trustees in each municipality went into effect, the basis of which was that whenever a bond issue was made there should at once be placed upon the duplicate an amount sufficient to accumulate, by the maturity of that bond, a sum sufficient to retire it. The new clause in the constitution reads as follows: No bonded indebtedness of the state, or any political subdivision thereof, shall be incurred or renewed, unless, in the legislation under which such indebtedness is incurred or renewed, provision is made for levying and collecting annually by taxation an amount sufficient to pay the interest on said bonds and to provide a sinking fund for their final redemption at maturity. I served as president of that board for the first four years. As it has gone on we find that very much more must be done, that the length of the bond issue must be taken first into consideration, for at the present time the board of sinking fund trustees is taking from our tax collection nearly 60 per cent of that collection. You see it impoverishes the income of the city. I shall not go into any further detail on that subject. But if that question comes up I shall be glad to go further. The rules and regulations as set down in your book will be followed in this convention, and the chair would name as permanent secretary Mr. A. E. James, Director of the Taxpayers' Association of New Mexico; as official stenographer, E. J. Koester. The appointment of the necessary committees will be deferred. The conference is now open; the chair is ready for any business that is properly before it. PROF. T. S. ADAMS, of Connecticut: Mr. Chairman, at the suggestion and on behalf of the executive committee I move the adoption of the following rules of procedure. These are the rules that have governed in past years. PROGRAM AND RULES That the program as printed and distributed be adopted and followed with such modifications as may be required by reason of absences, vacancies, or other causes. The usual rules of parliamentary procedure shall control. Each speaker shall be strictly limited to twenty minutes for the presentation of a formal paper. He shall be warned two minutes before the expiration of such period. The time of a speaker may be extended by unanimous consent of those present. In general discussion each speaker shall be limited to five minutes and no person shall speak more than once during the same period of discussion until others desiring to speak have been heard. VOTING POWER The voting power of the conference upon any question involving an official expression of opinion shall be vested in delegates in attendance appointed by governors of states, by universities and colleges or institutions for higher education, and by state associations of certified public accountants. No person shall have more than one vote by reason of his appointment as a delegate from more than one source. The voting power shall be by ayes and nays, unless a roll call be demanded. On all other questions the voting shall be by vote of all in attendance. The receipt of reports made to this conference by committees of the National Tax Association shall not be considered as expressing its opinion on the subjects treated. COMMITTEES (a) A committee of three on credentials, to be appointed by the chairman, who shall designate the chairman of such committee. (b) A committee on resolutions, composed of one delegate from each state, selected from among the delegates appointed by governors; but in case of the non-attendance of any such, any person from such state may be appointed. The chairman shall designate the chairman of this committee, such person to arrange for its organization. All resolutions involving an expression of opinion of the conference on the subject of taxation shall be read to the conference before submission to the committee, and shall be immediately referred without debate. Before moving the adoption of these rules I want to call attention, as in past years, to the far more important but unwritten rule of the conference that no resolution shall be adopted without receiving the substantially unanimous vote. of those present. That has long been the rule of the association and I think it would be desirable to keep it in mind. I move on behalf of the executive committee that we adopt these rules. [The motion being seconded, the above rules were adopted.] MR. A. E. HOLCOMB, of New York: Possibly the delegates would like to know the attendance up to date. There are 32 states represented, including the territory of Alaska, and among the states that are represented this year which have not always been represented are Alabama, Delaware, Kentucky, Nebraska, and South Dakota. We also have two delegates from Canada. [The chairman then appointed Mr. Nils P. Haugen, of Wisconsin, chairman of the committee on resolutions. On the motion of Mr. Haugen, it was voted that where a state was represented by one delegate only, such delegate be considered a member of the committee on resolutions. After a number of announcements, the meeting adjourned.] SECOND SESSION MONDAY EVENING, AUGUST 28, 1916 CHAIRMAN GEORGE E. POMEROY, OHIO INDIANA SESSION 1. THE TOWNSHIP ASSESSOR Charles J. Orbison, Special Counsel of the State Board of Tax Commissioners of Indiana 2. THE INCOME TAX AS A MEASURE OF RELIEF FOR INDIANA William A. Rawles, Professor of Political Economy, University of Indiana 3. DIVORCING THE ASSESSOR FROM POLITICS Fred A. Sims, Former Member State Board of Tax 4. DISCUSSION 57 THE TOWNSHIP ASSESSOR CHARLES J. ORBISON Special Counsel, State Board of Tax Commissioners of Indiana The taxing power of a state constitutes the heart of the body politic. Destroy this power and the strength of the commonwealth is lost. It pumps the blood into the various arteries of government which make that government a living, throbbing, breathing being. Through this agency, the police power of the state is made regnant with authority and the citizen is made to dwell with security in his home, however humble. Through it, the theories of Utopian dreamers as to the relationship of men and their duties toward one another are made manifest in asylums and institutions that safeguard the weak, raise the fallen, give sight to the blind, heal the sick, and cure the diseased. Through it, the people secure what for ages they sought,-liberty, equality, and justice. Yet this power, so vital to the life of the state, is as little understood and as little appreciated as any governmental function, however small. And as it is so ill understood, so is it abused and attacked. What the taxing power needs today is more power and less restraint-more efficiency and less politics-more honesty and less pull. And what the people need to realize is the utility of taxation and that, as they are just and honest in their obligations to the state, so will their government be strengthened and their living be made more secure. The millennial day will never come to the taxing power of the state. Our systems of taxation will always be imperfect and our administration of tax laws will never reach perfection. Yet, as the years go by, we will develop better systems and the law will be more nearly enforced. In the last few years, thanks to high-minded thinkers and conferences such as this, we have made rapid strides along the lines of taxation reform. With state tax boards and county boards of review made up of men of different political faiths, with county assessors supervising the work of township assessors, we are making politics |