Pocahontas star herald., 1925-02-26
WOULD ASSESS AT FULL
VALUE FOR EDUCATION

There Is no more impor'ul' =,
pending in the General AssemOiy
the interest Of the public schools '""4
s. B. No. 3G4 by Senator Balie'
is designed solely and primarily ~
the relief of the public schools
was carefully prepared by comm.
foe of school directors and educators
and if enacted into law,it is 'Delle'eu
will bring about the reforms anu
lief which have long been recognlzeu
as imperative. The basis OF 'ne "'
law is a full assessment Of all propei'y
in the state, but it is so drawn 'ii"'
there will be no increase IN taA"',On
except for school purposes All o'"''
interests affected by taxation are ul'
disturbed.
The tax rates for state, county, to"n'
municipal and road purposes are "u.O-
matically reduced in proportion as 'ne
assessed value of property is increas-
ed. For example, the total aaScSSeu
value of all property in Arkansas ilo"
is approximately S6OO,OOO,oOO' .ne
State tax rate is 81 mills. IT, ulluer
the operation of the proposed law 'he
assessed value should be doubled lhe
State rate would at once drop TO f'''
mills. without any action Of the LeSls-
lature, thus yielding the same STATE
revenue as was raised in 1924, ap-
proximately $5,OOOOOO. Moreover, the
bill makes provisions for the proper
distribution of the revenue thus derN-
ed to the various objects of state TAX
alton as now fixed by law. The Dill
provides that the state rate shall DE
fixed in the following manner: DIVIDE
the total state revenue Of 1924 by me
assessed value of all property in the
State for the year for which the rate
is desired. The quOtient carried TO
the third decimal will be the State tax
rate for that year. The total assessed
property of the State multiplied by
his rate will give exactly the amount
of money that the State received from
the 81 mills in 1924.
The bill also provides for reducing
the county, town, municipal and road
tax rate as the assessed value in
creases. In levying county taxes the
Quorum Court shall divide the total
amount raised for county purposes in
1924 by the total assessment of proper
ty for the year for which a rate is be-
ing sought. In no case shall this rate
be more than enough to produce the
total county revenue yielded in 1924
The Quorum Court is directed to de-
termine the county road tax in the
same manner. likewise towns and
municipalities will fix their rates by
the same rule. Thus the public is
guaranteed by the bill itself that the
rates Of taxes will be automatically
reduced, so that the total amounts rails
ed for state, county, road and munich
pal purposes shall be exactly what
they were in 1924.
In the case Of local district school
taxes the bill provides that the people
themselves by vote every year shall
determine the rate of school tax up TO
II mills in annual school election. The
local district shall rate as the only tax
in our whole system which the people
themselves vote directly. That right
remains unchanged in the proposed
law. The date for the annual school
election j schanged to September in
order that the voters may know at the
time of the school election what the
total assessed value of the property of
that district is, 50 that they. knowing
how much revenue they desire. can
fix the rate accordingly.
The assessor is required to devote
his entire time to the work. making
n hOuse-tO-hOuse canvass of his county
i0SDpctinp all nronnrtv