



(T^^^^^i) The c^^ 



Illinois A^ctiltiiral Associatioa 



RECOI^X) 



Published monthly by tlie Ulinuis Agritultuial Ass... iation at 121 So Fifth St.. Marshall. III.: E<lltorial omrps. iios so Dpirbom St.. t'biraco. III. Knirrrd is tecwid- 

 c.sq matter at post-ofBre ct Marshall. III.. June l»i, ll'ilO. untier the Act of March '.i, lS7!t. Arceptaiirc fi-r ruailink' at si^lal rate of iKjstai:* itrovl.leU in Section 412. 



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Number 9 



September, 1930 



Volume 8 



r 

 t 



i 



i 



J. A. A. Stf tes Stand on 



Revenue a\mendment 



A Statement of Position Relatrve to 



the Proposed Amendment i.o the 



Revenue Article of the State 



Constitution, Adopted ' v 



the Board of Directois, 



Illinois Agricultural 



Association Sept. 



12, 1930. 



AFTER careful!) considcrinj; .ill 

 .ivail.iblc inform.ition .ibout the 

 revenue .imendnient and its probable 

 effect, if adopted, the board of direc- 

 tors of the Illinois Agricultural Asso- 

 cl.-.tion herewith presents ,i statement 

 setting forth its positioi, and recom- 

 mendation to the membership. 



The amendment is greath' changed 

 from the carefully coiisiaered provi- 

 sions recommended by the Revenue In- 

 vestigation Commission which were en- 

 dorsed, in spirit and purpose, by sev- 

 eral state-wide orgaiii/ations, including 

 the I. A. A. Most of the changes were 

 brought aboi;i h\ amendments intro- 

 iluced and urged b\' Chicago legislators. 

 NX'ith no time adequately to coiisider 

 the probable effect of sucli changes, 

 they were accepted by most of the leg- 

 islators from down-state districts in the 

 belief that otherwise no amendment 

 could secure the two-thirds vote nec- 

 essary for submission. 



The proposed amendment woulo not, 

 of itself, set up any new system of reve- 

 nue. It would remove certain restric- 

 tions now imposed on the General As- 

 sembly, and would impose some new 

 restrictions. The most important pro- 

 posed changes are analyzed below to 

 show not onlv' what they would per- 

 mit or would not permit, but also their 

 probable effect on the revenue system 

 of the state. 



Classification of Property 



Adoption of the amenciment would 

 give the General Assembly full power 

 to classify property except that all real 

 estate other than mineral lands and 

 land devoted to reforestation would be 



kept in one class. Such power lo 

 classify property could be used in 

 either or both of two ways. First, any 

 class or all classes of property could be 

 exempted from taxation on the basis of 

 value in order to impose ta.xes on some 

 otiier basis such as incon.^ The Illi- 

 nois Agricultural Association has long 

 been in favor of using classihc.ition in 

 this way. Or, second, property could 

 be divided into different classes, w .i; 

 different standards of value or different 

 tax rates, or both. 



If the amendment is .idoprctJ, there 

 can be -o doubt that the Ceneral As- 

 sembly will be stroiT'^ly urged to classi- 

 fy intangible property separately in or- 

 der to tax ■'■" or -r: value at low rates. 

 In othei states, the raxar.,ir of intangi- 

 bles, such as stocks, bonds, notes, mort^ 

 gavoi and money, at low rates, usually 

 between one-fourth and one-tenth of 

 the rate applied to real estate, has never 

 prevented extensive e^ asion or produced 

 more than a ver)' small percentage of 

 the total revenues. There is no reason 

 to believe that it would be administered 

 with any greater success in this state, 

 where at least cne-half of the house- 

 holds, most of them in Cook County, 

 completely evade ta.xation not onl\' of 

 intangible but even of tangible per- 

 sonal property. The Illinois Agricul- 

 tural Association has long opposed this 

 use of classification. Low-rate taxation 

 of intangibles would not save real estate 

 from increasingly confiscatory taxes. 



Distribution of State Taxes 



.Adoption of the amendment would 

 remove the present restriction which 

 prevents the General Assembly from 

 imposing an\' taxes upon municipal cor- 

 porations (by which is meant an\- tax- 

 ing districts except the state), or the 

 inhabitants or property thereof, foi- the 



r( nitflillhj nil /t.r;.;c /". ) 



Needs of Agriculture 



Cited by Sam Thompson 



Speaks at 19th District Picnic, 

 Urbana, Aug. 27 



B.\KGA1.\;.N .• power in the s.ile of 

 farm cqirinn.,)elities, credit at low- 

 er rates, tax equalization, and lower 

 cost production were cited as outstand- 

 ing needs of the .\niericjii farmer by 

 S.:ni FI. Thompson, president of tlie 

 American Farm liureau redcratiori, in 

 .uldressing the IVth district Firm Bu- 

 reau picnic at Urb.ina on .August 27. 

 A large audience estimated at >,(IIM1 to 

 S.OOd gathered in Crystal like Park 

 to hear the speaker. 



"Oilier groups have succe, .led much 

 better ihan the f.irmer in passing on 

 their incie.ised expenses of doing busi- 

 ness In the consumer," said Mr. Thomp- 

 son. "The cost of doing bu'i.iess has 

 increased tremendously in the last 2 J 

 \ears, and .ill this has been reflected in 

 the prices farmers must pa\ for the 

 things ihe\- need. The farmci's costs 

 of production also have iiicre.iscd dur- 

 ing this period. But we have not been 

 successful in adding that incre.ised cost 

 to the price of our products. Our onlv 

 hope for doing so, in obtaining a rea- 

 sonable profit on our proiluction lies in 

 tMgani/ation." 



Home Ownership Costly 



.\lr. Thompsiin referred to ihe presi- 

 dent's recent conference on horn.- own- 

 ership. "I iome ownership," he saiil, "is 

 constantK decreasing. We are becom- 

 ing a nation of renters both on thi 

 farm and in the cit\. Obviouslv this 

 IS a bad thing for our civilization, anii 

 : he cause is largel)' due to our anli- 

 I'.uated taxing s\stem. One of our 

 great national needs is a Ix'tter plan foi 

 distributing the tax burden among al! 

 the people." It was revealed at the 

 president's conference on home owner- 

 ship that people who buy homes todav 

 are paving an average of more than 8 

 per cent for the monev borrowed to 

 acijuire them. 



