The Salt Lake tribune. [volume] (Salt Lake City, Utah) 1890-current, 1910-11-06
AMENDMENTS To
Be PASSED Upon
Five Questions Are Before the
Voters of the State Next
Tuesday.
BRIEF STATEMENT AS
TO WHAT THEY MEAN
Electors Should Carefully Con-
slider These Matters Be-
fore Voting.

Five questions relative to proposed
amendments TO the constitution Of Utah
will be voted on at tho election next
Tuesday They relate to the revenue
of the state, the creation of state
high school fund, the proposition where
by the Legislature may appropriate
money for the aid of high schools
throughout tho state, the increasing Of
the bonded indebtedness Of the state,
and the increasing Of the bonded in
debtednoss of cites and counties
The first question as it appears on
tho ballot follows:
\ proposed amendment to section
of article IL OF the constitution OF inc
state of Utah. fixing The rate OF taHa-
tion for state purposes, apport'ohlhS
same and creating hlSn Scnool luilo'
Under The constitution of Utah, the
tax levy for state purposes automat-
ically decreases from s mills TO . mails
whenever the assessed valuation OF the
property IN the state reaches S2Oo,ooo,-
900 At present the assessed valuation
of the property in the state Is very close
to that point and under the constitution
of the state as it now stands the tax
revenue Of the state will be automatl-
cally decreased when the two hundred
million mark is reached. The proposed
amendment provides that the levy shall
remain at mills until the valuation
reaches 800, ,ooo. 900 and that one half
mill of this levy be devoted to Estate
high school fund.- to be apportloned as
the Legislature may direct,
Ground OF Opponents.
Opponents of this amendment base
their grounds for opposition on two fea-
lures of the proposed amendment. In
the first place they declare that they
favor the increase of the appraisal OF
the property TO somewhere near its real
value and if this is done they say that
the reduction in the tax levy will still
give the state ample revenue. Also
they oppose the rider in the form of the
half mill for high school purposes, on
the ground that they are being taxed
twice for the same purpose, They de-
clare that the school tax should cover
school purposes. There is an objection
on the part Of the voters of the larger
and in addition to be called upon to
help the smaller school districts of the
state.
The second and third questions on
the voting machines specify the man
ner in which all funds for state high
school purposes may be arportioned, The
second question eliminates q part of the
section which says that high schools
shall be supported by local taxation
This elimination gives tho state legis
lature the power to appropriate money
for high school purposes. The third
question makes the apportionm ac-
cording to attendance at the school and
the educational qualifications of the
school,
Fourth Amendment.
The fourth question is on The amend
ment proposing to permit the increase
of the bonded Indebtedness of the state
nearly $3,000,000. Under the present
section of the constitution the bonded
Indebtedness is limited to 100000 in
excess of the territorial Indebtedness
which was 100000. The proposed
amendment allows the state TO increase
its bonded Indebtedness TO ] y per cent
of the total assessed valuation of the
property in the state. Under the amend,
ment the money so secured may be used
to erect new state capitol, but the
amendment does not limit it's use for
this purpose.
The fifth question is on the amend
ment which permits cities and counties
of the third class to increase their bond
ed indebtedness from per cent of the
assessed valuation, rs provided under
the section as it now stands, to per
cent.