taxes for 1880 were required, by law, to be paid into the Treasury. The other half was not required to be paid into the treasury until January, 1882. The taxes collected for the fiscal year 1881 were one-half collected under the high valuation of real estate made in 1875, and one-half under the lower valuation of 1880. The taxes for the fiscal year 1882 were all collected under the lower valuation of 1880.
The taxes received into the General Fund of the State Treasury in 1881, fell short of the taxes receive to 1880, for the reasons above stated, $42,175 33, and in 1882 fell short of the taxes received in 1880 $158,063 97.
For the last fiscal year the State Government has had to be conducted on less revenue than for several years preceding.
Although, however, no new appraisement of the real estate will be made for purposes of taxation until the year 1866. the great increase of personal property has begun to be apparent of the tax lists, and by 1884 will probably have swollen the total value of taxables to as high an amount as they have ever been in any recent period of the State's history.
In addition to the revenues of the State will be apparent hereafter by the higher appraisement of the State Board of Equalization, during the years 1881 and 18S2, of the right of way and other property of Railway Companies The enlarged earnings of these Companies were deemed to justify an average increase to the extent of 10 per cent. in the valuation of property returned by them for taxation. n addition to this increase there has been an increased assessment, through the vigilance of the Auditor of Scale, by securing an assessment of buildings and improvements, such as machine shops and other expensive structures, situated on what the Courts have interpreted to be the "right of way" of these Companies, which, since 1872 had for the most part escaped taxation. The revenue, however, from the taxation of such buildings and improvements would be still further augmented, without an infliction of injustice, by a requirement that they shall ba appraised by local officers in the Townships in which they ara situate. The State Board of Equalization can never ascertain their value with satisfactory accuracy.
Under a loose interpretation given to our statute concerning Voluntary Association, the State's revenues from Insurance Companies are being diminished, and an injury is being inflicted upon many communities by irresponsible and fraudulent Insurance Companies, from other States and at home, which are engaged in the transaction of business under the shelter of that enactment. These Companies have so far afflicted the business of sound and responsible Companies, doing a fair and legitimate business, and honestly paying their taxes, as seriously to diminish their earnings and to make some of them contemplate a withdrawal of their agencies from the State. There is need for a prompt adoption of such, measures as will put a stop to fraudulent and speculative schemes which, sheltering themselves under the law of the State, inflict great injury upon our citizens and bring reproach upon the State itself.
