The Pulaskian., 1917-01-12

ion he shall be guilty of malfeasance in office.
 Fourth, our methods of reaching intangible personality need compre- hensIve revision. Mortgages should either be reached by a flat filing fee not to exceed one-haIf of one per cent, | when filed. in lieu of all other taxes, 1 regardless of the time the mortgages run. so arranged that the mortgagee. rather than the mortgagor, should pay the tax, as in Oklahoma, or the Penn sylvania method, which has been fol- lowed ky a number of States with uni form success, of imposing a low an nual tax uniform throughout the State. upon mortgages and other intangibles, should be adopted. Systematic meth ods should be developed for assessing franchise values and corporate ex- cesses,' and all public service corpo- rations should be assessed directly by l the Tax Commission as a central board and the entire revenue from this source should accrue to the State, leaving to 1 the counties and minor subdivisions l thereof the revenues from other realty and personality I am aware that the latter part of this program will re- quire a constitutional amendment, which, in my Judgment. is of such par amount importance that 1t should be submitted as one of the three amend ments allowed at the next general elec< ton.
 Favors Inheritance Tax Commission.
 Fifth, our inheritance tax law, l which has proved such a lucrative source of just revenue. should be 1 amended in accordance with the recom- mendations of the retiring attorney general as to include the rights of dover and courtesy, with exemptions c i. nd that the method of collection should be radically changed. This tax which In 1902 yielded only $6o2.11, this year has already yielded a revenue of SS1,- 05S, but under our present system of giving fees of s.0 per cent to the at torney general and his special attor- neys for collection of delinquent in- heritance taxes. the cost of collection has exceeded $10.0oO per annum for the last fiscal year.
 T respectfully recommend to the General Assembly the passage of bill vesting the collection of the inheri- tance tax in the State commissioner, or if this Is not done. the creation of the office of inheritance tax attorney for the State who shall be appointed by the governor, whose compensation shall be $3,500 per annum, and neces- sary travelling expenses, who shall have exclusive charge of the collection of the inheritance tax Of the State and power to file complaint in the name of the State in the probate court Of any county having Jurisdiction of the estate from which any taxes may ac- crue. If this saving in the cost Of coi- lection isi effected, and the rights of dover and courtesy, statutory rights in Araknsas are included within the purview of the inheritance tax. 1 be- lieve that within the next biennial pe- I riod the inheritance tax will yield minimum of s250,000 to the treasury of Arkansas.
 Favors Increased Franchise Tax.
 Sixth, the rate of the present fran chise tax charged corporations doing | business in Arkansas, should be in- creased from one-fifteenth Of one per cent of the capital stock employed to one-tenth of one per cent. additional fees should be paid by common car riers. telegraph. telephone and gas companies; and the law taxing insur- ance companies should be amended so as to fix the tax rate paid by life, sc- cident, surety and miscellaneous com panies at 2 12 per cent on bulk pre- miums collected In the case of fire insurance companies, I am of the opin- ion that tax of 1-2 per cent on the gross. after allowing for reinsurance in authorized companies, cancelled and returned policies, would be fair. This | 3 1-2 per cent fee is in accord with many of the other States of the Union
 Arkansas, it is conserv@tiyely esti- mated, will be S75S.31S.1S in debt on the first daE@of July; our State war rants are being hawked and peddled around at a rate sometimes as low as 9S cents on the dollar; our credit at home and abroad is being seriously impaired and our State institutions are compelled to buy their supplies at credit prices, frequently 22 per cent higher than corresponding cash prices.
 Use Capitol Tax Revenue.
 By abolishing our present State capitol tax of one-eighth of a mill. which produces an annual revenue of $57000 and taking care of the main tenance of the capitol out of the gen eral revenue fund, we could easily shift this one-eighth of mill as Q sinking fund to protect a short=time note issue, to run not exceeding 20 years, issued in serial form so that a proportionate part of the principal and interest would fall dne each year, bearing rate of interest not exceed Ing 1-2 per cent in such a way to take care of a note issue of $750,- d of our outstanding warrants and could promptly cash them at par, and 1t would redeem the credit of the State and put Arkansas on a cash basis.
 "Of the Southern States. Maryland has total inde btedness of $19,699,5 ,594. or $14.72 per capita; Virginia, $24.s29, 471, or $11.62 per capita; West Vir- ginia. $1.151.9S7, or $S6 per capita; North Carolina ss.US5 sos, or $S.S7 per capita; South Carolina, ss.554.S1S, or s4.12 per capita; Georgia, $6.s7s.1S5, | or $40 per capita; Florida. $3.152.617. or s3.72 per capita; Alabama, $14.365. 059, or S6.a5 per capita; Mississippi, sS, I46. 290. or s2.71 per capita; Texas. s5,- 17.e55, or $11s per capita: Oklahoma. "A years younger than Arkansas. ST. HIT, or s3.50 per capita Missouri s7.5T0.351. or $2.24 per capita; while J Arkansas has at the present time a funded and floating debt of only s2.- o43.343, or s1.21 per capita. The major portion of this indebtedness of Arkan- sas represents school funds, held in trust for the benefit of the school chill Af thn G4nf ha -hDr ffv,,e