per cent of that in New York and California, and a smaller per capita revenue than Pennsylvania or a number of smaller states such as Ohio, New Jersey and Minnesota.

REVENUE RECEIPTS OF STATES, COUNTIES, CITIES AND OTHER MINOR DIVISIONS IN SPECIFIED STATES, 19025

The total revenues of all the local authorities in Chicago are also smaller per capita than in any other of the five largest cities in the United States, and only about sixty per cent of that in New York or Boston. The Chicago revenues are less per capita than in most of the cities of over 300,000 population.

RECEIPTS FOR MEETING GOVERNMENTAL COSTS IN SPECIFIED CITIES, 19087

Two efforts have been made, by means of special commissions, to secure some general plan of taxation reform in Illinois. The

"Compiled and computed from United States census report on Wealth, Debt and Taxation (1907), pp. 982-995.

'Computed on basis of population of 1900, plus one fifth of the increase from 1900 to 1910.

'U. S. Census: Special Report on Statistics of Cities, 1908, pp. 289, 343.

first of these, twenty-five years ago, had no substantial results. The report of the second commission was presented to the present General Assembly which adjourned without adopting any of the recommendations.

A joint resolution of the 34th General Assembly, in 1885, provided for a commission "to amend and revise the revenue law of the State of Illinois, and to propose and frame a revenue code, which shall be just to all classes of property and in keeping with our complicated system of business and individual and corporate avocations." This commission reported on March 1, 1886. It pointed out as the principal defects of the revenue system, the gross inequality and low rate of assessments, the arbitrary and unjust operation of the system of equalizing county valuations, the high rate of taxation, and the want of a central and efficient supervision of administration. It submitted the draft of a new revenue law, in which the following changes were proposed: the abolition of township assessors, and the substitution of county assessors and boards of review; certain changes in the law regarding the assessment of capital stock of corporations and the listing of personal property; the divorce of state revenue from local taxation; and the creation of a State Board of Tax Commissioners. No action appears to have been taken towards carrying out the recommendations of this commission. In 1902 the report was printed; but the only part of the recommendations which has been enacted into law is that for the establishment of county boards of review.

As the result of a recommendation of Governor Deneen a commission on taxation and revenue was authorized in 1909. The commission was appointed by the governor, and met for organization April 14, 1910.

This commission held nine meetings, with three public hearings; and received and considered numerous complaints and proposals for changes in the revenue laws. As provided in the act creating the commission, a compilation of the tax laws and judicial decisions of Illinois was prepared and published. There was also prepared and published, at the request of the commission, a somewhat comprehensive descriptive and statistical report on the "Taxation and Revenue System of Illinois," by the writer of this article.

"This compilation was made by Professor Albert M. Kales of Northwestern University and Elmer M. Leissmann; and should be of much assistance to tax and revenue officials, and also to others interested in tax administration.

In the report of the Special Tax Commission which was submitted to the General Assembly in January, 1911, the principal defects of the present revenue system are stated to be: The undervaluations and inequalities in the assessment of property, especially the notorious evasion of the terms of the law in the assessment of intangible personal property; and defects in administration, on the part of town assessors and in the lack of an efficient system of state supervision.

Among its recommendations, the commission proposed a fundamental change in the state constitution, so as to free the general assembly from the present restrictions in regard to the taxation of personal property by recommending the submission of the following proposed amendment to the article on revenue in the present constitution:

Section 14. From and after the date when this section shall be in force the powers of the General Assembly over the subject matter of the taxation of personal property shall be as complete and unrestricted as they would be if sections one (1), three (3), nine (9) and ten (10) of this article of the Constitution did not exist; provided, however, that any tax levied upon personal property must be uniform as to persons and property of the same class within the jurisdiction of the body imposing the same, and all exemptions from taxation shall be by general law, and shall be revocable by the General Assembly at any time.

As pointed out in the report of the commission, this proposed amendment will not of itself make any change in the system of taxation. But it will remove restrictions now placed on the General Assembly, and make possible the classification of personal property and the adoption of different methods and rates of taxation for different classes. Thus it would permit the adoption of a special recording tax on mortgages, as in New York and Minnesota, or such special taxes on intangible property as are in force in Pennsylvania and Maryland. It would also make possible other methods of taxing corporations, instead of the present system of capital stock assessments, which has proven so unsuccessful. It would further permit the establishment of a habitation tax, and the exemption of some classes of personal property. The proposed amendment was introduced in the present General Assembly, but action on it was complicated by agitation for other changes in the state constitution. Under the present constitution, amendments may be submitted to not more than one article at the same time; and active efforts were made to have an amendment submitted providing for the popular initiative and referendum on gen

eral legislation. To meet this and other difficulties, it has been proposed to call a state constitutional convention. All of the proposals for constitutional changes were, however, defeated in the General Assembly; and action on the tax amendment is at least postponed.

In addition to and independent of the proposed constitutional amendment, the Special Tax Commission recommended bills providing for important changes in the machinery of tax administration. These included the establishment of a permanent state tax commission to take the place of the present state board of equalization and with greatly increased powers, and the substitution of county assessors in place of town assessors in counties under township organization. The recommendation in favor of county assessors is similar to that made by the Revenue Commission of 1886; and should bring about a more efficient and more equitable assessment of property for taxation. Such a change has been made in Kansas, and has been suggested by the Wisconsin Tax Commission, while many states have a system of county assessment, and in others there is a more effective supervision over town assessors by county officials than in Illinois.

In its main purpose, the proposal for a permanent tax commission also renewed one of the principal recommendations of the special commission of 1886. But in the details of its organization and powers the plan now presented is different from the earlier plan and is similar to that of the permanent commissions established in recent years in about twenty states, including Michigan, Wisconsin, Minnesota, New Jersey, Oregon and Ohio. The bill submitted provided for a commission of three members to be appointed by the governor and senate, for terms of six years, at a salary of $7,500 per year for each member. It was intended to make the commission, so far as possible, a non-partisan body; and no member was to be permitted to serve on or under any political committee or to engage in any other occupation or business while a member of the commission.

This commission was to have, in the first place, all the powers and duties of the present state board of equalization, in regard to equalizing county valuations and assessing railroad property and the capital stock of Illinois corporations. In addition, it would have important powers of general supervision over the local administration of the assessment and tax laws of the state. The primary responsibility for the original assessment of property

would be left in the hands of the local assessors, and the present supervisory powers of the county boards of review would remain. But it was proposed to give the state tax commission authority to advise and instruct the local assessors in the discharge of their duties, the power to take measures to see that the revenue laws are enforced, the power to hear and determine appeals from the action of the county boards of review, and, in special cases, where the original assessment is shown to be unjust and inequitable, power to appoint special assessors and direct a reassessment of property in a particular taxing district. It was also proposed that the permanent state commission should have power to investigate the efficiency of the administration of the tax and revenue laws in Illinois, to examine the tax laws and their operation in other states and countries, and to recommend to the General Assembly changes in the revenue laws.

Such a commission should be able to bring about a considerable improvement in the administration of the present revenue laws, and also to aid in securing useful changes in the system of taxation, especially if the proposed constitutional amendment is adopted. A bill providing for the proposed state tax commission was introduced in the General Assembly, but failed of passage.

In spite of the absence of immediate results from the work of the committee, it may be said that its recommendations have been favorably received, and that further discussion may lead to their adoption in the future.

University of Illinois.

JOHN A. FAIRLIE.