Page:Statesman's Year-Book 1899 American Edition.djvu/1093

 FINANCE 737

poor, does not exist. Exceptions to this rule are in favour of forsaken children and the sick poor, the former being maintained and the latter supplied with medical attendance at the expense of the province or commune. Public charity in general is exercised through the permanent charitable foundations, called ' Opere pie,' regulated by the law of July 17, 1890. These are very unequally distributed in the dift'erent provinces, and their operation is in the manner prescribed and in the territory named in the deeds of founda- tion, or by the statutes in force. A thorough inquiry into their finaucial position was made in 1880. The general results were : — Leaving out of account institutions intended for lending, or for the encouragement of saving (that is, monti di pieta, monti frumentari, casse di prestanze agrarie), there were 21,866 opere pie, with a gross capital of about 2,000,000,000 francs. Their income and ex])enses were : —

Lire. Gross income. ... 90,446,446

Burdens (not charitable). . . 7,704.055

Taxes, &c 15,287,969

Expenses of administration. . 15,690,132

Total disbursement. . 38,682,156 Balance free. . . 51,764,290

Added to this net income were casual legacies, contributions from private benefactors, subsidies from communes (for hospitals), kc, all of which receijits are spent annually, and thus the sum at the disposal of the opere pie in 1880 amounted to 96,509,071 lire.

The property of these foundations is constantly increasing. In the space of 17 years (1881-97) the new legacies amounted to 277,772,725 lire. In 1897 the communes spent about 43,687,148 lire, and the provinces about 22,884,975 lire in charity ; over one-fourth of the former sum and over three- fourths of the latter being disposed of through the opere pie.

Finance. I. State Finance.

Revenue and JSxpenditure. Direct taxes are those on lands, on houses, and on incomes derived from movable capital and labour. The tax on lands, amounting to about 96 millions, with an additional tenth, is spread over the 9 cadastral compartimenti. That on houses is at the rate of 12-5 per cent, (with three-tenths additional) of the amount taxable, which is two-thirds of the real annual value in the case of factories, and three-fourths in the case of dwelling-houses. By hiw of July 22, 1894, thj tax on incomes from movable wealth was raised to 20 per cent, of the amount taxable. The amount taxable in the case of incomes on which the tax payable may be levied by simply withholding the amount (public funds and treasury bonds) is the whole income ; where the tax may bo exacted by means of registers it i.=?, with some exceptions, thirty-

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