UNITED STATES BUDGET

New Zealand Herald, Volume LXXIV, Issue 22864, 20 October 1937, Page 14

UNITED STATES BUDGET

New Budget estimates submitted by the President of the Lnited States predict a result at June 30 next year that will be far less favourable than the country had previously been encouraged to expect. . In January the estimated revenue was given as 7,293,000,000 dollars, and the expenditure, without special relief provision, as 5,796,000,000 dollars. Thus a supplementary appropriation of some 1,500,000,000 dollars for relief would have been possible, and balance would have been maintained. In April a revised statement was produced, in which the earlier predictions were altered considerably. The expected revenue was revised downwards, the expenditure estimates were increased so that in place of the promised balance, a deficit of 418,000,000 dollars was forecast. It was a substantial improvement on the actual result for 1936-37, when a deficit of 2,707,000,000 dollars was returned, without allowance for debt redemption. Even so, it fell short of what the President had outlined three months earlier. Now, with income threatening to be below expectations, and expenditure creeping up, a deficit of 695,000,000 dollars is indicated for the close of the fiscal year on June 30. When he made his statement in April, Mr. Roosevelt said he hoped to eliminate the deficit in the following financial year. There is no reiteration of that hope now. In another aspect of Federal finance expectations have had to be modified. The April estimates spoke of a public debt amounting to 35,026,000,000 dollars at the end of June this year, and it was hoped there would be no increase in 1937-38. The actual figure on July 1 was 36,400,000,000 dollars, and this total is now expected to become 37,119,859,000 dollars by the end of June next year. Balancing the Budget and putting the brake on borrowing was long subordinated to providing relief. Now it is being attempted it is proving to be a difficult task.