The Pulaskian., 1917-01-19
NO PROPERTY 10
 ESCAPE ASSESSOR
STEVENS BILL, BEFORE GENER- AL ASSEMBLY, WOULD REQUIRE MARKET ASSESSMENTS ON
 CASH VALUE OF PROPERTY.

sAll property, tangible and lntangl- ble. of whatever kind subject to taxa tion in the State of Arkansas on the first day of June of any year, shall be assessed at it's reasonable cash mar ket value" reads the first paragraph of a bill introduced in the House by MT. Stevens of Columbia county.
 The bill goes on to affix penalties of one per cent for failure to properly assess, the fund thus established to be divided between the road and school districts of the county. Penal ties are also prescribed for the fail ure of the assessor to do his duty, and he is also made responsible to the county for any revenue lost because he has been lax in his methods of making assessments.
 The tax payer has the right to ap- peal through all state courts, but the assessor is given an incentive to make the right assessments, and to make them stick, by the offer of re- ward of 30 per cent tax collected on the property placed by him on the tax books. over the assessment handed in by the property owner, for the first S1.000, and on down to one per cent for everything over $10,OOO
 The Stevens bill was probably in spired by the following from the inau gural address of Gov. c. H. Brough:
 "In my humble opinion, there are several inherent defects in our system of taxation that need correction and careful consideration at the hands Of the General Assembly: First, the constitutional provisions governing taxation, which practically prevent the classification of property as it should be between realty, tangible personally, and intangible personal ty, restrictions that can only be re- moved by constitutional amendment or a new constitutional convention.l Section 5 of Article 16 of the Constl- tuition of 1874 is the organic authority for a revenue system, and it reads as follows: All property subject to taxation shall be taxed according to it's value, that value to be ascertained in such manner as the General Assem- ply may direct, making the same uni form throughout the state. No one species of property from which tax may be collected shall be taxed high CT than another of equal value
 "The time honored experience of inc Federal government and of every State in the Union is to the effect that, under a rule of uniformity, per sonalty, especially of an intangible character, like stocks and bonds, goes in hiding and is not and frequently cannot be reached by the assessors Statistics show that not more than ten per cent of the real value of in tangible personality is listed, because of the transitory character of such property, and that classification of property and segregation of the sources of revenue are absolutely nee essary to properly reach it. [There is no greater inequality than the equal treatment of unequals and no greater farce was ever enacted than the farce comedy of taxing realty, tangible personality, and intangible personally on the same basis and at the same rates.1 California, Wash ington, Oregon, Minnesota, New York, Wisconsin, and other progressive states have realized this, and have se- cured either by constitutional provi- sion or statutory enactment the classi- fication of property as to kind, and it's separation by sources.
 Our failure to assess property on a one hundred per cent basis, as the law requires, [resulting in confusion worse confounded, gross inequalities as between counties, and an apparent ly high rate of taxation, which drives capital away from our state and is the poorest advertisement our state could offer to investors.1 Since the decision of our Supreme Court in the -~--,-----------~-------