For several years many of the states have been unable through customary methods of taxation to produce sufficient revenues adequately to support their institutions and activities. This has been true of county and municipal governments as well as the state governments, despite the fact that taxation rates have increased in the last quarter century in some instances as high as 400 per cent.
Universities and schools, hospitals and other institutions within the last two or three years have suffered from reduced appropriations and various other activities of state and local governments have been curtailed.
Changes in Taxation Laws
This situation has caused renewed interest in various proposals intended to make the production of revenues for state and local purposes more efficient and more equitable. The Digest of Laws relating to State taxation and revenue, 1922, issued by the Bureau of the Census, shows that the following outstanding changes have come about in 20 years: