The log cabin Democrat., 1911-03-22

the Hurst-Bradham revenue bill, as amended by the judiciary committee and passed by the lower house of the general assembly. It has been read twice in the senate and will probably come up for final consideration in the upper house within few days.
 The bill is so voluminous, occupying 150 printed pages, and so revolution ary in it's changes of our present mode of assessing property and levy | ing taxes, that it would be impossible even to summarize it in the space of an ordinary newspaper. Among the more important changes with refer ence to the assessment, are the fol- lowing:
 The equalization board, which the ] bill denominates as the board of su- pervisors of assessments, instead of being appointed by the governor, are named, one by the governor, one by the state tax commission and one by the county judge. Their first official meeting is to be held in February, at which time they must confirm the ap- pointment of any deputy appointed by the assessor. The assessor begins work on the first Monday in March, spending three days in each township, and continues his work until the first Monday in August. The equalization board then meets and works on the assessment fro mthe first of August until September 15, and parties whose assessment from the first of August the latter date and October 1 to ap pear before the board and register their complaints. After October l the state tax commission has the power to raise or lower the assessments in order to make all the property in ev- cry county assessed at 100 cents on the dollar. The annual school elec- tions are changed from the third Sat urday in May to the third Saturday in November and the annual meeting of the county levying court from the first Monday in October to the first Monday in December. The time of de- livery of the tax books by the coun- ty clerk to the sheriff is changed from the first Monday in January to the first Monday in February.
 But perhaps the most important feature of the bill is the sliding scale" of the rates of taxation for va rious purposes. Under our present levy, in this city and county for in stance, we have a rate of taxation as follows: state tax, including general, school, pension and capitol 6 3-4 mills; county general, mills; county road, 3 mills; district school, mills; city, mills. The Hurst -Bradham bill provides for a sliding scale of state taxation, based on the aggregate assessed valuation of all property in the state. This scale is apparently right and proper and will probably provide ample revenue for all state purposes.
 The proposed law, however, at tempts to place a limit on taxation by counties, school districts and munich palities that appears to us to be very impracticable. It bases all taxation for these local purposes on the assess ment of 1910 and, under it's provis- ions. no county, school district, city or incorporated town will be able to col feet more revenue in any year follow ing than was collected from the as sessment of 1910. Every increase in the assessed valuation will be met by proportionate reduction in the rate of taxation, so that even if the as sessed valuation should be three times as great as it was in 1910, the rate would be reduced to about one-third what it was in 1910, and the revenue will remain practically the same.
 Let us take the Conway school dis trict for an example. The present as sessed valuation of this district is, in round numbers, about S1 ,000,000. We vote, almost unanimously, the maxi mum rate of seven mills, because it takes every dollar of this amount to run the school The city is growing fast and the demands on the school are increasing rapidly. Now, let us assume that the present assessment is on a 50 per cent basis. In this years assessment then, if we follow the new law, We will double our as sessment. This will, under the law, cut our maximum rate for district school down to three and siX-tenths mills, almost exactly half the present rate, and will leave the revenue the