IT has long been a commonplace among students of taxation that the provision of revenues and the wise control of expenditures of city governments constitute a vital problem in the field of public finance. Briefly stated, the problem has been to provide by equitable means enough revenue to permit efficient performance of the many new functions which public opinion has devolved upon local governments. The progressive urbanization of our people has accentuated this problem while it has supplied us with proofs of its seriousness. In 1909 there were in the United States 158 cities with populations exceeding 30,000 and with an aggregate population of 25,600,000. Of these 158 cities, 16 had populations in excess of 300,000. Financial statistics for that year show per capita revenue receipts of $26.-1 and governmentalcost payments of $30.11 per capita. By 1916 there were 213 such cities with an aggregate population of over 32,000,000. Per capita receipts and payments were $30.83 and $33.11 respectively. In 1918, the latest year for which figures are available, 227 cities over 30,000 population had a totalpopulation of well over 34,000,000. Each of the inhabitants of these cities made a contribution to the city's treasury of $32.75 and bore as his share of expenditures a burden of $34.16. In normal times expenditures of local governments amount to 45 per cent of the expenditures of all governmental units, federal, state and local. An inquiry into the sources of revenue of American cities should, therefore, be of more than ordinary interest. During 1918 the revenue receipts' of the 227 cities with a population over 30,000 amounted to $1,194,094,899. Table I shows the aggregate figures from each source and the per capita and per cent distribution of this total. It will be seen from this table that account for slightly over 70 per cent of all revenue receipts. By as the term is used in the reports of the Census Bureau, is meant all compulsory revenues other than fines and special assessments. The term, therefore, includes general and special property taxes, poll and business taxes and various license taxes, whether or not accompanied by he issuance of a permit, and has this meaning wherever used in this paper. Of the total of over $790,000,000 received from nearly $722,000,000, or 91.3 per cent, is derived from taxes on property. Of this latter sum over $705,000,000 is produced by the general property tax, the remaining $16,000,000 being secured from special property taxes. The latter consisted largely of taxes on bank stock and corporations, nearly three-fourths of which was collected by Massachusetts and New York cities. In fact, taxes on property accounted for 64.2 per cent of all revenue receipts. Over $66,000,000 was produced by business and license taxes, the larger part of this total