TAXATION AND REVENUE SYSTEMS—ARKANSAS. 
23 
money needed for defraying the expenses of the 
schools within their districts for the ensuing year. 
The county school superintendent makes an estimate 
of the minimum amount needed for the ensuing year. 
The board of supervisors of each county annually 
levies a county school tax at a rate not less than suf 
ficient to raise the said minimum amount of money. 
Special school district taxes may also be levied 
by the trustees of the school district. The rate (ex 
clusive of bond interest and high school tax) shall not 
be greater than 90 cents on each SI00 valuation of 
taxable property. 
The county school fund also receives the county 
poll taxes. 
ARKANSAS. 1 
Arkansas depends almost entirely upon the general 
property tax and licenses or privilege taxes; but there 
is also a poll tax the proceeds of which are devoted to 
educational purposes, an inheritance tax, and a corpo 
ration tax based on the capital stock. 
CONSTITUTIONAL PROVISIONS. 
ARTICLE XVI. 
Sec. 5. All property subject to taxation shall be taxed according 
to its value, that value to be ascertained in such manner as the gen 
eral assembly shall direct, making the same equal and uniform 
throughout the state. No one species of property, from which a tax 
may be collected, shall be taxed higher than another species of 
property of equal value: Provided, The general assembly shall have 
power, from time to time, to tax hawkers, peddlers, ferries, exhibi 
tions, and privileges in such manner as may be deemed proper: Pro 
vided 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 (includes private schools, see 42 Ark., 536); 
libraries and grounds used exclusively for school purposes; and 
buildings and grounds and materials used exclusively for public 
charity. 
Sec. 6. All laws exempting property from taxation, other than as 
provided in this constitution, shall be void. 
Sec. 7. 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. 
Sec. 8. The general assembly shall not have power to levy state 
taxes for any one year to exceed, in the aggregate, 1 per cent of the 
assessed valuation of the property of the state for that year. 
Sec. 9. No county shall levy a tax to exceed one-half of 1 per cent 
for all purposes, but may levy an additional one-half of 1 per cent 
to pay indebtedness existing at the time of the ratification of this 
constitution. Amendment adopted November, 1898, provides that 
county may levy 3-mill tax for county roads. 
Sec. 10. The taxes of counties, towns, and cities shall only be 
payable in lawful currency of the United States, or the orders or 
warrants of said counties, towns, and cities, respectively. 
Sec. 11. No tax shall be levied except in pursuance of law; 
and every law imposing a tax shall state distinctly the object of 
the same; and no moneys arising from a tax levied for one purpose 
shall be used for any other purpose. 
ARTICLE V. 
Sec. 31. No state tax shall be allowed, or appropriation of money 
made, except to raise means for the payment of the just debts of 
the state, for defraying the necessary expenses of government, to 
sustain common schools, to repel invasion and suppress insurrec 
tion, except by a majority of two-thirds of both houses of the general 
assembly. 
1 This compilation is derived mainly from the following sources: 
A Digest of the Revenue Laws of the State of Arkansas, compiled 
in the auditor’s office by Avery E. Moore, 1903. 
The Session Laws to 1913. 
ARTICLE XII. 
Sec. 4. No municipal corporation shall be authorized to pass any 
laws 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 5 
mills on the dollar of the assessed value of the same: Provided, 
That to pay indebtedness existing at the time of the adoption of 
the constitution an additional tax of not more than 5 mills on the 
dollar may be levied. 
ARTICLE XIV. 
Sec. 3. The general assembly shall provide, by general laws, for 
the support of common schools by taxes, which shall never exceed 
in any one year 3 mills on the dollar on the taxable property of the 
state; and by an annual per capita tax of $1, to be assessed on every 
male inhabitant of this state over the age of 21 years: Provided, 
That the general assembly may, by general law, authorize school 
districts to levy, by a vote of the qualified electors of such district, 
a tax not to exceed 7 mills on the dollar in any one year for school 
purposes: Provided further, That no such tax shall be appropriated 
to any other purpose nor to any other district than that for which 
it was levied. 
ARTICLE XIX. 
Sec. 11. * * * and all fees that may hereafter be payable by 
law for any service performed by any officer mentioned in this 
section (the governor, secretary of state, auditor, treasurer, attorney 
general, judges of the supreme court, judges of the circuit court, 
commissioner of state land, and prosecuting attorneys), except 
prosecuting attorneys, shall be paid in advance into the state 
treasury. * * * 
Sec. 27. Nothing in this constitution shall be so construed as to 
prohibit the general assembly from authorizing assessments on real 
property for local improvements in cities and towns under such 
regulations as may be prescribed by law, to be based upon the con- 
sert 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. 
OFFICERS. 
The officers most directly concerned with taxation 
are: 
(1) The county assessor, elected for two years, compensated by 
fees. 
(2) The county board of equalization, composed of “three in 
telligent citizens, who are real estate owners, and qualified electors, ’ ’ 
selected from different parts of the county, and appointed by the 
governor for two years. Counties having two judicial districts have 
a board in each. In counties of more than 25,000 population, the 
board shall consist of five members. 
(3) The sheriff of each county, who is ex officio tax collector. 
(4) The clerk of the county court, who acts as county auditor, 
elected for a term of two years. 
(5) The auditor of state, elected for two years. 
(6) The state tax commission, composed of three members ap 
pointed by the governor. It is the duty of the tax commission to 
exercise complete supervision over the entire system of taxation. 
They assume all duties as regards taxation heretofore discharged by 
the board of railroad commissioners.