The St. Mary banner. (Franklin, Parish of St. Mary, La.) 1889-1931, 1912-09-07

ton seed oil mills. cotton seed OIL re
fiuericS and refineries of petroleum and
it, products shall he assessed on the falr
market valuation
=. Intil otherwise provided by the
General Assembly by vote Of two thirds
of the members elected 10 each house All
operating mines Of sulphur, salt or other
minerals. all oil or gas wells all stone
quarries. sand. gravel and Shell pits shall
be taxed upon percentage ot the gross
value of the product at the mouth or
the mine. We'll. quarry ar pit. This per
centape shall not exceed five per cent Tor
sulphur: three per cent for salt TWO ana
one-h half per cent for oll ana gas an
two per cent for rock and other minera >
inclusive Of gravel. sand and shells. rms
tax shall not apply to the product OF any
mines. quarfies or pits or oil or gas wells
whore the owner. other than public ser
vide corporations, uses the same for his
personal purposes and does not sell the
same its products or manufacture the
same into another product for sale
W here gravel. sand shells are taken
from the beds Of public waters or from
shores not subject To private ownership
the General Assembly may levy specia
taxes per cubic yard Of material taken
out and may levy different special tax
for each OF said objects of taxation. The
Government of the United States for any
purposes. and contractors engaged in the
construction Of any public work for the
State or for the United states solely for
the purpose of such public work are all-
thoriZed to take free from taxation
gravel. shell or sand from the beds of
public waters and the public shores of
the State Every citizen Of the State
shall have d similar right to take such
materials for his own personal use free
from taxation. unless they are taken for
sale. All real and personal property of
the owners of such mines. wells. quarrieS
and pits. except machinery. tools and i'm
Elements absolutely essentia! to the OPP
Grafton of any mine oil or gas well, stone
quarry. sand. gravel shell pit. and ex-
cept the products themselves while in
the hands of the producer, shall be To-
ally assessed and taxed.
TO- All real and personal property re-
served for local taxation shall be assessed
at such percentage not to exceed 100 per
cent Of its fair market value as each 10
cal governing authority may establish
and a lower percentage may be eStab-
ished for personal than for real property
or for the values of improvements than
for land values.
H. In all assessments OF real property
whether for local or for state purposes,
the value of the land shall be assessed
separately from the value of the improve
ments; but railroad. pipe line and canal
rights of way, whether held In fee or I'M
der easement may be assessed separately
from. or together with. the improvements
thereon as the Tax Commission may
deem most practicable.
H. Assessments shall he arranged geo
graphically as far possible either upon
he roll or upon separate records and the
General Assembly shall pass laws pro-
viding for the printing and publication in
pamphlet form Of the records. showing
such geogra phicslly arranged assessments
and for the sale Of such pamphlets at
small price.
IS Every taxpayer shall have the
right Of testing the correctness Of his as
sessnent in the courts within such time
as the General Assembly may prescribe
and no property shall be assessed for
sum in excess Of the percentage of its
fair market value as prescribed by the
governing authority.
a. State licenses and special State
taxes shall be due and payable at such
time as the General Assembly may pre-
scribe.
Article VII.
l. Every municipality shall have the
right to provide. at It's discretion, by
ordinance of its governing authority. the
officer or officers who shall collect its
he paid such officer, or officers. and the
mode of their election or appointment
and every Parish shall elect by vote of
its qualified electors the officer, or Off
GERS. to assess its property for taxation.
the compensation of such officer or OFF,
GERS to be fixed by the Police Jury not
less than ten months before the election
and not subject to change during the
elected officers incumbency. This power
shall not he exercised in the Parishes
nor in the Parish Of Orleans as to asses
sors. until the terms of Office Of the pres
eut inclmbents expire After January !.
1914. and until the expiration of the
terms of said officers all local assess
ments shall be made by the assessors of
each Parish and the assessors Of New
Orleans at the present rate of compensa
ton. All local taxes and licenses except
those levied by Municipalities shall pe
collected nv the Sheriff Of each Parish ex-
cept the Parish of Orleans. at the pres
ent rate of compensation unless such
compensation shall be changed by the
General Assembly. After January /,
1914. Parish Assessors shall be compen-
stated by the Parishes and the Assessors of
the Parish of Orleans by the City of New
Orleans. If under the referendum amend
ment submitted to the people at the same
time this amendment is submitted pro-
viding a way to relieve municipalities
from general parish taxes. subject to an
obligation to contribute to certain funds,
is adopted, then each municipality so re-
lieved from such taxation, shall have the
right by It's governing authority, to pro-
vide for the appointment or election Of
its own assessor or assessors and to fix
their compensation.
Article VIII.
l. In order to reimburse parishes and
municipalities now free from parish
taxes for loss of revenue caused by the
withdrawal of the sources of State rev.
enue from parish and municipal taxation,
there Is hereby granted to each parish and
to each such municipal corporation the
right to levy an additional tax of six mills
on unsegregated property.
2. In order to similarly reimburse mu
inequalities not now free from parish
taxes each parish shall levy annually for
eight years after January l. 1914, the
six mill tax aforesaid, so much thereof
as may be necessary. and out of the pro-
ceeds of this tax each parish shall. under
the supervision Of the Tax Commission,
compensate each such municipality
within its limits for loss of revenue
caused by such withdrawal Such COM
pensation to be made on the basis pro-
vided In the following sentence for com
pensation by the State to parishes If
the. proceeds of such tax remaining to
each parish. added to the proceeds of the
levy OF the one per cent tax now per-
mitted to be levied. after making the
compensation aforesaid. shall not be suffI-
Gent to repay to said parish the sum it
would have received by the levy of Its
present one per cent alimony tax on the