Pine Bluff daily graphic. (Pine Bluff, Ark.) 1893-1942, 1916-07-28
ASSESSMENT and
TAXATION PUZZLE
AGAIN DEBATED
Revision Of Organic Law of
Arkansas Only Way to
Settle It Right.
by Clio Harper.)

by Clio Harper.)
! Little Rock, July 27.-The assess
ment and taxation problem is up
again. 1t 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
of the general assembly gets little
nearer to it. For the first time, the
/ Democratic state platform is commit
| ted in favor of it. DR.. C. II. Brough,
nominee for governor, is an advo-
cate of q new constitution. Business
interests and municipal interests
throughout the state ct demanding
such relief as can come only through
a revision Of our basic law. Arkan-
sas is almost the only Southern state
that has not adopted new constitu-
ton since the days of reconstruction
when peculiar conditions required re-
slrictions that are now deterrent
rather than protective.
! The whole system Of taxation and
assessment, Of public improvement
Finances, is out of joint, inadequate,
la complex patchwork of statutory
Inconsistencies. This has been point
led out by members of the tax COM
mission, by DIR. Brough, and by many
others who have given it 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 inter
ventien to assess property at LOO per
cent in order to provide revenue for
meeting obligations due non-resi-
Idents.
4 To be sure, it has been pointed out
that while orders for full assess
ments have been made against sew
eral counties, all have been compro-
missed and none ever enforced, but
that fact does not eliminate the
jeopardy in which the taxpayers of
J every county are placed.
II Assessment conditions have been
greatly improved by the state tax
Commission, but still there is a wide
diversity and lack of uniformity due
l. to the Inadequate system. The tax
commission admits range in assess
: ments from 20 to 70 per cent of the
;, lpar valuation. During the last few
/ Years, the commission has exerted its
efforts toward securing uniform
: assessment of so 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-
lstitution on this, point are interest
= ing. 1t reads:
t "All property subject to taxation
, shall be taxed according to it's value,
: THAT value to be aseertained in such
ri manner as the general assembly
0 shall direct, making the same equal
, land uniform throughout the state"
l The enabling acts that have been
:, passed at various times to assist the
revenue authorities in carrying out
e these provisions have failed because
of their inadequacy and often their
. conflicting requirements. For m
lstance, the provisions requiring the
+ commission to sit as a state board oil
j, equalization cannot be enforced be-
cause of impossible conditions at
tached to it.
The ghost of the Turner-Jacobson
bill. which was printed in the sta
: tutes once, and then purged by the
referendum, offered means of re-
n lief, providing an automatic system
S of increasing assessments and de-
S creasing leyies. But it was complex,
e apparently, and not easily under
y stood, and the voters, always suspi-
cious of anything pertaining to
t taxes, would have none of it. Stu
y dents of tax conditions see now that
: the repeal of that law was mistake.
G It may have had faults, but they
, could have been cured by amend
ment. Something must be provided
to take it's place, for the state can
not continue long in the present con-
dition.
The advocates of the new consti-
tuition contend that that will settle
1.-The whole question.
eI =.