(c) Corporations and corporate property. The power to tax corporations and corporate property shall not be surrendered or suspended by any contract or grant to which the State may be a party (art. XVI, sec. 7). (d) Exemptions.-(1) Tax exemptions not provided in the constitution shall be void: All laws exempting property from taxation other than as provided in this constitution shall be void (art. XVI, sec. 6). (2) The constitutional exemptions are: (a) Public property, etc.: * * Provided further, that the following property shall be exempt from taxation: Public Property used exclusively for public purposes; churches used as such; cemeteries used exclusively as such; school buildings and apparatus; libraries and grounds used exclusively for school purposes; and buildings and grounds and materials used exclusively for public charity (art. XVI, sec. 5). (b) Capital invested in a textile mill in the State: That all capital invested in a textile mill in this state for the manufacture of cotton and fiber goods in any manner shall be, and is hereby declared to be exempt from taxation for a period of seven years from the date of the location of said textile mill (amendment 12, sec. 1). (c) Homestead exemption: SECTION 1. The homestead of each and every resident of the state, * * * shall be wholly exempt from all state taxes authorized or referred to in Section 8 of Article XVI of the Constitution of Arkansas in all cases where such homestead does not exceed the assessed valuation of One Thousand Dollars ($1,000.00). ** * SEC. 2. Within a maximum limit of Two Thousand Five Hundred Dollars ($2,500.00) and a minimum limit of One Thousand Dollars ($1,000.00), the legislature is hereby authorized and empowered from time to time to fix the amount of the exemption hereby provided. SEC. 3. It is hereby made the duty of the legislature, and the legislature is hereby directed: (a) Fully and completely to replace or restore any and all funds which will or may be eliminated, diminished, or otherwise affected hereby or hereunder; but the legislature shall not, in order to accomplish that purpose, impose or levy any new form of tax; SEC. 4. Nothing herein shall ever be construed, applied, or administered so as to impair any right of any holder of any bond, note, or other obligation heretofore issued or assumed by the state and now outstanding; but this amendment shall in every respect be construed, applied, and administered so as fully to protect all the legal rights of all such holders. * * * (amendment No. 23, 1936). (e) Rate limitations.--(1) Annual rate: The General Assembly shall not have the power to levy state taxes for any one year to exceed the aggregate one per cent of the assessed valuation of the property of the State for that year (art. XVI, sec. 8). (2) Rates of property and other taxes may not be increased except as here provided: * * * SEC. 2. None of the rates for property, excise, privilege, or personal taxes now levied shall be increased by the General Assembly except after the approval of the qualified electors or in case of emergency, by the vote of threefourths of the members elected to each House of the General Assembly (amendment No. 19, 1934). 2. INCOME TAX An income tax was imposed in 1929. 3. DEATH TAXES An inheritance tax is imposed. 4. FRANCHISE TAXES Corporate franchises are taxed. (See par. B-1-a and also art. XII, sec. 11, as to foreign corporations.) 5. PRIVILEGE TAXES Authority for the levy of license or privilege taxes. (See par. B-1-a.) 6. POLL TAXES Payment of a poll tax is required, and right of suffrage is extended to women and denied to aliens: Every citizen of the United States of the age of twenty-one years, and who shall exhibit a poll tax receipt or other evidence that they have paid their poll tax at the time of collecting taxes next preceding such election, shall be allowed to vote * * *. It is declared to be the purpose of this amendment to deny the right of suffrage to aliens to confer suffrage equally upon both men and women, without regard to sex; provided, that women shall not be compelled to serve on juries (art. III, sec. 1, as amended 1920, amendment 8). * * * C. SPECIFIC PROVISIONS (COUNTIES) 1. PROPERTY TAXES (a) The legislature may delegate taxing power to the counties to the extent of providing for their existence, maintenance, and well being, but no further (art. II, sec. 23). (b) Power is vested in electors of each county to levy a tax to construct, reconstruct, or extend any county courthouse or jail, or to pay indebtedness incurred therefor. The power and right is hereby vested in the qualified electors of each respective county in this State * * to authorize the construction, reconstruc * tion, or extension of any County Court House, or County Jail, and to authorize the levy of a tax not to exceed one-half of one per cent on the dollar of the valuation of all properties in such county subject to taxation to defray the cost and expenses thereof, or to take up any indebtedness existing at the time of adoption hereof incurred in building, constructing, or extending any county court house or jail (amendment No. 17, 1928). (c) Counties are permitted to levy a tax for making and repairing public roads and bridges. The County courts in their respective counties, in addition to the county tax now allowed to be levied, shall have power when authorized, as hereinafter provided, to levy an annual tax not exceeding three mills on the dollar on all taxable property, which shall be collected and expended in making and repairing public roads and bridges in their respective counties; and said court shall have power, after authority given as hereinafter provided, to levy a tax not exceeding three mills on the dollar on all taxable property for a period of time not to exceed thirty years, to borrow money, issue bonds, and pledge the revenues arising from the tax levied for a period of time, to pay the interest and principal of any sum or sums so borrowed. * ** The annual tax and the tax for period of years shall not both be levied and be in force at the same time in any county-the levy of one shall exclude the levy of the other (amendment No. 3, 1916). * (d) Rate limitations.-Counties are prohibited from levying a tax to exceed one-half of 1 percent, except to pay preexisting indebted ness. No county shall levy a tax to exceed one-half of one per cent for all purposes, but may levy an additional one-half of one per cent to pay indebtedness existing at the time of the ratification of this Constitution (art. XVI, sec. 9). D. SPECIFIC PROVISIONS (MUNICIPALITIES) 1. PROPERTY TAXES (a) Power to tax. The legislature may delegate limited taxing power to municipalities (art. II, sec. 23; see par. A-1-b). (b) Special assessments: Nothing in this Constitution shall be so construed as to prohibit the General Assembly from authorizing assessments on real property for local improvements in towns and cities under such regulations as may be prescribed by law to be based upon the consent of a majority in value of the property holders owning property adjoining the locality to be affected; but such assessments shall be ad valorem and uniform (art. XIX, sec. 27). (c) Rate limitations: No municipal corporation shall be authorized to pass any law contrary to the general laws of the State; nor levy any tax on real or personal property to a greater extent, in one year, than five mills on the dollar of the assessed value of the same. Provided, that, to pay indebtedness existing at the time of the adoption of this Constitution, an additional tax of not more than five mills on the dollar may be levied (art. XII, sec. 4). 2. ORGANIZATION The General Assembly shall provide, by general laws, for the organization of cities (which may be classified) and incorporated towns, and restrict their power of taxation, assessment, borrowing money, and contracting debts, so as to prevent the abuse of such power (art. XII, sec. 3). E. SCHOOL DISTRICTS School districts may be authorized to levy a tax not to exceed 18 mills on the dollar for certain school purposes (amendment No. 11, 1926). CALIFORNIA Constitutional Provisions Relating to Taxation as of June 30, 1937 (Constitution of 1879, as amended) NOTE. The Constitution of the State of California is different from that of other States, in that many of the provisions therein are self-executing and of a nature usually expected to be found in a State code rather than in the constitution. The ease and frequency with which amendments are adopted would make this report too voluminous for its purpose should the language of all the many taxing provisions be incorporated. By a series of amendments, adopted June 27, 1933, and effective January 1, 1935, what is known as the Riley-Stewart plan of taxation, changed and superseded a number of the former taxing provisions. The purpose of this plan seems to be to relieve the burden on property taxes for both State and local purposes. The various amendments which constitute the structure of this plan are so given or referred to that it is believed the data herein will make the present plan or system fully understandable. Where these amendments are cited, the references to article and section are in italics. A. GENERAL PROVISIONS 1. LEGISLATIVE POWERS (a) The legislative power is vested in the legislature, reserving to the people power of initiative and referendum, and said power is further reserved to "the electors of each county, city and county, city and town of the State" (art. IV, sec. 1, amended). (b) The legislature is given authority to pass all laws necessary to carry out the taxing provisions of the constitution (art. XII, sec. 14) and may provide for raising revenue by any form of taxation not prohibited in the constitution (art. XIII, sec. 15). It may limit the amount of revenue to be raised by property taxes for local purposes (art. XI, sec. 20). 2. LEGISLATIVE LIMITATIONS (a) The constitution prohibits passing local or special laws for the assessment or collection of taxes: * Granting to any corporation, association, or individual any special or exclusive right, privilege, or immunity. Exempting property from * * * * taxation. Chartering or licensing ferries, bridges, or roads. * * * (art. IV, sec. 25). * * * (b) Delegation of certain local powers is prohibited. The legislature shall not delegate to any special commission, private corporation, company, association, or individual power to perform certain local functions (art. XI, sec. 13). (See par. C 2.) (c) The power of taxation is not to be surrendered: The power of taxation shall never be surrendered or suspended by any grant or contract to which the state shall be a party (art. XIII, sec. 6). 3. THE WIFE'S SEPARATE ESTATE All property, real and personal, owned by either husband or wife, before marriage, and that acquired by either of them afterward by gift, devise, or descent, shall be their separate property (art. XX, sec. 8). 4. ALIEN PROPERTY RIGHTS Foreigners of the White Race, or of African descent, eligible to become citizens of the United States * * * while bona fide residents of this State, shall have the same rights in respect to the acquisition, possession, enjoyment, and transmission, and inheritance of all property, other than real estate, as native born citizens; provided, that such aliens owning real estate at the time of the adoption of this amendment may remain such owners; provided further, that the Legislature may, by statute, provide for the disposition of real estate which shall hereafter be acquired by such aliens by descent or devise (art. I, sec. 17, amended). B. SPECIFIC PROVISIONS (STATE) 1. PROPERTY TAXES (a) Uniformity and valuation.-(1) All property, other than such as is exempted by the Constitution, is subject to taxation in proportion to value-Property defined: All property in the state except as otherwise in this Constitution provided, not exempt under the laws of the United States, shall be taxed in proportion to its value, to be ascertained as provided by law, or as hereinafter provided. The word "property," as used in this article and section, is hereby declared to include moneys, credits, bonds, stocks, dues, franchises, and all other matters and things, real, personal, and mixed, capable of private ownership; provided that a mortgage, deed of trust, contract, or other obligation by which a debt is secured where land is pledged as security for the payment thereof, together with the money represented by such debt, shall not be considered property subject to taxation; (art. XIII, sec. 1). (2) Land and improvements: * Land, and improvements thereon, shall be separately assessed. Cultivated and uncultivated land, of the same quality, similarly situated, shall be assessed at the same value (art. XIII, sec. 2). (3) Taxation of tangible personal property: * The Legislature shall have the power to provide for the assessment, levy, and collection of taxes upon all forms of tangible personal property, all notes, debentures, shares of capital stock, bonds, solvent credits, deeds of trust, mortgages, and any legal or equitable interest therein, not exempt from taxation under the provisions of this Constitution, in such manner and at such rates as may be provided by law, and in pursuance of the exercise of such power the Legislature, two-thirds of all of the members elected to each of the two houses voting in favor thereof, may classify any and all kinds of personal property for the purposes of assessment and taxation in a manner and at a rate or rates in proportion to value different from any other property in this State subject to taxation and may exempt entirely from taxation any or all forms, types, or classes of personal property. The total tax imposed on notes, debentures, shares of capital stock, bonds, solvent credits, deeds of trust, mortgages and any legal or equitable interest therein in pursuance of the provisions of this section shall not be at a rate in excess of four-tenths of one per cent of the actual value of such property and no tax burden shall be imposed upon any personal property either tangible or intangible which shall exceed the tax burden on real property in the same taxing jurisdiction in proportion to the actual value of such property. (art. XIII, sec. 14). (4) Property is to be assessed at full value: * * * All property subject to taxation shall be assessed for taxation at its full cash value (art. XI, sec. 12, amended). (5) State and county boards of equalization: (a) State board of equalization is established. The boards of supervisors of the several counties constitute boards of equalization for their respective counties, which are to equalize the valuation of the property in the county for purposes of taxation. The board assesses certain corporate property (art. XIII, sec. 9). (b) School taxes.-The legislature is required to provide for the support of the public-school system and the State university from the revenue from State taxes (art. XIII, sec. 15). (See also art. IX, secs. 5 and 6.) (c) Highway taxes.-Authority is given to establish a system of State highways, and to extend aid to any county highway (art. IV, sec. 36). (d) Corporations and corporate property.-(1) Corporations may be formed only by general laws and the legislature has power of organization and to prescribe their rights, duties, and liabilities (art. XII, sec. 1), and may tax them by any method not prohibited by the Constitution or laws of the United States (art. XIII, sec. 16). (2) Taxation of public utilities: All pipe lines, flumes, canals, ditches, and aqueducts not entirely within the limits of any one county, and all property, other than franchises, owned or used by (1) railroad companies including street railways, herein defined to include interurban electric railways, whether operating in one or more counties, |
