The Sentinel=record., 1918-07-19
STILL DEBATING | THE TAX ISSUE
CONSTITUTIONAL CONVENTION HAS MUDDLED VARIETY OF
 PROPOSALS FOR ACTION
Very Doubtful If This Question Will Be Determined Within Next Few Days-Delegate Moore Ridiculcs Convention Proceeding.

Little Rock, July Denouncin Judge Evans substitute for SeCion four Of the tax proposals with its pro vision for uniformity and equality ol which had broken down wherever iC had been tried and as the gospel for |cyery tax dodger in Arkansas, when the substitute came before the con 'sttutional convention Thursday morn ing by virtue of a reconsideration vote, Chairman Head of the Committee on Taxation made his last speech foi classification of intangible property in a speech in which he reviewed all previous arguments and pleaded fo' Arkansas to get "out Of the rut of public bankruptcy"
 Chairman Head replied to Judge Evans defense of the substitute. Ht began by stating that his sole pur- pose in the convention was to alleviat e the present condition of affairs in Arkansas. He declared that unde, present conditions the tax system was a failure because only about seven per cent of the vast intangible wealth oi the State was on the tax bo.
 'TaX intangible property reason ably" declared Mir. Head, and it will De put on the Looks; it will put hun dreds of thousands of dollars
 into the treasury that has never been there before it will even lower the rate, but pass Judge Evans substitute and you will drive every dollar of capital out of Arkansas. This substitute cannot he enforced if it become the law. It never has been enforced and there is no req son to suppose that it ever will be, What you are really doing by trying to pass the substitute is eXempting every dollar of intangible property in the State. Pass this substitute and you will have the thanks of every tax dodger in Arkansas
 MT. Head suggested that the entire issue involved in the substitute be left to special committee.
 Judge Evans Defends Substitute.
 In the longest speech which he has delivered before the convention, Juds C Evans in defense of his substitute, as serted that if the tax officers of the State would do their duty there would he no trouble with the present law. Judge Evans denounced the classifi cation of intangible property. in that t tried to obtain equality by cham pioning inequality" He declared that he spoke in behalf of the small farmer and the planter ''who had too long borne the burden of taxation in the State" and concluded with an appeal to follow the beaten ways in order that no mistake be made and that a constitution might be written whieh the people would adopt
 As soon as the Evans substitute was called up in the regular order of bus mess Delegate Moore of Phillips moved to amend it by providing that the legislature could not pass an in come tax provision until three years after the end of the present war The amendment was passed by a vote of 57 to 39,
 Delegate Rector of Pulaski offered the following amendmeI.
 Strike from said substitute all mat ter down to and including the word
 income, and substitute the following in lieu thereof.
 Section | Except as herein provid ed, all tangible property in this State shall be taxed at it's actual value. that value to be ascertained as prescribed by law; and taxes thereon shall he inn posed under general laws and for public purposes only and shall be equal and uniform within the terri torial limits of the authority levying the tax. No one species of tangible property shall be taxed higher than another species of tangible property of equal value and subject to the same tax. Taxes upon tangible, Franchises, licenses, inheritances, incomes and privileges may be collected as pre- scribed by law, but the tax upon in |gbles shall noe exceed the ia upon |langible property.
 Judge Evans objected to the intro- duction of the amendment, on the ground that it was really a substitute for his substitute, but the chair ruled that the amendment came within the rules, and the debate began.
 Delegate Moore of Monroe took the floor to ridicule what he termed the Ignorance and the ineXperience of the convention" in 20 minutes talk |filed with satire and burlesque He declared that he had listened to the speeches dumbfounded, confused and |paralyzed. and that the condition had not abated He compared the tax pro posals offered to the attitude of the mind of the Greeks when they erected on Mars Hill an altar to the unknown god. Mir Moore pointed out that there were even as many different sorts ol taxes proposed as there were gods in |Greece, "57 varieties in all" He re- ferred sarcastically to the authorities |quote1 by Chairman Head in his first address. and pleaded for what he