Astronomy

The Bureau of Internal Revenue last week finished counting the dollars it took in during fiscal 1939. They totaled $5,181,665,738, a drop of $477,099,576 from 1938. Off most sharply were individual income tax payments, which fell $257,386,851. Pay roll taxes were off only $2,212,877.

Five billions is nearly 2,300 millions more than the average amount the Government collected through the roaring late 1920s, but still it came nowhere near paying the Government's bills. Even in the era of the Permanently Unbalanced Budget, the bloated poverty of fiscal 1939 was something to remember. The red-ink-stained picture drawn by Secretary Henry ("Henny-penny") Morgenthau Jr. showed:

>> The deficit was $3,542 millions--about $1,410 millions less than the New Deal's record deficit in sorry 1936.

>> Spending reached $9,210 millions--a New Deal record, nearly two and a half times the average outlay ten years ago.

>> The public debt reached $40,440 millions--an alltime record, a 150% increase since 1930, a net increase in the public debt roughly equivalent to that caused by World War.

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