The Prescott daily news., 1916-07-27
ASSESSMENT AND
 TAXATION PROBLEM
Many Believe Will Not Be Set tied Right Until Constitution al Convention is Held for Re- vision of Organic Law.
By Clio Harper.

ment and taxation problem is up again. It has been a vexatious issue for years, and it will continue so until it is settled and settled right.
 And there are many who believe it will not be settled right until con stitutional convention is held for the revision of the organic law of the state. A new constitution has been agitated for years, and each session of the general assembly gets a little nearer to it. For the first time, the Democratic state platform is commit ted in favor of 1t. Dr. c. II. Brough, nominee for governor, is an advocate of a new constitution. Business in- terests and municipal interests throughout the state are demanding such relief as can come only through revision of our basic law Arkansas is almost the only Southern state that has not adopted a new constitution since the days of reconstruction when peculiar conditions required restric- tions that are now deterrent rather than protective
 The whole system of taxation and assessment, of public improvement finances, is out of joint, inadequate, a complex patchwork of statutory inconsistencies. This has been point ed out by members of the tax com mission, by Dr. Brough, and by many others who have given it a study Judge Jordan Sellers of Morrilton is the latest to cause an agitation of the subject, pointing out the danger that confronts all the counties in being forced through federal intervention to assess property at 100 per cent in order to provide revenue for meeting obligations due non-residents.
 To be sure, it has been pointed out that while orders for full assessments have been made against several coun- ties, all have been compromised and none ever enforced, but that fact does not eliminate the jeopardy in which the taxpayers of every county are placed.
 Assessment conditions have been greatly improved by the State tax commission, but still there is a wide diversity and lack of uniformity due to the inadequate system. The tax commission admits a range in assess ments from 20 to 70 per cent of the par valuation. During the last few years, the commission has eXerted it's efforts toward securing uniform as sessment of 30 cents, and their work has eliminated many of the most glaring inequalities. But there IS still much room for improvement.
 The provisions of the present con- stitution on this point are interest ing. It reads: All property subject to taxation shall be taxed according to it's value, that value to be ascer- tained in such manner as the general assembly shall direct, making the same equal and uniform throughout the state"
 The enabling acts that have been passed at various times to assist the revenue authorities in carrying out these provisions have failed because of their inadequacy and often their conflicting requirements. For ln- stance. the provisions requiring the commission to sit as State board of equalization cannot be enforced be cause of impossible conditions at tached to it.
 The ghost of the Turner-lacobson bill which was printed in the stat utes once, and then purged by the referendum, offered a means of re lief, providing an automatic system of increasing assessments and decreas- ing levies. But it was complex, ap- parently, and not easily understood, and the voters, always suspicious of anything pertaining to taxes, would have none of it. Students of tax conditions see now that the repeal of that law was a mistake. It may have had its faults, but they could have been cured by amendment. Something must be provided to take its place, for the state cannot continue long in the present condition.
 The advocates of the new constitu- tion contend that that will settle the |