- 15-
 
long-term obligations of the Reich might be considerably
 
augmented as compared with the preceding year. In the first
 
third of the current fiscal year, 4.2 billion RM was invested
 
in loans and interest-bearing Treasury bonds, in addition
 
to which there was an increase of 75 million RM in the
 
mortgage bank (Rentenbank) loan granted to the Reich since
 
the beginning of the war. Hence we may assume that in the
 
final report on the 1940 fiscal year some 13 billion RM
 
will appear as the borrowing under the budget. In the
 
fiscal year 1938 the administrative revenue brought in 1.1
 
billion and in the fiscal year 1939 1.8 billion RM. In
 
addition, there were in each of the two fiscal years fully
 
100 million RM in special payments of States and Communes.
 
So in the fiscal year 1940 there should be available about
 
15 billion RM, in all, as special means of covering, so that
 
the probable amount needed for appropriations by the Reich
 
is to be calculated at 41 to 42 billion RM.
 
The general means of covering of the Reich budget at
 
the end of March 1940 were estimated at 24.7 billion RM for
 
the fiscal year 1940 by the Reich Finance Ministry in an
 
estimate that is, on the whole, probably too cautious.. This
 
amount was made up as follows (in millions of RM):
 
Property and transfer taxes    14,366
Customs and consumption taxes                    4,654
Special war taxes 2,680
 
Tax and customs revenue combined                                21,700
War contribution of States and Oommunes 1,500
Other general budget revenue 1,500
 
General means of covering, altogether 24,700