The general method for raising this tax is as follows: The legislature of the State, having determined what income is needed, apportion this sum among the counties, or, in New England, directly among the townships, in proportion to the value of the property situated within them, or establish a certain percentage tax on all property, to be collected in the same manner. So, similarly, the counties apportion among the cities and townships within their areas, in proportion to the value of their taxable property, not only what they have to pay to the State, but also the sums they have to raise for county purposes. Thus when the township or city authorities assess and collect taxes from the individual citizens, they collect at one and the same time three distinct taxes--the State tax, the county tax, and the city or township tax. Retaining the last for local purposes, they hand on the two former to the county authorities, who, in turn, retain the county tax, handing on to the State what it requires. Thus trouble and expense are saved in the process of collection, and the citizen sees on one tax paper all that he has to pay. The chief tax is the property tax, based on a valuation of property, and generally of all property, real and personal. Of this, by far the greater sum is realized from the tax on real property, (land and buildings on it). Cities and other local subdivisions, as has been stated, are raising their revenues more and more from the sale, taxation, or operation of such public franchises and rights as street-car lines, gas and waterworks. Those who fix the value of taxable property and thus determine the amount the owners are to pay, are called assessors. Those collecting taxes are called collectors. The revenue of the States is seldom large in proportion to the wealth and number of the inhabitants, because the chief burden of administration is borne not by the States, but by the Federal government, on the one hand, and the local subdivisions of the States on the other. The total revenue of all the States is barely one-third that of the Federal government.
_#The Expenditures#_ of all the governing bodies, Federal, State, and local, are kept entirely independent of each other. Those of the Federal government are for the benefit of all the States, while those of the other bodies are only for their own individual benefit. The Federal government receives much more than it expends, and has yearly a surplus on hand in the Treasury. The States and local bodies have in the past expended more than their revenues, making up their deficiency by loans on their credit.