I. A. A. RECORD— January, 1934 



I. A. A. Proposes Revenue 

 Amendment To Constitution 



Board of Directors Approves 



Principles of Measure Sub- 

 ■({ mitted To State Com- 

 mission 



THE board of directors of the 

 Illinois Agrricultural Association 

 recently approved the principles 

 of a proposed amendment to the rev- 

 enue article of the constitution and 

 ' authorized the officers to make such 

 changes in the wording as they 

 thought advisable before sending it to 

 ' the State Revenue Commission re- 

 cently appointed by Governor Homer. 



The amendment proposed by the 

 Association is as follows: 



RESOLVED, BY THE 



OF THE FIFTY-EIGHTH GENERAL 

 ASSEMBLY OF THE STATE OF 

 ILLINOIS, THE — CON- 

 CURRING HEREIN, That there shall 

 be submitted to the electors of this 

 state for adoption or rejection at the 

 next election of members of the Gen- 

 eral Assembl - of the State of Illinois, 

 in the manner provided by law, a 

 proposition to amend Article IX of the 

 Constitution, by amending Sections 1, 

 2, 8, 9, 10 and 12 thereof and by ad- 

 ding Section 14 thereto, these amended 

 and added sections to read as follows: 



ARTICLE IX ^ : V 



Sec. 1. Tie General Assembly shall 

 ' provide sack revenue as may be need- 

 ful, in such manner as it shall, from 

 time to time, cUrect by general law, 

 aniform as to the persons, property, 

 •nbjects or objects of taxation, or 

 class or sub-class thereof, upon which 

 it operates. 



Sec. 2. The property of the State, 

 counties and other municipal corpora- 

 tions, and such other property as may 

 be used exclusively for agricultural 

 and horticultural societies or for 

 school, religious, charitable or ceme- 

 tery purposes, and any other property 

 or any class or sub-class thereof, 

 designated by general law, may be ex- 

 empted from taxation. In the assess- 

 ment of real estate encumbered by 

 public easement, any depreciation oc- 

 casioned by such easement may be 

 deducted in the valuation of such 

 property. 



Sec. 3. Except for the payment of 

 indebtedness existing at the adoption 

 of this amendment, and of indebted- 

 ness thereafter incurred by authority 

 of a vote of the people of the State, 

 county or other municipal corporation 

 incurring the indebtedness, the aggre- 

 gate of general taxes upon tangible 

 property for all purposes for any one 



year on any such property situated 

 within any city, village or incorporated 

 town shall never exceed one per cen- 

 tum of its fair cash value, and on any 

 such property not situated within any 

 city, village or incorporated town shall 

 never exceed four-fifths of one per 

 centum of its fair cash value. 



The General Assembly, shall, by 

 general law, provide for an equitable 

 allocation of the tax rates for taxes 

 which may be levied upon tangible 

 property for general purposes, among 

 the several taxing bodies authorized to 

 levy such taxes, and for proper su- 

 pervision of tax levies, expenditures 

 and the power to incur indebtedness. 



Sec. 9. The General Assembly may 

 vest the corporate authorities of cities, 

 towns and villages with power to make 

 local improvements by special assess- 

 ment, or by special taxation of con- 

 tiguous property, or otherwise. For all 

 other corporate purposes, all municipal 

 corporations may be vested with au- 

 thority to assess and collect taxes; but 

 such taxes shall be uniform in respect 

 to persons, property, objects and sub- 

 jects of taxation, or any class or sub- 

 class thereof, within the jurisdiction 

 of the body imposing the same. 



Sec. 10. The General Assembly shall 

 not impose taxes upon municipal cor- 

 porations, or the inhabitants or prop- 

 erty thereof, for corporate purposes, 

 but shall require that the municipal 

 corporations impose taxes for the pay- 

 ment of debts contracts under author- 

 ity of law, such taxes to be uniform 

 in respect to the persons, property, ob- 

 jects and subjects of taxation, or any 

 class or sub-class thereof, within the 

 jurisdiction of the body imposing the 

 same. But the General Assembly, by 

 general law passed by vote of two- 

 thirds of the members elected to each 

 House^ may provide for the distribu- 

 tion in whole or in part of taxes col- 

 lected by the State, among the coun- 

 ties 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. 



Sec. 12. No county, city, township, 

 school district, or other municipal cor- 

 poration, shall be allowed to become 

 indebted in any manner or for any 

 purpose, to an amount, including 

 existing indebtedness^ in the agg^'e- 

 gate exceeding five per centum on the 

 value of the taxable property therein, 

 to be ascertained by the last assess- 

 ment for State and county taxes, pre- 

 vious to the incurring of such indebted- 

 ness. Nor shall any indebtedness be 

 incurred unless a proposition therefor 

 is first submitted to a vote of the peo- 

 ple of such county, city, township, 

 school district, or other municipal cor- 



poration^ and is approved by a major- 

 ity of those voting on such proposi- 

 tion. Any county, city, school district, 

 or other municipal corporation incur- 

 ring any indebtedness as aforesaid, 

 shall before, or at the time of doing 

 so, provide for the collection of a di- 

 rect annual tax sufficient to pay the 

 interest on such debt as it falls due, 

 and also to pay and discharge the 

 principal thereof within twenty years 

 from the time of contracting the same. 

 This section shall not be construed to 

 prevent any county, city^ township, 

 school district, or other municipal 

 corporation, from issuing their bonds 

 in compliance with any vote of the 

 people which may have been had prior 

 to the adoption of this Constitution 

 in pursuance of any law providing 

 therefor. 



Sec. 14. In order that no inconve- 

 nience may arise from sections 1, 2, 3, 

 9, 10 and 12, as herein amended and 

 that adequate time may be given for 

 the enactment of legislation based 

 upon such amendment and for judicial 

 determination of the validity of such 

 legislation^ no law based upon the 

 amendments herein made shall take 

 effect prior to January 1, 1936, except 

 insofar as may be necessary to pro- 

 vide for putting such law into effect 

 on such date and for the administra- 

 tion thereof. None of the provisions 

 of sections 1, 2, 3, 9, 10 and 12 as 

 herein amended shall invalidate or in 

 any way affect any tax levied or in- 

 debtedness incurred prior to January 

 1, 1936. 



$25,000,000 For Putting 



Unemployed On Land 



A total of $25,000,000 has been ap- 

 propriated under the NRA to take peo- 

 ple out of industrial centers and place 

 them on the land on small farms for 

 self-support. M. L, Wilson, former 

 wheat administrator, has been placed 

 in charge of this work. 



Some people believe that the big 

 cities are more in need of city relief 

 than the rural sections are in need of 

 farm relief, Prof. Wilson said in a re- 

 cent address. We hope to shift the 

 unemployed in the industrial centers 

 to good farm land so they may pro- 

 vide their own subsistence. 



An experimental area of 1,200 acres 

 has been secured near the coal fields 

 in West Virginia which is being di- 

 vided into small plots of three to six 

 acres each. A factory building has 

 been erected where the new settlers 

 may work part time in producing 

 needed factory products when they are 

 not busy producing food for their own 

 use. ,. ■,., , „, 



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