The San Francisco call., 1905-01-04
REVENUE QUESTION
RESPONSIBLE FOR
NEW CONSTITUTION

AS the revenue question was the one
which was principally responsible for
. the calling of the constitutional con-
vention, SO it was the one which in
that body was discussed longest and
with greatest energy. The utmost de-
termination was shown to adopt a
plan of taxation which should reach
all species of property and make every
class of people bear its proper share of
the burden of taxation. The State
Board of Equalization was made con-
stitutional and the mortgage tax prob
lem was solved by treating the mort
gage as an interest in the property
and allowing a proportionate deduc-
ton from the assessment on the latter.
In the old constitution the subject
of revenue and taxation had been dis
posed of in one section of five lines,
but in the new constitution a whole
article, embracing thirteen sections,
was devoted to it.
The gist of the old constitution with
reference to taxation was contained in
these two sections, said to have been
taken from the first constitution of
Texas: Taxation shall be equal and
uniform throughout the State. All
property in this State shall be taxed
in proportion to its value, to be ascer-
tained as directed by law"
Some of the warmest debates of the
convention of 1879 took place over
the question whether the equal and
uniform" provision should go into the
new constitution, upon which some Of
the ablest members insisted. But II
was upon that provision that the un-
popular decisions of the Supreme
Court had rested and a majority of the
delegates voted to exclude the words
from the new instrument.
The provision that all property shall
be taxed in proportion to It's value was
retained, but with it was included a
definition of property" which was
meant to be so thorough going that
nothing should thereafter escape from
the tax-gatherer. It was declared that,
for purposes of taxation, property
should include moneys, credits, bonds,
stocks, dues, franchises and all other
matters and things, real, personal and
mixed capable of private ownership
the only exceptions being growing
crops and public property.
1t was further provided that al.
property should be assessed in the
political subdivision where situated,
save and except railroads operated in
more than one county, which were to
be assessed for both State and county
purposes by the State Board of EQuali-
zation. 1t had already been recognized
by the lawmakers of Illinois and Mis-
souri, that great railroad could not
be properly assessed piecemeal, and
their plan of assessment Of such prop
erty by a State board was followed by
sc1- constitution makers.
1t was the expectation of the franz
ers of the new constitution, as we have
seen, that a great deal of property
would be taxed which heretofore had
escaped. One of the leaders re-
marked:
We have said that all property should be
taxed in proportion to its value In addition
to that we say that property which has here
tofore been held not TO be property shall for
purposes of taxation be Deemed property and
subject to taxation. That covers the ground.
This boast was not justified by re-
suits, and the effect of the new con-
stitution in the direction of increasing
assessments was. after the first year,
very disappointing. In 1879, the last
year of the old constitution, the as
sessment roll amounted to $549, 900, 900,
and in 1880, the first year of the new,
it rose to $500, ,000, 900, and the proportion
of personal property increased from
90 per cent of the whole to 26 per cent.
But the next two years the aggregate
of the roll declined. and the proper
ton which the personal property-the
kind of property which 1t was the
special aim of the makers of the new
constitution to reach-pears to the
whole commenced to- diminish from
that time forth. From 261S per cent il
went down as low as 1856 per cent,
and is now practically stationary at
Is per cent. So that, despite theaDra-
CONAN rigor of the definition given to
property in the first section of the
article on taxation in our present con-
stitution, the tax gatherers find not
more Of personal property than before,
but even relatively less, and absolute
~ less most Of the time. For the aggre-
gate of personal property assessed new