£450,000,000 FOR DEFENCE

Dominion, Volume 33, Issue 87, 6 January 1940, Page 11

£450,000,000 FOR DEFENCE

United States Budget NEARLY EVERYTHING ELSE CUT Deficit Of £544,000,000 By Telegraph.—Press Assn.—Copyright, WASHINGTON, January 4. President Roosevelt’s Budget message recommended Congress to cut nearly everything except the national defence funds. The estimated expenditure in the forthcoming fiscal year is 8,424,000,000 dollars (£2,106,000.000). which is 675,000.000 dollars (£169,000,000) less than for the current fiscal year. The estimated normal receipts are 6,248,000,000 dollars (£1,562,000,000), an increase of 382,000.000 dollars (£95,500,000). It is proposed that 460,000.000 dollars (£115,000,000) should be raised by special defence taxes. The net deficit is estimated at 2,176,000,000 dollars (£544.000.000), compared with 3,933,000,000 dollars (£983,000,000) for the current year. If the special taxes arc adopted the deficit will be 1,716,000,000 dollars (£429.000,000). The Budget is subdivided as follows: National defence, 1.800,000,000 dollars (£450,000,000). Work relief. 1.300,000,000 dollars (£325,000,000). Agriculture. 900,000,000 dollars (£225,000,000). Public works and investments. 1,100,000,000 dollars (£275,000,000). Pensions and social security, 1,200,000,000 dollars (£300,000,000). Interest on public debt, 1,100,000,000 dollars (£275,000,000). Government operations, 1,100,000,000 dollars (£275,000,000). On the basis of the President's figures, the national debt at the end of the new fiscal year will be 01,000,000 dollars (£15,000,000) short of the legal maximum of 45,000,000,000 dollars (£11,250,000,000), permitting Congress to defer the controversial issue of whether the maximum should be increased.