

Vage Fourteen 



THE I. A. A. RECORD 



February y 1931 



Legislative Work of 



Association Reviewed 



I. A. A. Stand on Revenue Amend- 

 ment and Other Measures 

 i\\y .Explained , ,,.._ 



(Excerpts from addre'ss of President at 

 I. A. A. annual meeting;.) 



iC^ I HE Association's legislative activi- 

 JL ties during 1930 were largely con- 

 fined in a national sensb to matters re- 

 lating to and affecting agricultural 

 tariffs and in state legislation to mat- 

 ters of taxation. 



' "During consideration of the provi- 

 sions of the Hawley-Smoot Tariff Bill 

 in 1929, the Association filed a brief 

 setting forth its position in favor of 

 increased agricultural tariffs affecting 

 Illinois and surrounding territory. Not 

 only were the suggestions contained in 

 this brief followed through and sup- 

 ported by the Association in the further 

 consideration of this tariff legislation 

 during 1930, but were the cause of 

 amendments to the bill when under 

 consideration by the Senate Finance 

 Committee, wherein a tariff of $6.00 

 per ton on soybean oil meal and 3 Yz 

 cents per pound on soybean oil were 

 adopted. This was done at the re- 

 quest of the soybean growers of the 

 state, speaking through their organiza- 

 tion, the Soybean .Marketing, Associa- 

 tion. ' 



^ ^- Senator Dene«n Helps .^-^ 



".It is only due United States Senator 

 Charles S. Deneen, a member of the 

 Serrate Finance Committee, to say that 

 he is entitled to a large part of the 

 credit for the adoption of this amend- 

 ment. 



"In May, 1930, Governor Emmer- 

 son called a special session of the 56 th 

 General Assembly. By the very nature 

 of, the call, consideration of legislation 

 was restricted to matters affecting the 

 financial condition of Cook county and 

 the City of Chicago, and a report of 

 the Revenue Investigation Commission 

 which had been authorized during the 

 regular session of the 56th General As- 

 sembly. The Revenue Investigation 

 Commission's report dealt only with 

 recommendations relating to the 

 amendment of the Revenue Article of 

 the State Constitution. The Associa- 

 tion's interest in behalf of a con' 

 structive amendment to the Reve- 

 nue Article has covered a period of 

 ten years, and is well knoipn. Rep- 

 resentatives of the association had 

 appeared before the Revenue Com- 

 mission during its consideration of 

 the tax conditions of the state and 

 of needed remedial legislation, 



**As w^as announced to ifs mem- 



bers, the Association w^as in agree- 

 ment w^ith the spirit, intent and 

 purposes of the Commission's recom- 

 mendations and gave its support to 

 the suggested revenue amendment 

 "wiien under consideration in the 

 State Senate. The recommendations 

 of the Commission were adopted by 

 the State Senate by a very substan- 

 tial majority. In the House, it ^vas 

 amended even to the point of emas- 

 culation, and put into such shape 

 that the Association could not be- 

 come a party to it or support the 

 proposal during its consideration by 

 the people previous to the election. 

 "The Board of Directors made avail- 

 able to all members of the Association 

 the reasons for the position it was 

 forced to take. The consideration by 

 the General Assembly of the construc- 

 tive report and recommendations of the 

 Revenue Investigation Commission and 

 its amendment by the House certainly 

 furnishes convincing evidence of the 

 impossibility of submitting a proper 

 amendment to the people at a very 

 early date, to say nothing of consti- 

 tutional restrictions which make it im- 

 possible to re-submit any kind of an 

 amendment for four years. The elec- 

 tion disclosed the fact that nearly two- 

 thirds of those voting last fall failed 

 to show any tax consciousness as they 

 failed to take any position on .the 

 amendment under consideration. This 

 discloses the f iilility of looking to the 

 voters for tax relief in the form of an 

 amendment to the Revenue Article of 

 the State Constitution. ,, ,, ' . .- 



Taxation Work 



'For ten years the Association has 

 mamtained a Department of Taxation 

 and Statistics. I could speak at length 

 upon the work of this department and 

 its achievements. The director has be- 

 come generally recognized as one of the 

 best authorities of the state in the field 

 of taxation. Especially is this true as 

 regards the effect of present laws on 

 different classes of property. As a re- 

 sult of the study of this department, 

 the Association has twice sponsored an 

 income tax bill in previous sessions of 

 the General Assembly. It has both 

 times passed the State Senate by a sub- 

 stantial vote, but has met defeat in 

 the Lower House, the last time by only 

 a few votes. ~" 



"We are confronted with a situation 

 wherein values of tangible property are 

 declining and taxes steadily advancing, 

 even approaching the point of confis- 

 cation on both urban and rural real 

 estate. It is well known that the own- 

 ership of intangibles within the state 

 now approaches, if not exceeds, the 

 total value of all real estate in Illinois. 

 Federal income tax returns disclose that 



Illinois residents are receiving annually 

 from interest and dividends at least 

 $600,000,000. Estimates by the Na^ 

 tional Bureauof Economic Research in- 

 dicate that the net income of Illinois 

 residents from wages and salaries alone 

 aporoximates $3,000,000,000 per year. 

 This is about 60 per cent of the esti- 

 mated total net income of the popula- 

 tion derived from all sources. <.■',■ 



; ; -V; Property Pays 9 ^d~^ , 



"Nothwithstanding these \outstand-' 

 ing facts, tangible property from 

 which is derived not more than 15 per 

 cent of total income still pays more 

 than 90 per cent of the total general 

 tax bill of the entire state. 



"It is my belief that the field of tax-', 

 ation offers the most immediate oppor- 

 tunity for real and tangible relief . to 

 farmers. ^>c '; -' >^ .% 



"The Board of Directors his author- 

 ized the Public Relations Committee to 

 present for discussion and recommenda-' 

 tion to the Public Relations Conference 

 this afternoon rather important changes 

 in the provisions of income tax legisla- 

 tion from those previously adopted by 

 the association. In effect, the changes 

 are such as would provide the State of 

 Illinois with all necessary revenue to 

 carry on its present functions and in 

 addition thereto to discharge more fully 

 other obligations that clearly rest upon 

 the state under the provisions of the 

 State Constitution. XU such revenue 

 would be used in lieu of and to replace 

 the present state tax on property. This 

 would relieve property of about $3 3,- 

 000,000 of present taxes annually, and 

 it is carefully estimated would bring 

 direct relief of approximately $8,000,- 

 000 to agricultural property. In addi- 

 tion, it would make it possible for the 

 state to assume certain obligations and 

 functions of government clearly placed 

 upon it by the State Constitution, such 

 as providing every child in Illinois with 

 equal opportunity for education. It 

 would also provide sufficient revenue so 

 that the state might assume certain 

 obligations now placed upon the coun- 

 ties, such as blind pensions and mothers' 

 pensions. ; ; v . : ' ; - • • 



"I urge the careful consideration of 

 this recommendation on the part of the 

 delegates in attendance at the Public 

 Relations Conference, and hope the dis- 

 cussion this afternoon will fully justify 

 that conference in recompiending to 

 the Board of Delegates ii^ business ses- 

 sion tomorrow the favorable considera- 

 tion of the recommendations of the 

 committee. 



"Other matters recommended for 

 consideration in the Public Relations 

 Conference include the question of a 

 re-dis^ribution of the gas tax. Strong 

 forces are insisting that one-half of the 



.' 



*' m ' 



Mehruaryy 1 



state's presen 

 be allocated 

 for construe 

 city streets, 

 would seriou 

 completion c 

 highway syst 

 ever, the ii 

 which in effei 

 ers and citi 

 highways thi 

 and maintain 

 nition of th 

 the Associati 

 ingness to s 

 present law, 

 the state res 

 tenance andj 

 of all city sti 

 been designat 

 action by th 

 remedy the 

 and at the j 

 ously interf e 

 ,the higfiway 



Mo 



"It. is belii 

 revision in t 

 especially in 

 should also 

 tractors froi 

 censes wh'en 

 to farm, and 



"We shoul 

 farmers fron 

 caused by liv 

 reasonable c; 

 the control o 



"The que 

 has for years 

 in the politic 

 state. It is b 

 should take 

 this questior 

 that the pre 

 for represen 

 bodies accorc 

 tainly no on 

 tain that thi 

 tion did or c 

 tralization o: 

 ists in Cool 

 than the bal 



Reaf 



"In "his re 

 eral Assembl 

 has recomm 

 question, wh 

 tion in one I 

 tion and lii 

 other as to 

 iembodied in 

 in keeping ■ 

 represen tativ 

 fied in the < 

 States, . ■ -" ■''i-— 



"I recomr 

 on the part 



