I. A. A. Record— August, 1933 



ii y 



58th General Assembly 



(Continued from page 7) 



destitute people. Eighty-five (86) 

 counties in the state which are under 

 township organization have been oper- 

 ating under the law which provides 

 for no limitation upon taxes that can 

 be levied by townships for the pur- 

 pose of taking care of their un- 

 fortunate and destitute people. In all 

 townships of over 7,000, there is still 

 no limitation on this power. 



The I, A. A. fails to understand why 

 85 counties should, through property 

 taxes and often with the sky the 

 limit, be expected to take care of their 

 own destitute people when at the same 

 time a law should not exist which 

 would enable the other counties, par- 

 ticularly Cook county, to enjoy the 

 same privilege and discharge the same 

 duty. 



This action by the Governor fur- 

 nishes another outstanding instance 

 wherein decisions of State are unduly 

 influenced by authorities of Chicago 

 and Cook county. It also provides 

 most definite reasons why every mem- 

 ber of the General Assembly from 

 downstate should refuse hereafter to 

 vote for legislation taxing down-state 

 people for the purpose of furnishing 

 funds to carry a part of the rightful 

 responsibilities of the City of Chicago 

 and Cook county. 



The I. A. A.'s one and one-half 

 per cent occupational tax in the face of 

 Chicago's opposition failed to move in 

 the senate. 



The Illinois Agricultural Associa- 

 tion also had introduced a series of 

 measures to redistribute the state gas 

 tax and insure the use of an equitable 

 portion of gas tax revenue for the 

 improvement of secondary roads and 

 the replacement of road taxes in town- 

 ships and road districts. 



State Road Commission Bills 



A commission of legislators and 

 others was authorized by the previous 

 General Assembly to study the state 

 road program and submit legislation 

 embodying its recommendations for 

 the approval of the 58th General As- 

 sembly. This commission brought for- 

 ward a comprehensive road improve- 

 ment program of great merit, although 

 in the I. A. A.'s opinion it did not 

 properly safeguard nor provide ade- 

 quately for the interests of rural peo- 

 ple in future road building. 



The key commission bill made a 

 three-way division of the three cent 

 gas tax after Jan. 1, 1934 as follows: 

 one-third to the state; one-third to the 



■ cities and villages according to popu- 

 lation; and one-third to counties as at 



^ present on the basis of motor license 



fees. As originally drawn, this bill in- 

 dicated that the state's portion of the 

 tax would first be used to widen roads 

 in congested areas, construct belt line 

 highways around municipalities, and 

 the balance spent on grade separa- 

 tions and state highways both within 

 and outside municipalities. 

 . The I. A. A. opposed these bills in 

 committee with the result that a series 

 of conferences were held which re- 

 sulted in amendments later adopted. 

 These amendments are of far-reach- 

 ing importance to downstate people. 

 They protect the interests of farmers 

 and other rural residents in millions of 

 dollars of road money spent annually. 

 The net result of the revised road bills 

 which passed both houses of the legis- 

 lature is as follows: 



1. The state's portion of the 

 gas tax, also federal road funds 

 coming to Illinois, will be dis- 

 tributed equitably for road build- 

 ing in the different sections of 

 the state, first preference to be 

 given to building and maintenance 

 of state roads, 



2. As the state takes over ad- 

 ditional mileage for improvement 

 from the counties under the fed- 

 eral-aid plan, such mileage shall , 

 be distributed equitably and si- 

 multaneously among the several 

 counties and sections of the state. 



3. The state's portion of gas 

 tax revenue shall not be spent 

 within municipalities of 2,500 or 

 more population. 



4. The one-third portion of gas 

 tax revenue received by cities and 

 villages shall first be used to build 

 and maintain state roads and 

 arterial highways within such 

 municipalities. 



The I. A. A. also sponsored a bill, 

 H. B. 1012, which passed both houses 

 of the legislature, to prevent after 

 Jan. 1, 1934 the use of gas tax rev- 

 enue retained by the state for other 

 than road-building purposes. The I. A. 

 A. proposed this bill because approxi- 

 mately $14,000,000 had been loaned 

 from the state gas tax fund on state 

 tax anticipation notes and used for 

 other purposes with the result that 

 road building was crippled throughout 

 Illinois. 



The road bills carrying the I, A. A, 

 amendments passed both houses of the 

 legislature and are now law. The gov- 

 ernor vetoed H, B, 1012, however, 

 which leaves the road fund wide open 

 for further borrowing for other pur- 

 poses and further delay of rural road 

 improvement. 



threw a bill in the legislative hopper 

 designed to bring relief to distressed 

 farm and home mortgagors by author- 

 izing courts to stay foreclosures in 

 worthy cases and at the same time 

 protect the interests of creditors in 

 rents and income from the mortgaged 

 property. This bill was amended in 

 Committee at the suggestion of the 

 governor and later passed the House 

 by a vote of 111 to 20. 



A powerful lobby of mortgage bank- 

 ers and real estate operators from 

 Chicago immediately got busy and 

 vigorously opposed this bill in the 

 senate. The Senate Judiciary Com- 

 mittee, largely dominated by Chicago 

 members, sought through unfair 

 tactics to kill the bill in committee, 

 and failing in this refused to vote it 

 out. The next day Senator Martin 

 Lohmann, who handled the measure, 

 moved that the bill be taken from the 

 committee and placed on the senate 

 calendar. This motion was carried. 

 Then Senator Lohmann made a valiant 

 effort to secure its passage but on the 

 final attempt it received only 21 votes, 

 five short of the necessary number for 

 passage. The vote on this bill will be 

 found in the table on page 5. 



Contrary to many charges made on 

 the floor of the senate, this bill would 

 not have jeopardized the interests of 

 creditors; in fact, it specifically pro- 

 vided that courts shall protect the in- 

 terests of creditors in the rents and 

 incomes of distressed property. A 

 statement by Henry Morgenthau, Jr., 

 chief of the Farm Credit Administra- 

 tion, revealed that the passage of this 

 legislation would not hamper the 

 loaning of federal funds on farm 

 lands, as was charged by opponents, 

 but would be helpful until Federal re- 

 financing machinery could be made to 

 function smoothly. 



Property Tax On Income From 

 Intangibles 



After passing the senate with 32 

 favorable votes, two measures propos- 

 ing to place income from intangible 

 property not otherwise taxed on the 

 property assessment list, were held up 

 in the House Judiciary Committee for 

 more than a month. Cook county hold- 

 ers of intangible property again used 

 their influence to dodge their share of 

 the tax burden. As a result this bill 

 was caught in the legislative jam and 

 was stricken from the calendar the 

 last week of the session. 



Relief from Mortgage Foreclosures 



Other Legislation 



The Association also assisted in kill- 

 Early in the session the Association ing a number of bad bills including 



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