The Democratic banner. (Mt. Vernon, Ohio) 1898-192?, 1911-05-16
general assembly this session.

for him and mighty expensive to the
people, that he does not want to lose.
IL Is the State Bureau OF Accountancy,
the members of which are appointed
by State Auditor Fullington. 1t is sup.
posed to be bipartisan organization
of the law There are but five Demo.
Gratis in this Bureau and 80 Republic
ans. The people of the various coun-
ties of Ohio paid as a tribute late
year to this machine of Fullingtons
$4,000 In the form of salaries and
expenses to the accountants. No vol
der Mr.. Fullington is fighting the bill
by Senator Cetone of Dayton, which
would take the Bureau out of Fulling-
tons hands, create separate depart
ment for 1t under the direction of an
expert accountant appointed by the
governor and would equally divide all
subordinate in the department among
the two parties. Fullington will be a
candidate for reelection next year and
this machine would be a valuable aid
to him in his candidacy.
By it's action Wednesday in passing
the Smith 1 per cent tax bill, the Ohio
senate plainly said that it believed in
giving the taxpayer protection against
the tax spender. "The authority which
demands must be curbed," said Gov
ernor Harmon in his message to the
general assembly, and that body has
/ obeyed the mandate. The Smith bill
has passed both houses, but will have
to go to the house for concurrence in
few amendments niade in the senate.
That will be done and within the next
fortnight the bill will become law
Senator Dore, of Tiffin, who has
proved to be a strong arm of the ad-
ministration, led the fight in the SEN
ate for this big bill. He succeeded
in defeating every material amend
ment offered by the Republican min
ority, which sought to both cripple
and defeat this big reform measure
The passage of this bill marks the
most important step taken by the leg
| islature and state administration to
completely reorganize the taxing laws
of Ohio. Adopted 60 years ago. the taa
machinery, under modern conditions
was not only crude, but decidedly in
effective. Tax dodgers thrived under
the old laws; farmers and owners OF
tangible property were compelled tc
bear an unjust portion of the tax bur
den, and the major part of personal
property was not placed on tax dupli
Gates
The most inlquitous thing about the
i old system was that the, taxpayers hat
no means to check extravaganza o.
their public officers. These men de
cided on the amount of money they
were to expend for year, and ther
made a levy to produce that amount
The taxpayers had no alternative bu
to pay.
Hereafter the maximum rate canno
exceed l per cent unless the people
vote for higher rate A budget com
mission will inspect all separate lev
les in county and see that they are
kept within the 10 mills limit. Sink
ing fund and interest, and such obliga
tions as the people may by vote here
after authorize are exempt for the
per cent limitation.
The ideal condition with respect t
taxation can only exist when all prop
erty is on the tax duplicate at its tru'
value in money. Then there will be n,
favoritism Under the old system c
high rate, higher in many instance
than the increment of investments,
was impossible to get the great mas
of personal property on the duplicate
Owners of it perjured themselves t.
hide it from assessors. Real estat
was placed on the duplicate at any
where from S to 60 per cent of its va
ue. Inequality instead of equality wa
, the rule.
The low rate should have differen
influence, for under it all propert
owners can return ali their propert
!, at its true value, and still not pa
any more taxes than they did unde
q the high rate.
Under the low rate, property inves
:, ed in prosperous corporations can b
. returned for taxation and still leave
: wider margin for profit than was rea
lied when money was placed in an
. A per cent non-taxable public bond
: We must have a full and honest a
sessment of property to make the
per- cent rate success. So, the su