The Ocala banner. (Ocala, Marion County, Fla.) 1883-194?, 1920-10-15
COL. ROGERS AND THE BOND
AMENDMENT

| SS.tullOn ISdio as lUilOMS.
"The legislature shall provide for
raising revenue sufficient to defray
the expenses of the state for each fis-
cal year, and also sufficient sum to
pay the principal and interest of the
existing Indebtedness of the state.
Should the bond amendment fell
anyone can see from the above Sec
ton of the constitution that the nest
leeisIa' ure or any legislature that ma
be held in the future can levy direct
Tax on the people of the state to raise
all he money that they would have
the tight to raise by a bond issue.
The nne million one hundred and
sevsnJ -four thousand dollars allotted
to Florida by the federal government
for post roads is not all the next leg
islature will have to meet on the road
question, but the overhead expenses
of the state road department, such as
salaries and expenses of the members
of the department, the salaries of the
road engineers, the foremen and
guards of convicts, road machinery,
and last but not least the feed, cloth
ing, housing and railroad transporta-
tiop of our seven hundred state con-
victs | cannot understand how the
amount will be less than two millions
per year.
Tire legislature that is to meet in
April, 1921, has to enact laws and
make appropriation for two years from
July q, 1921, to July 81, 1928, and the
legislature of 1923 will have to make
appropriations to meet the expenses
of the state for the next two years, to
July 1, 1925, and so on. If the bond
amendment carries and the legislature
should issue three or five millions of
bonds or any amount less than five
per cent. of assessed valuation, all the
property of the whole state would be
responsible for the Indebtedness, but
it is the constitutional right of the
legislature to devise ways and means
to pay the interest and sinking fund
from licenses and special taxes.
do net like the proposed plan of
making the increased license on auto
mobiles pay for the state roads. I
have no automobile, therefore it would
not affect me, but the licenses on mo-
~, 1.o~r oro ITCH o,,o,,oI, opd DC Coo
It justice demands that fifty per cent.
Of the auto license should go to the
county in which paid, TO help keep the
county roads, and half to the state for
| state roads.
A tax of one cent gallon On gaso-
line at the ratio of consumption for
the past year would raise for two
years over one million two hundred
thousand dollars. Add to this the fifty
per cent. of automobile licenses and
you would more than have the inter
est and sinking fund on a five million
dollar state bond issue, and funds
enough to meet the expense of the
state road department, feed, clothe,
guard and keep the 700 state convicts
en- the public roads.
/ am scringing from the direct tax
on my little property that will be lev
ed 10 meet the federal appropriation
and the needed expenses of building
state roads if we have no state bond
issue; but some say that awful CD
debt
Had the projectors of the railroads
not bonded to build the roads, Ocala
Or Marion county would not have had
railroad TO bring the necessaries of
life and carry the products of our in
dustries and our soil to market.
| Some of our prosperous farmers
have bonded their homes to the feder-
al reserve banks for a period of thirty
to thirty-five years for money at five
per cent. interest per annum to enable
them to move out their fence, buy
more land and stock, and now they
are prosperous.
There is not city or town Of any
note in this state that is not bonded.
do not know of county in Florida
that is not bonded or has an out
standing interest-bearing Indebtedness
against it. Ocala has a bonded in
debtedness and our taxes are not bur
I densome. Jacksonville. the most pros
porous city. in Florida, has her mil
lions of bonded Indebtedness, and yet
her tax rate would indicate that she
had no debt.
The two mill road tax levied by the
last legislature gets about seven hun
bred thousand dollars per year. If the
next legislature should be forced to