I. A. A. Record — August, 1933 



ing provisions desired by the I. A. A. 

 was as follows: .. 



HOUSE JOINT RESOLUTION NO. 65 

 (As Amended in Senate) 



Resolved, by the House of Repre- 

 sentatives of the Fifty-eighth Gen- 

 . eral Assembly of the State of lUi- 

 : nois, the Senate concurring there- 

 in, There shall be submitted to the 

 electors of this State for adoption 

 or rejection at the next election of 

 members of the General Assembly 

 ' of the State of Illinois, in the man- 

 •^7 ner provided by law, a proposition 

 to amend Article IX of the Consti- 

 ; tution by repealing sections 2 and 3 

 thereof, and by amending sections 1 

 and 10 to read as follows: 



Section 1. The General Assembly 



.,: shall have power to provide revenue 



■ by general law. Except for the pay- 



' ment of indebtedness existing at the 



V adoption of this amendment and of 



• indebtedness thereafter incurred by 



authority of the vote of the People 



■:. of the State or municipal corpora- 



, tion incurring the indebtedness, the 



; aggregate of general property taxes 



for all purposes on any tangible 



property shall not exceed one per 



centum of its fair cash value. 



The property of the State, coun- 

 ties and other municipal corpora- 

 • tions, estates of homesteads to the 

 extent in value of $1,000 when oc- 

 . cupied by the owner as a residence 

 - and such other property not used 

 . with a view to profit and used ex- 

 clusively for agricultural and horti- 

 : cultural societies, for schools, re- 

 , ligious, cemetety and charitable pur- 

 . poses shall be exempt from taxation. 

 In the assessment of real estate en- 

 cumbered by public easement any 

 depreciation occasioned by such 

 easement may be deducted in the 

 valuation of such property. The pro- 

 visions of this section as herein 

 amended shall not affect the collec- 

 tion of any taxes levied before Jan- 

 uary 1, 1935, nor any assessment of 

 property for the purposes of such 

 taxes. 



Sec. 10. The General Assembly 

 shall not impose taxes upon mu- 

 nicipal corporations, or the inhabit- 

 ants or property thereof, for cor- 

 porate purposes, but shall require 

 that all the taxable property within 

 the limits of municipal corporations 

 shall be taxed for the payment of 

 debts contracted under authority of 

 law, such taxes to be uniform in re- 

 spect to persons and property, with- 

 in the jurisdiction of the body im- 

 posing the same. But the General 

 Assembly by vote of two-thirds of 

 the members elected to each House 

 may by general law provide for the 



distribution in whole or in part of 

 taxes collected by the State, among 

 the counties and other municipal 

 corporations of the State. Private 

 property shall not be liable to be 

 taken or sold for the payment of 

 the corporate debts of a municipal 

 corporation. 



Chicago Ran the Show 



Immediately after lunch, the day 

 the revenue amendment supported by 

 the I. A. A. was moved up to final 

 passage stage, the administration, 

 supported by Patrick Nash, Demo- 

 cratic national committeeman from 

 Chicago, and other party leaders, 

 called a caucus of Senate Democrats 

 and as a result a new and very ob- 

 jectionable revenue amendment, S. J. 

 R. 35, was presented by Senator Ward, 

 administration leader of Chicago, 

 when the Senate convened that after- 

 noon. 



Sen. Ward asked that the rules be 

 suspended and that an immediate vote 

 be had on his amendment. One senator 

 after another arose and protested 

 against such irregular action. They 

 asked for delay until the Ward amend- 

 ment could be printed so they might 

 study it. This proved of no avail. Sen. 

 Ward insisted on an immediate roll 

 call and won his point to suspend the 

 rules. Then Sen. Searcy of Springfield 

 moved to substitute H. J. R. 65, the 

 revenue amendment which had I. A. A. 

 support and the support of other tax- 

 payers' organizations, for the Ward 

 proposal, which not only offered no 

 relief to property but required a two- 

 thirds vote of both Houses to enact 

 any revenue legislation not subject to 

 the narrow limitations of the present 

 constitution. 



A test vote came on Sen. Ward's 

 motion to lay Searcy's motion on the 

 table, which in effect was a motion 

 to kill the revenue amendment sup- 

 ported by the I. A. A. The vote on 

 Sen. Ward's motion will be found in 

 the table on Page 5. 



Those downstate members who voted 

 to table H. J. R. 65 showed a marked 

 lack of independence and disregard of 

 needed relief for the overburdened 

 farm and home owners in their dis- 

 tricts. 



Same Story in House 



When this motion was disposed of 

 the objectionable Ward revenue 

 amendment, S. J. R. 35, was adopted 

 and sent to the House. 



The same tactics were used in an 

 effort to force the House to accept 

 the objectionable Ward revenue pro- 

 posal. Again a Democratic caucus was 

 called. As in the senate, the test vote 

 came on a motion to kill H. J. R. 65 

 which was offered by Rep. Bederman 



as a substitute for the Ward amend- 

 ment, S. J. R. 35. The motion to kill 

 H. J. R. 65 carrying I. A. A. support 

 won by a vote of 75 to 60. This vote 

 will be found in the table on page 5. 

 When the Ward amendment came 

 up for vote it failed to receive the 

 two-thirds majority necessary for ap- 

 proval, and so the session ended with 

 nothing accomplished toward needed 

 revenue reform. 



The First Sales Tax Bill 



In line with resolutions approved at 

 the last annual meeting of the I. A. 

 A., the Association took a firm stand 

 when the first state sales tax was pro- 

 posed to the effect that the proceeds 

 therefrom be distributed equitably 

 among the counties, and that the rev- 

 enue be used to reduce and replace 

 property taxes. 



The I. A. A. succeeded in amending 

 the original administration sales tax 

 in several particulars so as to provide 

 that: 



; 1. The revenue from the tax 

 be divided among the counties ;.• 

 according to population. ■ 



2. The revenue be used by the . ' 

 counties to reduce and replace 

 property taxes for educational ■■ 

 purposes unless by a two-thirds 

 vote of the county board it was 

 decided to divert such revenue or 

 part thereof to unemployment re- 

 lief. 



Administration sponsors of the bill 

 also included a clause to exempt 

 farmers who retail their own prod- 

 ucts, and retail distributors of motor 

 fuel from the tax. 



After being in force only a few 

 weeks this Act was declared uncon- 

 stitutional by the Illinois Supreme 

 Court. 



When this act was declared uncon- 

 stitutional, the Association proposed 

 that the tax base be broadened by the 

 adoption of an occupational tax meas- 

 ure levying a 1%% tax on the income 

 of persons engaged in some 350 occu- 

 pations, in excess of $300 per quarter. 

 This bill provided that the revenue 

 therefrom be used to abate the state 

 levy for general revenue purposes. In 

 the face of administration opposition, 

 this measure failed to move in the 

 Senate. 



The Lantz Bills 



The I. A. A. further advocated that 

 legislation be enacted giving com- 

 mission-governed counties, and cities 

 within such counties, full power to 

 levy taxes for poor relief in line with 

 (Continued on page 7) 



