RIGHTS OF STATES.

Dominion, Volume 2, Issue 470, 31 March 1909, Page 7

RIGHTS OF STATES.

TAXATION. CERMAN FEDERATION'S PROBLEMS. POLICY OF 'THE BLOC, (nr TELEoiurn—riiEss association—corxmonT.) (Berlin, March 29. The King of Saxony) speaking at Karlsruhe Castlo, called on tho Federal Princes to reject any interference of tho Bloc (the combination of parties which constitutes the majority in tho Roichstag) with tho German States' prerogatives regarding taxation. NAVY BURDENS, AND THE COST OF THE STATES. TWENTY-TWO MONAKCHS AND OYER 100 MINISTERS. Tho above message* mark) another phase of tho financial struggle in which .Germany's huge naval programme has involved her. A Budget was brought in to lovy 25 millions annuallv of now taxation, but on Marcli 23 it was cabled from Berlin that the Financial Committee of the Reiohstng had deleted 2D millions of tho proposed new taxation, inoluding tho proposed spirits monopoly, death duties, and faxes on gas, electricity, and newspaper advertisements. Subsequently it was cabled that this financial deadlock was threateniag to break up the 8100, the hoterogeneous collection of parties which enables Prmso Bubw to carry on business in tno Weichstag, nnd whioh has rendered possible tho costly naval and colonial expansion policies, ■the Bloc includes, along with other oil-and-wator constituents, the National Liberals and the Conservatives; to the latter the property and lnhentnnoa taxes were distasteful, and a deadlock with the Liberals resulted. In such an impasse; and driven by financial necessity, tho Government might be tempted to seek a line of least resistance by taking something'of tho taxation powers of the States which exist under tho German Federation: but this is ?' he re the protest of tho King of; Saxony comes in. the Federal authorities, with their rapidly growing responsibilities, are becoming increasingly jealous of the cost of the State Uoverninents and of the taxing privileges they enjoy. f '* 6 Some'time ago the.Regierungsrat Martin,*a well-known figure in German i public life, pointecTout that the Empire and the indivi! ,ui?t Sil i?\. all , increasing' their publio debts. The National Debt was ',£200,000,000, and in the first four months of 1908 the debts ot the Empire and the individual States increased by over Ho points out that one of tho causes of financial difficulties in Germany is the existence of tho '25 different btates, each of which maintains its own Government, and many of which support their Im o rull l g „o Mon . ai,cl £ The re,arc 25 separate States and 22 rilling Monarchs in Germany, and the aggregate amount of their respective civil lists is an enormous financial burden on the country. Owiiw*to the fact that the individual btates.of the Empire maintain their own separate Governments, Germany possesses moro than a hundred Cabmot Ministers and a corresponding proportion of Government officials of lower grades, and their maintenance involves a heavy financial sacrifice. If tho barriers between the separate States were swept away argues Regierungsrat Martin), and if i wal i fr o '!* of the German Empire coma bo abolished, an economy of per annum would be rendered possible, so that the financial difficulties of tho country would be solved at one stroke. Regierungsrat Martin, however, w-ho is a Saxon,.does not favour this solution of the difficulty, but elaborates 1 own programme of financial reforms.