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! EXECUTIVE COMMITTEE 



(By Concnauonal Districts) 



Ist to nth William Webb, Route One, JoUet 



12th G. F. Tullock, Rockford 



13th C, E. Bamborough, Polo 



14th W. H. Moody, Port Byron 



ISth B. H. Tavlor. Rapatee 



16th A. R. Wright. Varna 



17th F. D. Barton, Cornell 



I8th R- F. Karr. Iroquois 



I9ai J. L. Whisnand, Charleston 



20th Charles Borgelt. Havana 



21st Samuel Sorrells, Raymond 



22nd Frank Oexner, Waterloo 



23r«l.. ; W. L. Cope, Salem 



24th Charles Marshall. Belknap 



2Sth R. K. Loomis, ^iakanda 



Published once a month at 404 North Wesley Ave., 



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OFFICERS 



President, Earl C. Smith Detroit 



Vice-President, Charles R Finley Hoopeston 



Treasurer, R . A. Cowles Blotnninston 



Secretary, Geo. A. Fox Sycamore 



I LiLilNOIS 



CCLTVBAL ASSOCIA1 



RECORD- 



To advance the purpose/or which the Farm Bureau was organ- 

 ized, namely to promote, protect and represent the business, 

 economic, social and educational interests of the farmers of 

 Illinois and the nation, and to develop agriculture. 



. DIRECTORS OF DEPARTMENlfe 



Co-operative Acoountinf Geo. R. Wicker 



Dairy Marketing A. D. Lynch 



Finance R. A. Cowles 



Fruit and Vesetable Marfcetlng A. B. Leeper 



General Office J. H. Kelker 



Information E. G. Thiem 



Legal Counsel Donald Kirkpatrick 



Live Stock Marketing Wm. E. Hedgcock 



Organization G. E. Metzger 



Phosfrfiate-Limestone J. R. Bent 



Poultry and Egg Marketing F. A. Gougler 



Taxation and Statistics J. C. Watson - 



Transportation L. J. Quasey 



„ „ .....,, ,uiil Morrie, I1Iinoii>, by the Illinnm Affricultural Assoriation. Edited by Department of Information, E. G. Thiem, Director, 608 South Dearborn Street, 



Chicfuio, lUiDoin. Entered as second-class matter Ortober 20, 1025, at the post office at Mount Morris. Illinois, under the Art of March 3. 1879. Acceptance for mailing at special rate of poetag« provided for in Section 

 ■112. Act of February 2S, I*12.t. authorized Octotxr 27. 1925. The individual membership fee of the Illinois Aericultural Association is five dollars a year. The fee includes payment of fifty cents for subscription to the 

 IHiitoia Agricultural Association Rucohd. Postmaster: In returning an uncalled for or missent copy, please indicate key number on address as is required by law. 



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Taxes On Agricultural Land Be 

 Shifted? 



can 



C Watson. 



By JOHN C. WATSON 



Director^ Depnrtment of Taxation and Statistics 

 Illinois Agrictdlural Association 



THE general property tax is based upon 

 the assumption that uniformity of val- 

 uations insures a fair and equitable 

 distribution of the tax burden. 

 The assumption is not only un- 

 warranted, but cannot possibly 

 be true. As has been shown 

 in a previous article, most of 

 the income of the people of 

 Illinois is not derived from 

 property at all, but from sal- 

 aries, fees, commissions, and 

 wages, whiqh pay no direct 

 taxes in this state. 

 Property itself, even if valued uniformly, 

 have no uniformity in its tax burdens. 

 ! Sone propertv is easily hidden and usually 

 . 1 ev:. Ic3 the a*.- j-cv. If it is discovered, it 

 enn readtiy > ^-J nsferred to other localities 

 : or states, or ' " (-'el into tax free securities. 

 Real estate cannot escape the assessor, and 

 cannot easily be exchanged for other forms 

 of property. Property of the same value 

 produces widely varying returns. "Owners 

 of aome kinds of property easily can and do 

 add their taxes to the prices of their services 

 ; or products. Owners of other kinds of prop- 

 ; erty, notably land, cannot shift their taxes to 

 ; others to pay." 



■ The determination of who really pays a tax 

 J levijd on land is too extensive and complex for 

 discussion in a brief article. Instead of such 

 a di 3cussion, the conclusion of Professor E. R. 

 A. Seligman, of Columbia University, is given 

 below. Professor Seligipan is recognized as 

 one of the foremost authorities of the world 

 on t lis subject. His book, "Incidence of Tax- 

 atioa," in which he discusses the circum- 

 starces under which various kinds of taxes 

 can or cannot be shifted, should be studied 

 by (ivery one who is interested in one of the 

 greatest problems of taxation. 



Ill his discussion of Taxes on Agricultural 

 Land, Professor Seligman reaches the follow- 

 ing conclusion: 



"' )ur conclusion, hence, is that under actual 

 conditions in America today the landowner 

 may virtually be declared to pay in last in- 

 stance the taxes that are imposed on his land. 

 At all events, it is erroneous to assume any 

 general shifting to the consumer. To the ex- 

 tent] that our land tax is a part of a general 

 property tax, it cannot possibly be shifted; 

 to tie extent that it is more or less an exclu- 

 sive tax, it is even then apt to remain where 

 it is first imposed — namely, on the land- 

 owner." , . 



Bi 



Why Fanners Should Support the Tax 

 Amendment to Illinois Constitution 



(To be voted on in November, 1926) 



1. Real estate, althougli lata than one-Kalf — many 

 say less tban 40 per cent^-of the property in the state* 

 is now paying about 80 per cent of all of the taxes for 

 most purposes. 



2. Tangible property* although probably not more 

 than one-half of the property in the state* is now pay- 

 ing more than 92 per cent of all the taxes for most 

 purposes. 



3. A minority of the people of the state are now 

 paying all of the taxes for most purposes. 



4. Owners of some kinds of property easily can 

 and do add their taxes to the prices of their services or 

 products. Owners of other kinds of property, notably 

 land* cannot shift their taxes to others to pay. 



5. Owners of mortgaged property are now paying 

 double or multiple taxes. They pay taxes not only on 

 their equities* but also on the value of the mortgages* 

 and pay a higher rate of interest on taxable mortgages 

 whether the mortgages pay taxes or not. 



6. Lack of personal interest on the part of most 

 people in the economical and efficient use of tax 

 moneys* and their belief that they are paying no taxes 

 of any kind, promote extravagance and a rapid increase 

 of deferred taxes in the form of bonded indebtedness. 



7. Taxes are rapidly increasing in Illinois partly 

 because the population is increasing, but chiefly be- 

 cause of the demand for new forms of service. 



8. Under the present constitutional limitations 

 none of the inequalities of the present taxing system 

 described above can be fairly or properly corrected. 

 The proposed amendment is a grant of power to the_ 

 General Assembly* enabling it from time to time to 

 correct inequalities in taxation and to establish a 

 modern and equitable system of taxation. 



ei-t,^ 



•^J^^<^,..^^^ 



President, Illinois Agricultural Association. 



TBrief articles in support of the points stated above will be 

 printed in later issues of The Record. Questions relative to the 

 proposed tax amendment are invited and will be answered through 

 Tub Recoeu).] 



The Palliative Pink Pill 



NOW that the administration has the scalp 

 of the corn belt bill safely nailed to its 

 belt, the spokesman from the White House 

 would mitigate the wrath of western and mid- 

 dle-west farmers by offering them the Fess 

 Amendment. This bill provides a federal re- 

 volving fund of $100,000,000 to be loaned to 

 cooperatives, and for a farm board of six 

 $12,000 a year members to be appointed by 

 the president. 



We can see in this new move nothing but 

 a mere political gesture for favor. It lacks 

 all the earmarks of a sincere attempt to rem- 

 edy the farmers' troubles. The farmer's pres- 

 ent channels for borrowing money are ade- 

 quate to give him all the cash he ought to have. 

 And a new board subject to political appoint- 

 ment with little or no power to effect any per- 

 manent improvement in the condition of agri- 

 culture would be of no more value than the 

 President's recent agricultural commission. 



The administration recognizes with loud 

 expressiorts of profound sympathy that the 



patient has the appendicitis. But it refuses 

 to operate. It seeks to bring the patient 

 around with the well-known palliative pink 

 pill. We believe the situation demands a new 

 set of doctors. Come on 1928. 



How The McNary Bill Was Defeated 



(Note: Here is a message received just 

 before going to press from, Robert A. Cowles, 

 who has been in Washington representing I. 

 A. A. for the past two weeks. His comments 

 are of particular interest because they come 

 fresh from the national capital. — Editor.) 



Washington, D. C, June 25. 

 E. G. Thiem, Director of Information i 



Illinois Agriculture Assn. 

 608 South Dearborn St., Chicago, III. 



Defeat of committee amendment to cooper- 

 ative marketing bill in senate knownlas Mc- 

 Nai~y bill by a margin of six votes is attribut- 

 able to negative Votes of Senators Borah, 

 Idaho; Walsh, , Montana; Reed, Missouri; 

 King, Utah; Warren, Wyoming; Phipps, 

 Colorado, and to a^shift in four southern votes, 

 hi the contest, organized industry exerted 

 poiverful influence and pressure through 

 party leaders regarding with alarm the united 

 front presented by farm organizations north 

 and south. As viewed by party leaders this 

 non-partisan alliance given the opportunity 

 through the federal farm board provided in 

 the bill and appointed from those nominated 

 by farm organizations presented possibilities 

 for the solidification of the farmer vote into a 

 powerful non-partisan political organization 

 to be reckoned with in the fufure. In other 

 words, the organization and forces that 

 influence the election of senators evident 

 throughout the struggle were arrayed against 

 the bill and in spite of which nruiny serpators 

 dared to support and vote for the bill. The 

 show-down .finally dame as a non-party or 

 political sectional contest with the great in- 

 dustrial east reaching out its powerful in- 

 fluence wherever it might. With the commit- 

 tee amendment voted down, the president has 

 late today through public announcement 

 thrown his influence directly behind and is 

 urging the enactment of the so-called Fess 

 amendment known in the house as the Tincher 

 bill and the administration is driving for its 

 passage. The bill is a gesture with apolitical 

 farm board appointfd without farm organi- 

 zation nomination. The evident purpose of 

 action at this time by the administration and 

 its effect if successful in both houses of con- 

 gress will be to foreclose further effort on the 

 part of farm organizations to secure enact- 

 ment of legislation designed to effectively 

 control anSdispose of surplus farm commodi- 

 ties with the commodity bearirig the charges 

 therefore and with the contrpl of the com- . 

 modity in the hands of farmers. COWLES. 



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