Article 70
For the defraying of all common expenses there shall be used first of all the joint receipts from the customs and common taxes, from the railway, post and telegraph systems, as well as from the remaining branches of administration. In so far as the expenditures are not covered by these receipts, they are to be met by contributions from the several States of the Bund according to the measure of their population, which contributions are to be charged to them by the Imperial Chancellor, to the extent of the amount fixed in the budget. In so far as these contributions are not covered by the amounts handed over to the several States, they shall be returned to the States of the Bund at the end of the year in the same measure as the remaining regular receipts of the Empire exceed its needs.
Any surpluses from the preceding years shall be used, so far as the imperial budget law does not provide otherwise, for defraying the joint extraordinary expenses.1 [Amendment of 14 May, 1904 (RGBl. P. 169]