Two other kinds of local governments in Chicago Park These are the park have been created more recently. districts. district. The sanitary district of Chicago was organized under Sanitary an act of the legislature passed in 1889, in order to provide for the construction of a drainage canal to carry the sewage of the city from Lake Michigan and the Chicago river into the Illinois. The affairs of the district are managed by a board of nine trustees elected by the people of the district for a term of four years. This sanitary or drainage district includes large parts both of the city and of the county outside the city. Its board of trustees has the power to maintain a police town of West Chicago, on a single ballot, sixty-four constables." Gage, "Chicago and Its Administration" (in The Open Court, XI. 203). See also below, p. 270. 1Hurd, Revised Statutes, ch. 105, §§ 20-64; Sparling, Municipal History of Chicago, ch. 15; Private Laws, 1869, I., 342-376; South Park Commissioners, Municipal Code (1897), especially p. III. Park districts have also been organized in Chicago under the general law. See above, p. 107. Proposed consolida governments. force and to levy both special assessments and a general tax. It thus exercises real governmental authority.1 Thus it will be seen that instead of having one comtion of local pactly organized local government, the people of Chicago are subjected to a great variety of local governments organized for different purposes, acting independently of each other, and in many cases exercising an independent right of taxation. It is generally agreed that this system ought to be simplified, but the constitutional rule against special legislation makes it difficult to frame a law which will not be declared unconstitutional by the courts. It is difficult also to interest the people in other parts of the State sufficiently to secure such constitutional changes as may be thought necessary by the people of Chicago. The general assembly voted in 1903 to submit to the people a constitutional amendment authorizing the legislature, with the consent of the people of Chicago, to simplify somewhat this system of local governments. The proposed amendment does not, however, provide for the consolidation of the city and county governments which many reformers think desirable.2 1Hurd, Revised Statutes, ch. 24, §§ 337-369m. This district was considerably enlarged in 1903, and now includes the city of Evanston. 2 See the text of this amendment below in Appendix B. It was to be submitted to a vote of the people at the general elections of 1904. CHAPTER IX THE FINANCES OF THE STATE 45. REFERENCES Bryce, American Commonwealth, I., ch. 43; Hart, Actual Government, Part VII.; Black, Handbook of American Constitutional Law, ch. 15; Lalor, Cyclopedia of Political Science (article on Taxation, by D. A. Wells); Plehn, Introduction to Public Finance; Daniels, Public Finance; Adams, Public Debts; Adams, Science of Finance; Cooley, A Treatise on Taxation; Ely, Taxation in American States and Cities, especially Part II., ch. 8; Seligman, Essays in Taxation; Wells, Report on Taxation (50th Cong., 1st session, House Ex. Doc. No. 40); Tooke, The "New Revenue Law" of Illinois (in Proceedings of the National Conference on Taxation, 89-97, Buffalo, 1901); Whitten, "Assessment of Taxes in Chicago" (in Journal of Political Economy, V. 175). Documents: [Illinois] Bureau of Labor Statistics, Eighth Biennial Report (1896); Hurd, Revised Statutes, ch. 120, with notes on the same chapter in Starr and Curtis, Annotated Statutes; Auditor of Public Accounts, Biennial Reports. 46. THE TAXING POWER of money. Just as a complicated machine cannot be worked The need without fuel, so government cannot long be carried on without money. Though some of this money may come from such minor sources as gifts or fines, and though it may sometimes be borrowed, modern governments must in the long run be supported by some kind of taxes. In Illinois the taxing power is exercised by a large Taxing number of bodies varying in importance from a village power limited. General property tax. board of trustees to the general assembly and the Federal Congress. All of them, however, are subject to some important restrictions. Thus the Federal Constitution prevents any State from raising money by import or export duties, or taxing any property or other agency of the United States. The Federal taxes on tobacco and spirits deprive the State of another method of raising revenue of which they might otherwise make use. The State constitution also defines and limits the taxing power. Thus county boards may not, except by special vote of the people or for the payment of a debt incurred before the adoption of the present constitution, lay a tax of more than 75 cents for each 100 dollars of property. There are, furthermore, provisions of State law limiting the rate of taxation which may be required by various other local governments.1 47. THE GENERAL PROPERTY TAX. ASSESSMENT The various governments of Illinois are supported mainly by the general property tax. The theory of this tax as stated by the constitution is, “that every person or corporation shall pay a tax in proportion to the value of his, her or its property." For this purpose, all property is divided into two main classes, real property (including lands, buildings, and railroad tracks) and personal property (including money, stocks and bonds, and all other movable articles). 1Thus city governments are limited to two per cent. of the total value of property; park boards to four mills on the dollar; school boards to a total of five per cent. In Chicago, the total taxes for city, school (except school buildings), drainage district, park, and county purposes must not exceed five per cent. In other parts of the State, school taxes need not be counted within this limit. Hurd, Revised Statutes, ch. 24, § 111; ch. 105, § 183; ch. 120, §§ 343a, 343b; ch. 122, § 208; Constitution of Illinois, 1870, Arts. VIII., IX. of assess ment. In order to tax any property, it is first necessary to Principles determine as nearly as possible what its value is. This is called assessment. It was originally intended that property should be assessed at its "fair cash value," which in the case of real estate is interpreted to mean "the price it would bring at a fair voluntary sale." Practically, however, property was assessed far below its real value, partly because the local assessor tried to keep down the proportion of taxes paid by his own town or county and partly also because individual tax payers failed to pay their just share. The present law tries to establish a uniform proportion throughout the State by calling the "assessed value" upon which all taxes should be calculated one-fifth of the "full value." Even this attempt has only been partially successful.1 The work of assessment is done mainly by county Assessors. and town officers. In counties under the general township organization law property is assessed first by the town assessors. They are, however, subject to the instructions of the county treasurer, who is called the supervisor of assessments. In Cook County, taxes are assessed by a board of five assessors elected by the people of the county. In those towns which are wholly within the city of Chicago the town assessors no longer assess property. In other Cook County towns, they still act subject to the authority of the county assessors. In counties without town governments, the county treasurer acts as assessor with the right of appointing deputies for the various districts.2 Between April I and June I of each year, the assessor Methods of assess 'Hurd, Revised Statutes, ch. 120, §§ 1-4, 309-313; 8th Biennial ment. Report of Bureau of Labor Statistics of Illinois, passim. Proceedings of Buffalo National Conference on Taxation, 89-97. 2 Ibid., ch. 120, §§ 72-94, 295-320, 348. |