The Greenville journal. [volume] (Greenville, Ohio) 1850-1918, 1908-01-16
{ arbitrary Or lneouItanIe lesls...

OF arbitrary or lnequitaDIe Iesrs.~
Form Of Amendment Suggested.
Article XII, Section .. The Gener-
al Assembly shall have power to es-
tablish and maintain an equitable
system for raising state and local rev.
enue. 1t may classify the subjects OF
taxation so far as their differences
justify the sane in order to secure
just return from each. All taxes and
other charges shall be imposed for
public purposes only and shall be just
to each subject. The power of taxa
tion shall never be surrendered, sus-
pended or contracted away.
Bonds of the state of Ohio, bonds
of any city. village hamlet, county or
township In this state and bonds is
| sued in behalf of the public schools
OF Ohio and the means of instruction
in connection Herewith. burying
grounds. public school houses, houses
used exclusively for public worship,
institutions of purely public charity
public property used exclusively for
| any public purpose, and personal prop
erty, to an amount not exceeding In
value $500, for each individual, may,
by general laws, be exempted from
taxation; but all such laws shall be
subject to alteration or repeal; and
the value Of all property, so exempted
shall, from time to time, be ascertain
ed and published as may be directed
by law.
All Ka~ae ,pd aNan,nEi0ne - Forca
when this amendment is adopted shall
remain in force, in the same manner
and to the same extent, unless and
until otherwise directed by statute.
The words in black face type
above designate the new matter. The
exemptions are not changed except
that as to public bonds such eXemp-
tion is permiSsiyc instead of manda
tory. This was necessary in order 10
make harmonious and consistent the
plan of repOsinG broader powers OF
taxation in the general assembly. The
provisions as to burying grounds,
schools, churches, public property, in
stitutions OF pablic charity and all
other exemptions are not changed in
any particular.
1t will be seen that this proposed
amendment does not require ClasSi.
fication as did the amendment submit
ted in 1903. 1t merely authorizes such
classification 1t does not permit any
and all classlfications, as did the
amendment in 1908. but only such as
are fairly warranted by the differ
ences in subjects of taxation in order
10 secure just return from each sub
ject
1t will be seen further from the con
plt1 li1,,r ont Of 4
tlat all tax or exemption laws now in
force shall remain in operation until
changed by the legislature. This was
added out of abundant precaution i'll
order that, in fairness to all taxpayers
as we'll as to the state, no doubt could
be raised as to the status or validity
of existing laws.
Under this amendment the general
assembly may, we believe. correct the
wrongs that have developed in the
present tax system of Ohio. It may
credits. stocks and bonds that will
bring them out of hiding.
The general assembly will be free
to deal with corporation taxes in any
manner that promises the best results,
both to the corporation and the state.
1t will be able to protect the corpora
tions from a multiplicity of tax laws,
such as are now in operation, and
evolve instead one, definite and easily
COnDUtcd charge for each class of cor
poratiOnS which shall be imposed in
lieu of all other taxes state or local.
AS to public service corporations in
particular, ii may, of course, extend
the Nichols law without an amend
ment of the constitution; but after
such amendment the legislature may
well determine to adopt the more mod.
ern and generally approved method of
taxing such corporations by percent
age Of their gross receipts. substitute
ing this for all other taxes, either upon
property or privilege.
Such a tax is now most universally
accepted as preferable to any method
Of property valuations. In recent
and comprehensive study of this suIH
iect, as found in the reports of the
Ontario commission Of 1905, and the
California commission of 1906 tie
gross earninps tax is commended as
the true method of taxing public ser
vice corporations. OF course such
tax upon gross receipts should be so
devised as to bear a fair relation to
actual earnings and should be large
enough to secure a sufficient return
from the corporations affected to sup
plant all other state or local charges
upon them. This method can be adopt
ed only after an amendment to the
constitution,
State Tax Board.
We recommend,
Second, the establishment of state
board of three members, to be ap-
pointed by the governor to admins
ter all laws for the collection of state
revenues and to make such recon-
mendations upon the general subject
of taxation as investigation and exper-
Ience may from time to time suggest.
Such a board or commission would
take the place of the dozen or more
eX-ofiicio boards to which attention
has already been called. The mem
bers of it should be required to give
all their time to the work and to en-
gage in no other business or employ
ment. We believe that the concentra-
tion OF all such work in a body of this
character would greatly increase the
state revenues under existing laws,
and would be of incalculable service
in the development of a juster system
both for the state and the local COM
munities. 1t would be especially bene- |
fetal to have a state board for the per-
formance Of these duties in the event
that constitutional amendment is
adopted.
Appraise Property Oftener.
We recommend,
Third, a more frequent apprase-
ment of real estate.
Real estate should be appraised for |
taxation at least once in every four
years, and once in every two years
would probably not be too frequent. |
The decennial plan was adopted at a |
time. when the real estate of Ohio |
consisted almost wholly of farm lands. |
The present decennial boards were |