Civil Government of Virginia Part 32

SEC. 158. Every corporation heretofore chartered in this State, which shall hereafter accept, or effect, any amendment or extension of its charter, shall be conclusively presumed to have thereby surrendered every exemption from taxation, and every non- repealable feature of its charter and of the amendments thereof, and also all exclusive rights or privileges theretofore granted to it by the General a.s.sembly and not enjoyed by other corporations of a similar general character; and to have thereby agreed to thereafter hold its charter and franchises, and all amendments thereof, under the provisions and subject to all the requirements, terms and conditions of this Const.i.tution and of any laws pa.s.sed in pursuance thereof, so far as the same may be applicable to such corporation.

SEC. 159. The exercise of the right of eminent domain shall never be abridged, nor so construed as to prevent the General a.s.sembly from taking the property and franchises of corporations and subjecting them to public use, the same as the property of individuals; and the exercise of the police power of the State shall never be abridged, nor so construed as to permit corporations to conduct their business in such manner as to infringe the equal rights of individuals or the general well-being of the State.

SEC. 160. No transportation or transmission company shall charge or receive any greater compensation, in the aggregate, for transporting the same cla.s.s of pa.s.sengers or property, or for transmitting the same cla.s.s of messages, over a shorter than over a longer distance, along the same line and in the same direction-- the shorter being included in the longer distance, but this section shall not be construed as authoring any such company to charge or reserve as great compensation for a shorter as for a longer distance the State Corporation Commission may, from time to time, authorize any such company to disregard the foregoing provisions of this section, by charging such rates as the commission may prescribe as just and equitable between such company and the public, to or from any junctional or compet.i.tive points or localities, or where the compet.i.tion of points located without this State may make necessary the prescribing of special rates for the protection of the commerce of this State, but this section shall not apply to mileage tickets, or to any special excursion, or commutation, rates, or to special rates for services rendered to the government of this State, or of the United States, or in the interest of some public object, when such tickets or rates shall have been prescribed or authorized by the commission

SEC. 161. No transportation or transmission company doing business in this State shall grant to any member of the General a.s.sembly, or to any state, county, district or munic.i.p.al officer, except to members and officers of the State Corporation Commission for then personal use while in office, any frank, free pa.s.s, free transportation or any rebate or reduction in the rates charged by such company to the general public for like services. For violation of the provisions of this section the offending company shall be liable to such penalties as may be prescribed by law, and any member of the General a.s.sembly, or any such officer, who shall, while in office, accept any gift, privilege or benefit as is prohibited by this section, shall thereby forfeit his office, and be subject to such further penalties as may be prescribed by law, but this section shall not prevent a street railway company from transporting free of charge any member of the police force or fire department while in the discharge of his official duties, nor prohibit the acceptance by any such policeman or fireman of such free transportation.

SEC 102. The doctrine of fellow servant, so far as it affects the liability of the master for injuries to his servant resulting from the acts or omissions of any other servant or servants of the common master, is, to the extent hereinafter stated, abolished as to every employee of a railroad company, engaged in the physical construction, repair or maintenance of its roadway, track or any of the structures connected therewith, or in any work in or upon a car or engine standing upon a track, or in the physical operation of a train, car, engine, or switch, or in any service requiring his presence upon a train, car or engine, and every such employee shall have the same right to recovery for every injury suffered by him from the acts or omissions of any other employee or employees of the common master, that a servant would have (at the time when this Const.i.tution goes into effect), if such acts or omissions were those of the master himself in the performance of a non- a.s.signable duty provided, that the injury, so suffered by such railroad employee, result from the negligence of an officer, or agent, of the company of a higher grade of service than himself, or from that of a person, employed by the company, having the right, or charged with the duty, to control or direct the general services or the immediate work of the party injured, or the general services or the immediate work of the co employee through, or by whose act or omission he is injured, or that it result from the negligence of a co employee engaged in another department of labor, or engaged upon, or in charge of, any car upon which, or upon the train of which it is a part, the injured employee is not at the time of receiving the injury, or who is in charge of any switch, signal point, or locomotive engine, or is charged with dispatching trains or transmitting telegraphic or telephonic orders therefore, and whether such negligence be in the performance of an a.s.signable or non a.s.signable duty. The physical construction, repair or maintenance of the roadway, track or any of the structures connected therewith, and the physical construction, repair, maintenance, cleaning or operation of trains, cars or engines, shall be regarded as different departments of labor within the meaning of this section.

Knowledge, by any such railroad employee injured, of the defective or unsafe character or condition of any machinery, ways, appliances or structures, shall be no defence to an action for injury caused thereby. When death, whether instantaneous or not, results to such an employee from any injury for which he could have recovered, under the above provisions, had death not occurred, then his legal or personal representative, surviving consort, and relatives (and any trustee, curator committee or guardian of such consort or relatives) shall, respectively, have the same rights and remedies with respect thereto as if his death had been caused by the negligence of a co employee while in the performance, as vice-princ.i.p.al, of a non a.s.signable duty of the master. Every contract or agreement, express or implied, made by an employee, to waive the benefit of this section, shall be null and void This section shall not be construed to deprive any employee, or his legal or personal representative, surviving consort or relatives (or any trustee, curator, committee or guardian of such consort or relatives), of an rights or remedies that he or they may have by the law of the land, at the time this Const.i.tution goes into effect Nothing contained in this section shall restrict the power of the General a.s.sembly to further enlarge, for the above named cla.s.s of employees, the rights and remedies hereinbefore provided for, or to extend such rights and remedies to, or otherwise enlarge the present rights and remedies of, any other cla.s.s of employees of railroads or of employees of any person, firm or corporation

SEC 163 No foreign corporation shall be auth.o.r.ed to carry on, m this State, the business, or to exercise any of the powers or functions, of a public service corporation, or be permitted to do anything which domestic corporations are prohibited from doing or be relieved from compliance with any of the requirements made of similar domestic corporations by the Const.i.tution and laws of this State, where the same can be made applicable to such foreign corporation without discriminating against it But this section shall not affect any public service corporation whose line or route extends across the boundary of this Commonwealth, nor prevent any foreign corporation from continuing in such lawful business as it may be actually engaged in within this State, when this Const.i.tution goes into effect; but any such foreign public service corporation, so engaged, shall not, without first becoming incorporated under the laws of this State, be authorized to acquire, lease, use or operate, within this State, any public or munic.i.p.al franchise or franchises in addition to such as it may own, lease, use or operate when this Const.i.tution goes into effect. The property, within this State, of foreign corporations shall always be subject to attachment, the same as that of non- resident individuals; and nothing in this section shall restrict the power of the General a.s.sembly to discriminate against foreign corporations whenever, and in whatsoever respect, it may deem wise or expedient.

SEC. 164. The right of the Commonwealth, through such instrumentalities as it may select, to prescribe and define the public duties of all common carriers and public service corporations, to regulate and control them in the performance of their public duties, and to fix and limit their charges therefor, shall never be surrendered nor abridged.

SEC. 165. The General a.s.sembly shall enact laws preventing all trusts, combinations and monopolies, inimical to the public welfare.

SEC. 166. The exclusive right to build or operate railroads parallel to its own, or any other, line of railroad, shall not be granted to any company; but every railroad company shall have the right, subject to such reasonable regulations as may be prescribed by law, to parallel, intersect, connect with or cross, with its roadway, any other railroad or railroads; but no railroad company shall build or operate any line of railroad not specified in its charter, or in some amendment thereof. All railroad companies, whose lines of railroad connect, shall receive and transport each other's pa.s.sengers, freight, loaded or empty cars, without delay or discrimination. Nothing in this section shall deprive the General a.s.sembly of the right to prevent by statute, repealable at pleasure, any railroad from being built parallel to the present line of the Richmond, Fredericksburg and Potomac railroad.

SEC. 167. The General a.s.sembly shall enact general laws regulating and controlling all issues of stock and bonds by corporations.

Whenever stock or bonds are to be issued by a corporation, it shall, before issuing the same, file with the State Corporation Commission a statement (verified by the oath of the president or secretary of the corporation, and in such form as may be prescribed or permitted by the commission) setting forth fully and accurately the basis, or financial plan, upon which such stock or bonds are to be issued; and where such basis or plan includes services or property (other than money), received or to be received by the company, such statement shall accurately specify and describe, in the manner prescribed, or permitted, by the commission, the services and property, together with the valuation at which the same are received or to be received; and such corporation shall comply with any other requirements or restrictions which may be imposed by law. The General a.s.sembly shall provide adequate penalties for the violation of this section, or of any laws pa.s.sed in pursuance thereof; and it shall be the duty of the commission to adjudge, and enforce (in the manner hereinbefore provided), against any corporation refusing or failing to comply with the provisions of this section, or of any laws pa.s.sed in prey nuance thereof, such fines and penalties as are authorized by this Const.i.tution, or may be prescribed by law.

ARTICLE XIII.

TAXATION AND FINANCE.

SEC. 168. All property, except as hereinafter provided, shall be taxed; all taxes, whether state, local, or munic.i.p.al, shall be uniform upon the same cla.s.s of subjects within the territorial limits of the authority levying the tax, and shall be levied and collected under general laws.

SEC. 169. Except as hereinafter provided, all a.s.sessments of real estate and tangible personal property shall be at their fair market value, to be ascertained as prescribed by law. The General a.s.sembly may allow a lower rate of taxation to be imposed for a period of years by a city or town upon land added to its corporate limits, than is imposed on similar property within its limits at the time such land is added. Nothing in this Const.i.tution shall prevent the General a.s.sembly, after the first day of January, nineteen hundred and thirteen, from segregating for the purposes of taxation, the several kinds or cla.s.ses of property, so as to specify and determine upon what subjects, state taxes, and upon what subjects, local taxes may be levied.

SEC. 170. The General a.s.sembly may levy a tax on incomes in excess of six hundred dollars per annum; may levy a license tax upon any business which cannot be reached by the ad valorem system; and may impose state franchise taxes, and in imposing a franchise tax, may, in its discretion, make the same in lieu of taxes upon other property, in whole or in part, of a transportation, industrial, or commercial corporation. Whenever a franchise tax shall be imposed upon a corporation doing business in this State, or whenever all the capital, however invested, of a corporation chartered under the laws of this State, shall be taxed, the shares of stock issued by any such corporation, shall not be further taxed. No city or town shall impose any tax or a.s.sessment upon ab.u.t.ting land owners for street or other public local improvements, except for making and improving the walkways upon then existing streets, and improving and paving then existing alleys, and for either the construction, or for the use of sewers; and the same when imposed, shall not be in excess of the peculiar benefits resulting therefrom to such ab.u.t.ting land owners. Except in cities and towns, no such taxes or a.s.sessments, for local public improvements shall be imposed on ab.u.t.ting land owners.

SEC. 171. The General a.s.sembly shall provide for a re-a.s.sessment of real estate, in the year nineteen, hundred and five, and every fifth year thereafter, except that of railway and ca.n.a.l corporations, which, after the January the first, nineteen hundred and thirteen, may be a.s.sessed as the General a.s.sembly may provide

SEC 172 The General a.s.sembly shall provide for the special and separate a.s.sessment of all coal and other mineral land, but until such special a.s.sessment is made, such land shall be a.s.sessed under existing laws

SEC 173 The General a.s.sembly shall levy a state capitation tax of, and not exceeding, one dollar and fifty cents per annum on every male resident of the State not less than twenty one years of age, except those pensioned by this State for military services, one dollar of which shall be applied exclusively in aid of the public free schools, in proportion to the school population, and the residue shall be returned and paid by the State into the treasury of the county or city in which it was collected, to be appropriated by the proper county or city authorities to such county or city purposes as they shall respectively determine, but said state capitation tax shall not be a lien upon, nor collected by legal process from, the personal property which may be exempt from levy or distress under the poor debtor's law. The General a.s.sembly may authorize the board of supervisors of any county, or the council of any city or town, to levy an additional capitation tax not exceeding one dollar per annum on every such resident within its limits, which shall be applied in aid of the public schools of such county, city or town, or for such other county, city or town purposes as they shall determine

SEC 174 After this Const.i.tution shall be in force, no statute of limitation shall run against any claim of the State for taxes upon any property, nor shall the failure to a.s.sess property for taxation defeat a subsequent a.s.sessment for and collection of taxes for any preceding year or years, unless such property shall have pa.s.sed to a bona fide purchaser of value, without notice, in which latter case the property shall be a.s.sessed for taxation against such purchaser from the date of his purchase

SEC 175 The natural oyster beds, rocks and shoals, in the waters of this State, shall not be leased, rented or sold, but shall be held in trust for the benefit of the people of this State, subject to such regulations and restrictions as the General a.s.sembly may prescribe, but the General a.s.sembly may, from time to time, define and determine such natural beds, rocks or shoals, by surveys or otherwise

SEC 176 The State Corporation Commission shall annually ascertain and a.s.sess, at the time hereinafter mentioned, and in the manner required of the Board of Public Works, by the law in force on January the first nineteen hundred and two, the value of the roadbed, and other real estate, rolling stock, and all other personal property whatsoever (except its franchise and the non taxable shares of stock issued by other corporations) in this State, of each railway corporation, whatever its motive power, now or hereafter liable for taxation upon such property, the ca.n.a.l bed and other real estate, the boats and all other personal property whatsoever (except its franchise and the non taxable shares of stock issued by other corporations) in this State, of each ca.n.a.l corporation, empowered to conduct transportation, and such property shall be taxed for state, county, city, town and district purposes in the same manner as authorized by said law, at such rates of taxation as may be imposed by them, respectively, from time to time, upon the real estate and personal property of natural persons provided, that no tax shall be laid upon the net income of such corporations.

SEC. 177. Each such railway or ca.n.a.l corporation, including also any such as is exempt from taxation as to its works, visible property, or profits, shall also pay an annual state franchise tax equal to one per centum upon the gross receipts hereinafter specified in section One Hundred and Seventy eight for the privilege of exercising its franchise in this State, which, with the taxes provided for in section One Hundred and Seventy six, shall be in lieu of all other taxes or license charges whatsoever upon the franchises of such corporation, the shares of stock issued by it, and upon its property a.s.sessed under section One Hundred and Seventy six provided, that nothing herein contained shall exempt such corporation from the annual fee required by section One Hundred and fifty seven of this Const.i.tution, or from a.s.sessments for street and other public local improvements authorized by section One Hundred and Seventy, and provided, further, that nothing herein contained shall annul or interfere with, or prevent any contract or agreement by ordinance between street railway corporations and munic.i.p.alities, as to compensation for the use of the streets or alleys of such munic.i.p.alities by such railway corporations.

SEC 178 The amount of such franchise tax shall be equal to one per centum of the gross transportation receipts of such corporation, for the year ending June the thirtieth of each year, to be ascertained by the State Corporation Commission, in the following manner:

(a) When the road or ca.n.a.l of the corporation lies wholly within this State, the tax shall be equal to one per centum of the entire gross transportation receipts of such corporation

(b) When the road or ca.n.a.l of the corporation lies partly within and partly without this State or is operated as a part of a line or system extending beyond this State, the tax shall be equal to one per centum of the gross transportation receipts earned within this State, to be determined as follows: By ascertaining the average gross transportation receipts per mile over its whole extent within and without this State, and multiplying the result by the number of miles operated within this State provided, that from the sum so ascertained there may be a reasonable deduction because of any excess of value of the terminal facilities or other similar advantages in other states over similar facilities or advantages in this State.

SEC 179 Each corporation mentioned in sections One Hundred and Seventy six and One Hundred and Seventy seven shall annually, on the first day of September, make to the State Corporation Commission the report which the law, in force January the first, nineteen hundred and two, required to be made annually to the Board of Public Works by every railroad and ca.n.a.l company in this State, not exempt from taxation by virtue of its charter, which report shall also show the property taxable in this State belonging to the corporation on the thirtieth day of June preceding, and its total gross transportation receipts for the year ending on that date. Upon receiving such report the State Corporation Commission shall, after thirty days' notice previously given, as provided by said law, a.s.sess the value of the property not exempt from taxation, of the corporation, and ascertain the amount of the franchise tax and other state taxes chargeable against it. All taxes for which the corporation is liable shall be paid on or before the first day of December following the provisions of said law, except as changed by this article shall apply to the ascertainment and collection of the franchise, as well as other taxes of such corporations. Said taxes, until paid, shall be a lien upon the property within this State of the corporation owning the same, and take precedence of all other liens or inc.u.mbrances.

SEC. 180 Any corporation aggrieved by the a.s.sessment and ascertainment made under sections One Hundred and Seventy six and One Hundred and Seventy eight may, within thirty days after receiving a certified copy thereof, apply for relief to the circuit court of the city of Richmond Justice of the application, setting forth the grounds of complaint, verified by affidavit, shall be served on the State Corporation Commission, and on the Attorney General whose duty it shall be to represent the State.

The court, if of opinion that the a.s.sessment or tax is excessive shall reduce the same, but if of opinion that it is insufficient, shall increase the same. Unless the applicant paid the taxes under protest, when due, the court, if it disallow the application, shall give judgment against it for a sum, by way of damages, equal to interest at the rate of one per centum per month upon the amount of taxes from the time the same were payable. If the application be allowed, in whole or in part, appropriate relief shall be granted, including the right to recover any excess of taxes that may have been paid, with legal interest thereon, and costs, from the State or local authorities, or both, as the case may be, the judgment to be enforceable by mandamus or other proper process issuing from the court finally adjudicating the application. Subject to the provisions of Article Six of this Const.i.tution, the Supreme Court of Appeals may allow a court of error to either party.

SEC. 181. As of January the first, nineteen hundred and three, the system of taxation, as to the corporations mentioned in sections One Hundred and Seventy six and One Hundred and Seventy seven, shall be as set forth in sections One Hundred and Seventy six to One Hundred and Eighty, inclusive, and for that year the franchise tax shall be based upon such gross receipts for the year ending the thirtieth day of June, nineteen hundred and three, and such system shall so remain until the first day of January, nineteen hundred and thirteen, and thereafter until modified or changed, as may be prescribed by law provided, that, if the said system shall for any reason become inoperative, the General a.s.sembly shall have power to adopt some other system.

SEC. 182. Until otherwise prescribed by law, the shares of stock issued by trust or security companies chartered by this State, and by incorporated banks, shall be taxed in the same manner in which the shares of stock issued by incorporated banks were taxed, by the law in force January the first, nineteen hundred and two, but from the total a.s.sessed value of the shares of stock of any such company or bank, there shall be deducted the a.s.sessed value of its real estate otherwise taxed in this State, and the value of each share of stock shall be its proportion of the remainder.

SEC. 183. Except as otherwise provided in this Const.i.tution, the following property and no other, shall be exempt from taxation, state and local, but the General a.s.sembly may hereafter tax any of the property hereby exempted save that mentioned in sub-section (a)

(a) Property directly or indirectly owned by the State, however held, and property lawfully owned and held by counties, cities, towns, or school districts, used wholly and exclusively for county, city, town, or public school purposes, and obligations issued by the State since the fourteenth day of February, eighteen hundred and eighty two or hereafter exempted by law. (b) Buildings with land they actually occupy, and the furniture and furnis.h.i.+ngs therein lawfully owned and held by churches or religious bodies, and wholly and exclusively used for religious wors.h.i.+p, or for the residence of the minister of any such church or religious body, together with the additional adjacent land reasonably necessary for the convenient use of any such building.

(c) Private family burying grounds not exceeding one acre in area, reserved as such by will or deed or shown by other sufficient evidence to be reserved as such, and so exclusively used, and public burying grounds and lots therein exclusively used for burial purposes, and not conducted for profit, whether owned or managed by local authorities or by private corporations.

(d) Buildings with the land they actually occupy and the furniture, furnis.h.i.+ngs, books and instruments therein, wholly devoted to educational purposes, belonging to, and actually and exclusively occupied and used by churches, public libraries, incorporated colleges, academies, industrial schools, seminaries, or other incorporated inst.i.tutions of learning, including the Virginia Historical Society, which are not corporations having shares of stock or otherwise owned by individuals or other corporations, together with such additional adjacent land owned by such churches, libraries and educational inst.i.tutions as may be reasonably necessary for the convenient use of such buildings, respectively, and also the buildings thereon used as residences by the officers or instructors of such educational inst.i.tutions, and also the permanent endowment funds held by such libraries and educational inst.i.tutions directly or in trust, and not invested in real estate provided, that such libraries and educational inst.i.tutions are not conducted for profit of any person or persons, natural or corporate directly or under any guise or pretence whatsoever. But the exemption mentioned in this sub section shall not apply to any industrial school, individual or corporate, not the property of the State, which does work for compensation, or manufactures and sells articles, in the community in which such school is located; provided, that nothing herein contained shall restrict any such school from doing work for or selling its own products or any other articles to any of its students or employees.

(e) Real estate belonging to, actually and exclusively occupied, and used by, and personal property, including endowment funds, belonging to Young Men's Christian a.s.sociations, and other similar religious a.s.sociations, orphan or other asylums, reformatories, hospitals and nunneries, which are not conducted for profit, but purely and completely as charities.

(f) Buildings with the land they actually occupy, and the furniture and furnis.h.i.+ngs therein, belonging to any benevolent or charitable a.s.sociation and used exclusively for lodge purposes or meeting rooms by such a.s.sociation, together with such additional adjacent land as may be necessary for the convenient rise of the buildings for such purposes; and

(g) Property belonging to the a.s.sociation for the Preservation of Virginia Antiquities, the Confederate Memorial Literary Society, and the Mount Vernon Ladies' a.s.sociation of the Union.

No inheritance tax shall be charged, directly or indirectly, against any legacy or devise made according to law for the benefit of any inst.i.tution or other body or any natural or corporate person whose property is exempt from taxation as hereinbefore mentioned in this section.

Nothing contained in this section shall be construed to exempt from taxation the property of any person, firm, a.s.sociation or corporation, who shall, expressly or impliedly, directly or indirectly, contract or promise to pay any sum of money or other benefit, on account of death, sickness, or accident to any of its members or any other person; and whenever any building or land, or part thereof, mentioned in this section and not belonging to the State, shall be leased or shall be a source of revenue or profit, all of such buildings and land shall be liable to taxation as other land and buildings in the same county, city, or town; and nothing herein contained shall be construed as authorizing or requiring any county, city, or town to tax for county, city or town purposes, in violation of the rights of the lessees thereof existing under any lawful contract heretofore made, any real estate owned by such county, city or town, and heretofore leased by it.

Obligations issued by counties, cities, or towns may be exempted by the authorities of such localities from local taxation.

SEC. 184. No debt shall be contracted by the State except to meet casual deficits in the revenue, to redeem a previous liability of the State, to suppress insurrection, repel invasion, or defend the State in time of war. No scrip, certificate, or other evidence of state indebtedness, shall be issued except for the transfer or redemption of stock previously issued, or for such debts as are expressly authorized in this Const.i.tution.

SEC. 185. Neither the credit of the State, nor of any county, city, or town, shall be, directly or indirectly, under any device or pretence whatsoever, granted to or in aid of any person, a.s.sociation, or corporation; nor shall the State, or any county, city, or town subscribe to or become interested in the stock or obligations of any company, a.s.sociation, or corporation, for the purpose of aiding in the construction or maintenance of its work; nor shall the State become a party to or become interested in any work of internal improvement, except public roads, or engaged in carrying on any such work; nor a.s.sume any indebtedness of any county, city, or town, nor lend its credit to the same; but this section shall not prevent a county, city or town from perfecting a subscription to the capital stock of a railroad company authorized by existing charter conditioned upon the affirmative vote of the voters and freeholders of such county, city or town in favor of such subscription: provided, that such vote be had prior to July first, nineteen hundred and three.

SEC. 186. All taxes, licenses, and other revenue of the State, shall be collected by its proper officers and paid into the state treasury. No money shall be paid out of the state treasury except in pursuance of appropriations made by law; and no such appropriation shall be made which is payable more than two years after the end of the session of the General a.s.sembly, at which the law is enacted authorizing the same; and no appropriation shall be made for the payment of any debt or obligation created in the name of the State during the war between the Confederate States and the United States. Nor shall any county, city, or town pay any debt or obligation created by such county, city, or town in aid of said war.

SEC. 187. The General a.s.sembly shall provide and maintain a sinking fund in accordance with the provisions of section Ten of the act, approved February the twentieth, eighteen hundred and ninety-two, ent.i.tled "an act to provide for the settlement of the public debt of Virginia not funded under the provisions of an act ent.i.tled an act to ascertain and declare Virginia's equitable share of the debt created before, and actually existing at the time of the part.i.tion of her territory and resources, and to provide for the issuance of bonds covering the same, and the regular and prompt payment of the interest theron, approved February the fourteenth, eighteen hundred and eighty-two." Every law hereafter enacted by the General a.s.sembly, creating a debt or authorizing a loan, shall provide for the creation and maintenance of a sinking fund for the payment or redemption of the same.

SEC. 188. No other or greater amount of tax or revenue shall, at any time, be levied than may be required for the necessary expenses of the government, or to pay the indebtedness of the State.

SEC. 189. On all lands and the improvements thereon, and on all tangible personal property, not exempt from taxation by the provision of this article, the rate of state taxation shall be twenty cents on every hundred dollars of the a.s.sessed value thereof, the proceeds of which shall be applied to the expenses of the government and the indebtedness of the State, and a further tax of ten cents on every hundred dollars of the a.s.sessed value thereof, which shall be applied to the support of the public free schools of the State: provided, that after the first day of January, nineteen hundred and seven, the tax rate upon said real and personal property, for such purposes shall be prescribed by law. But the General a.s.sembly during such period of four years, in addition to making annually an appropriation for pensions not to exceed the last appropriation made for such purpose prior to September the thirtieth, nineteen hundred and one, may levy annually, a special tax for pensions, on such real and personal property of not exceeding five cents on the hundred dollars of the a.s.sessed value therof.