AMERICAN FINANCE

Otago Daily Times, Issue 19966, 7 December 1926, Page 9

AMERICAN FINANCE

PRESENTATION OF BUDGET. TAXATION REDUCTIONS. DEFENCE VOTE CURTAILED. (Tress Association—By Telegraph—Copyright.) WASHINGTON, December 6. (Received Dec. 6, at 5.5 p.m.) President Coolidge in his Budget speech asked Congress for more than four billion dollars to run the Government for the fiscal year ending in 1928. He declared that he wanted the expenses of war preparedness kept down in peace time, and announced that he would refrain from asking for appropriations for the three cruisers which are authorised for construction before July 1. He also sought only a part of the money authorised for starting the Government’s five-year aviation construction programme. Taxation questions occupied most of the speech. The President estimated this year’s surplus at 383,079,095 dollars, and the 1928 surplus at 200,703,863 dollars, but he claimed that the 1028 surplus would not be too large an operating margin. President Coolidge recommended Congress to reduce the taxes for the first six months of 1927, and, urged that the amount of relief should depend upon the surplus it was desired to divert from debt reduction to tax reduction. The President asked for an appropriation of 680,537,642 dollars for national defence, saying that the United States was now engaged in negotiations to broaden the existing treaties with the Great Powers which dealt with the elimination of competition in naval armaments. He asked for 366,722,142 dollars for the War Department, which was for the promotion of aviation, for national defence, and for the protection of commerce. Of this sum 73,477,380 dollars would be allotted to army and navy aviation, embracing 20,600,000 dollars for new planes, and 2,400,000 dollars for the construction of aviation barracks. He recommended that the construction of an airship with a capacity of 6,000,000 cubic feet, which was included in the programme approved by Congress, should be delayed until tests had been made on the 3.000. 000dol all-metal airship authorised. Other votes asked for ranged from 50,000 dollars to 2,500,000 dollars for a postal air mail service, the operation of the coastguard seaplane fleet, forestry patrol planes, and weather observation planes. The President also requested a vote of 30.000. dollars for prohibition enforcement. —A. and N.Z. Cable.