The Springdale news., 1917-01-19

l
 in office.
 Fourth. our methods of reaching Intangible personally need compre- hensiye revision. Mortgages should either be reached by a flat filing fee not to exceed ope-half of one per cent. when fled in'1Ieu of all other taxes. reg gardleBs 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 by a number of States with uni Pforrh 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 the Tax Commission as a central board and the entire revenle from this source should accrue to the State. leaving to the counties and minor subdivisions 1 thereof the revenues from other realty and personality. 1 am aware that the latter part Of this program will TO- quire 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 cleo .lon.
 Favcrs Inheritance Tax Commission.
 Fifth, our inheritance tax law, which has proved such a lucrative source of just revenue, should be amended in accordance with the reconI- mendetions of the retiring attorney general as to include the rights of dower and courtesy, with exemptions of s5,000 in each case. and I believe i, I elk. T be radically changed. This tax. which In 1902 yielded only s602.11. this year has already yielded revenue of SS1.- 053 but under car present system of i giving fees of $4 70 per cent to the at torncy general and his special attor- neys for collection of delinquent in heritance taxes. the cost of collection has exceeded $1o.00o per annum for the last fiscal year.
 T respectfully recommend to the General Assembly the passage of bill vesting the collection of the inhert tance tax in the State commissioner, or if this is not done. the creation of i the office Of inheritance tax attorney for the State. who shall be appointed ] by the governor. whose compensation shall be S3.500 per annum, and neees sary travelling expenses, who shall have ] exclusive charge of the collection of the inheritance tax of the State and power 10 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- cIQe. If =tAis saving in the cost of col lection Is effected, and the rights of dover and courtesy, statutory rights In Araknsas. afe included within the purview Of the inheritance tax. be- Heve that within the next biennial pc 1 riod the inheritance tax will yield minimum Of S250.00 to the treasury of Arkansas.
 Fn.ors Increased Franchise Tax.
 Sixth, the-rate Of the present fran chise tax charged corporations doing business Ia Arkansas should be in creased from ne-ftfteentn Of one per cent of the capital stock employed to 1 one-tenth of one per cent. additional fees should be paid by common car 1 riers telegraph. telephone and gas 1 companies and the law taxing insuF anCe companies should be amended so i as to fix the tax rate paid by life, ac- cident, surety and miscellaneous com panies at 12 per cent on bulk pre- nlums collected. In the case of fire Insurance companies, I am of the opin- ton that tax Of 1-2 per cent on the gross, after allowing for reinsurance
 
 returned policies. would be fair This 1-2 per cent fee is in accord with many of the other States of the Union.
 Arkansas. 1t is tonserv*tiyely esti mated, will be $753,31S.IS in debt on the first day of July our State war rants are being hawked and peddled around at d rate sometimes As low B 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 CnpEtoI Tax Revenue.
 By aboItshIug our present State capitol tax of one-eighth Of a mill, which produces an annual revenue of s5E000. and taking care of the main tenance of the capitol out of the gen. eral revenue fund. we could easily shift this oae-eighth of a mill as B sinking fund to protect a short-time note Issue, 10 run not exceeding 20 years issued in serial form so that proportionate part of the principal and interest would fall due each year. bearing rate of interest not exceed Ing 12 Der cent in such a way to take care Of note issue of S750. 00o. Such note issue would take care of our outstanding warrants and could promptly cash them at par. and it would redeem the credit of the State and put Arkansas on a cash basis
 'Of the southern States Maryland has total indebtedness of S19.699 594 or s1472 per capita; Virginia. 24.929. a71. or slI62 per capita; West Vir- ginia, sl.151.9s7, or $S6 per capita; North Carolina. 39,O35.sos. or $3.s7 per capita. south Carolina. s6,664.31s, or s+.12 per capita; Georgia, S6.67s.185. or s2.4 40 per capita; Florida. $3.162.6l or s3,72 per capita: Alabama st4 365- 059 or $6.25 per capita; Mississippi. s. i46 ago. or s2,7t per capita. Texas, s5.- 017.9b5. or t1.ts per capita; Oklahoma. 74 years younger than Arkansas. s7.- 237,177. or s3 50 per capita; Missouri. S7.570.351. or s224 per capita; while Arkansas has at the present time a funded and floating debt of only s2- o4s.343. or s121 per capita, The major portion of this Indebtedness of Arkan- sas represents school funds. held in trust for the benefit of the school chill dren of the State. If the short-time note issue of s75O.o00 which l have suggested should be approved and au- Thnr k4 he h