Indiana daily times. [volume] (Indianapolis [Ind.]) 1914-1922, 1921-08-08
WOULD KEEP
SAFEGUARDS
OF TAXATION
Continued From Page Ons.)

Federal constitution, providing that ms
State shall deprive any person of life,
liberty of property, without. due process
Of law, or deny to any person within its
Jurisdiction the equal protection Of the
laws"
This amendment, It will be observed.
guards just as carefully property and
the right to acquire hold and enjoy 1t
as it does either life or liberty. All
three are National rights and the shield
Of the Federal constitution is thrown
about them.
STATES TO ATTEND
TO DOMESTIC AFFAIRS.
But while this is true, the fourteenth
amendment does not otherwise seek to
control the States in regulating their do
nestle affairs or interfere with their po-
litical independence. The States arc free
to adopt their own tax system, classify
ing property for taxation as they please,
so long as there IS uniformity in appli-
cation and an absence Of the exercise OF
arbitrary power.
The proposed amendment giving the
Legislature power to provide by law for
a system Of taxation" Is a revolutionary
proposal and will authorize that body to
tax what it pleases and to whatever limit
] ,
! ton on the ground that under It a tax
system can be worked out that viii bring
more property on to the assessment list
by taxing some persons at q lower rate
| than others.
| So far as I am concerned, It viii require
more than the bringing Of an additional
! few hundred thousand dollars on to the
! assessment roll, to he taxed ar mere pit
! lance. to get my consent to surrender all
| constitutional limitations on the Legis-
! lature regarding the subject Of taxation
/ CONSTITUTIONS safeguards are not to be
J bartered away in this manner and the
people owning visible property can well
/ afford to endure the injustice now i'm
posed upon them until they can get a
/ Legislature that will propose safe and
! sane modification Of Section 1 of Article
/ 10 or our constitution, if indeed it should
! at all be changed
! Under the constitution Of Indiana.
adopted in 1916, equality IN assessment
/ and taxation OF property did not prevail.
Favoritism in taxation did not then meet
/ with the approval Of the people. Prop
( erty was then hidden from the assessor,
/ just as it is today and when Section
! Of Article 10 was under discussion, in the
convention Of 1851, the member who had
| offered It said:
/ IT believe that there is hardly a sub
/ tect connected with our State government
/ which has attracted more general atten-
/ tjon among the people than the existing
/ inequality in the assessment and taxation
I Of property"
RECORD OF 1916
/ CONSTITUTIONS.
| What assurance can the people hare
/ that if they remove all limitations on tbs
| Legislature. q more equitable and salts
( factory tax system viii be enacted than
/ we now have: When the Legislature was
much freer under the 1915 constitution to
! work out a tax system than it is under
/ our present constitution, things we're just
/ as unsatisfactory as they are now. In
rangibles then escaped taxation and the
/ lands, herds and focks Of The farmers
were required to bear the greater part
/ or it..
/ The truth is that the right sort Of az
effort has not been made by any political
I party to give the people as good tax
system as can he worked out under our
/ present constitution. And when we are
/ told that the people can trust the Legis-
lature without any restraint upon 1t, to
/ deal fairly and wisely with them or the
/ important subject Of taxation, we should
not fail to reflect that this proposed
amendment shows what an Indiana Legis-
I
with the best Of motives.
in the quotation 1 have just made
| from the appeal in support Of the pro-
posed amendment it viii be observed that
| it is urged that part of the expenses
! % Government should be met through
classification Of property or an income
/ tax.
VIEWS OF
SvnTSENRrRC
II these expenses should be met in this
| way. why ask for the amendment?
/ think 1t will be fairly admitted by the
legal profession Of Indiana that Senator
Evan 3. Stotsenberg is one among the
very first lawyers Of the State. He was
attorney general when the commission on
taxation in 1916 was considering the tax
question. and in one Of his opinions to
that body he called attention to the 1act
that "the only State having constitu.
tlonal provision requiring an equality OF
rate of taxation which taxes incomes is
Massachusetts,
He pointed out to the commission that
II has been held by the Supreme Court
/ Of Massachusetts, that a law which makes
en- assessment upon incomes at the same
rate as other property is constitutional
and that it would be constitutional in
Indiana to model an income act after
the Massachusetts rule and tax incomes.
derived from sources other than real and
personal property, at the rate fixed for
| other taxable property"
| 1t is not necessary, therefore, to adopt
the proposed amendment in order to get
an incbme tax law. Under the holding
| of Senator Stotsenberg, we can have such
a law without surrendering all consti-
utionsl limitations on the Legislature,
and this fact should not be ignored. Abb
solute power in governmental agencies
has been the curse Of the world. All man
kind vet trembles over the assault re-
Gently made through an abuse of this
power on civilizations richest achieve
ments and Indiana cannot afford to give
any branch Of her government so danger
Gus . power