SEC. 12919. Whoever, being a county auditor, fraudulently places upon the duplicate of a county, as a tax omission, an assessment reported to him by a ward or township assessor, made to such assessor prior to the third Monday of May by a taxpayer, or an assessment made by a board of equalization, or the amount of a return made by a corporation, joint stock company or other person required by law to make return to the auditor, or conspires with an assessor to increase the number or amount of tax omissions, if the amount thereof is thirty-five dollars or more, shall be imprisoned in the penitentiary not less than one year nor more than seven years, and if the amount thereof is less than thirty-five dollars, shall be fined not more than two hundred dollars or imprisoned not more than thirty days, or both. (R. S. Sec. 6973.)

Violating rules for valuing personal property.

SEC. 12924. Whoever, being an assessor of personal property, member of a board of equalization, county auditor, or other officer connected officially with the listing of personal property, wilfully values such property as originally listed, or subsequently added to the tax list or duplicate, except in conformity to the provisions of the statute governing such valuation, shall be fined two hundred dollars. (R. S. Sec. 2739a.)

Refusal to fill blanks, exhibit books and papers.

SEC. 12924-1. Whoever, being an officer, agent or employe of any public utility, company, firm, person, co-partnership, corporation or association, subject to the provisions of any law which the tax commission of Ohio is required to administer, shall fail or refuse to fill out and return any blanks, as required by such law, or shall fail or refuse to answer any questions therein propounded, or shall knowingly or willfully give a false answer to any such question where the fact inquired of is within his knowledge, or who shall, upon proper demand, fail or refuse to exhibit to such commission or any commissioner or any person duly authorized, any book, paper, account, record or memoranda of such public utility, which is in his possession or under his control, shall be fined not more than one thousand dollars for each offense. (102 v. 224, § 154.)

Forfeiture.

SEC. 12924-2. A forfeiture of not less than five hundred dollars nor more than one thousand dollars shall be recovered from any such public utility, company, firm, person, co-partnership, corporation or association for each violation of the next preceding section, when such officer, agent or employe acted in obedience to the direction, instruction or request of such public utility, company, corporation or association or any general officer thereof. (102 v. 224, § 155.)

Refusal to obey order of tax commission.

SEC. 12924-3. Whoever violates any provision of a law, which the tax commission of Ohio is required to administer, or neglects or refuses to perform any duty therein required,

for which a penalty has not otherwise been provided, or neglects or refuses to obey any lawful requirement or order made by such commission, for every such violation, failure or refusal, shall be fined not less than twenty-five dollars nor more than one thousand dollars for each offense. In construing and enforcing the provisions of this section, the act, omission or failure of any officer, agent or other person acting for or employed by any public utility, company, firm, person, co-partnership, corporation or association acting within the scope of his employment, shall, in every case be the act, omission or failure of such public utility, company, firm, person, co-partnership, corporation or association. (102 v. 224, § 156.)

Failure to list or value property.

SEC. 12924-4. Whoever, being a member of the tax commission of Ohio, or an assessor or a member of a county board of equalization, or a person whose duty it is to list, value, assess or equalize real or personal property for taxation, shall knowingly or wilfully fail to list or return for assessment or valuation, any real estate or personal property, or knowingly or wilfully lists or returns for assessment or valuation any real or personal property at any other than its true value in money, or shall wilfully or knowingly fail to equalize any real or personal property according to its true value in money, shall be fined not less than fifty dollars nor more than five hundred dollars and in addition thereto, if he be an officer, shall forfeit his office or position. (102 v. 224, § 157.)

Each day of violation shall constitute separate offense.

SEC. 12924-5. Every day during which any public utility, company, corporation, association, firm, co-partnership, officer, or individual, subject to the provisions of any law which the tax commission of Ohio is required to administer, or any officer, agent or employe thereof shall wilfully fail to observe and comply with any order or direction of such commission or to perform any duty enjoined by such law, shall constitute a separate and distinct offense. (102 v. 224, § 158.)

Political activity cause for removal of officer or employe.

SEC. 12924-6. An assessor, assistant assessor, member of a county board of revision, member of the tax commission of Ohio, or any assistant, expert, clerk or other employe of a county board of revision or the tax commission of Ohio, who holds any position on or under any committee of a political party, or who subscribes or pays any money or other thing of value to any person or organization for the purpose of promoting or defeating or otherwise influencing any legislation, or who circulates any initiative or referendum petition, shall be removed from his office or employment in the manner prescribed for removals by this act, and shall be fined not more than one hundred dollars for each such offense. (106 v. 271, Sec. 96.)

Penalty for divulging information acquired as auditor or member of board.

SEC. 12924-7. Whoever, being a county auditor or a member of a county board of revision, divulges, except in the performance of his duties or upon the order of the tax commission of Ohio, or when called upon to testify in any court or proceeding, any information acquired by him in the exercise of the powers in him vested by any provision of this act or while claiming to exercise any such powers, in respect to the transactions, property or business of any person, company, firm, corporation, association or partnership, shall be fined not less than fifty dollars nor more than three hundred dollars, and shall thereafter be disqualified from acting in any official capacity whatever in connection with the assessment or collection of taxes. (106 v. 271, Sec. 97.)

Penalty for divulging information acquired as an assessor or employe.

SEC. 12924-8. Whoever, being an assessor, assistant assessor or an expert, clerk or employe of a county auditor or county board of revision, divulges, except in the performance of his duties or upon the order of the tax commission of Ohio or in his report to the county auditor or to the county board of revision, as the case may be, or when called upon to testify in any court or proceeding, any information acquired by him in the exercise of the powers in him vested by any provision of law, or while claiming to exercise such powers in respect to the transactions, property or business of any person, company, firm, corporation, association or partnership, shall be fined not less than fifty dollars nor more than three hundred dollars, and shall thereafter be disqualified from acting in any official capacity whatsoever in connection with the assessment or collection of taxes. (106 v. 271. Sec. 98.)

Penalty for fraudulent valuation.

SEC. 12924-9. Whoever, being an assessor, assistant assessor, county auditor or a member of a county board of revision, or a deputy county auditor, or an expert, clerk or employe of a county board of revision, wilfully and fraudulently values any real or personal property for taxation, except at the true value thereof in money, as provided by law, shall be fined not less than two hundred dollars nor more than one thousand dollars. (106 v. 271, Sec. 99.)

Penalty for failure, neglect, refusal or evasion of duty.

SEC. 12924-10. Whoever, being a county auditor or a member of a county board of revision or an assessor, assistant assessor, expert, clerk, or other employe of a county auditor or a county board of revision, refuses or knowingly neglects to perform any duty enjoined on him by law, or consents or connives at any evasion of the provisions of this act or of title 1, part second of the General Code, whereby property required to be assessed is unlawfully exempted, or the valuation thereof entered at less than its true value, for each such neglect, refusal, consent or connivance, shall be fined not less than one hundred dollars nor more than one thousand dollars. (106 v. 271, Sec. 100. W. L. Sec. 45.)

Acting as agent, etc., for certain companies in default of taxes.

SEC. 13415. Whoever, directly or indirectly, acts as agent, or transacts any business on account of or for the benefit of an express, telegraph, telephone or insurance company, against which taxes have been assessed in any county in this state and remain unpaid for twenty days after the time provided by law for the payment thereof, shall be fined not less than one hundred dollars nor more than five hundred dollars or imprisoned in the county jail and fed on bread and water only not more than thirty days, or both. The payment of such unpaid tax by an agent or other person, shall not be a violation of this section. (R. S. Sec. 2843.)

Failure to make levy or furnish estimates; penalty.

SEC. 13421-8. Whoever, being charged with the duty of making any levy or furnishing any estimates or budgets requesting any levy or allowance for the construction, improvement, maintenance or repair of any public highway, bridge or culvert, shall fail to make such levy or allowance, or furnish such estimate. budget or request shall be fined not more than two hundred dollars, nor less than twenty-five dollars. (106 v. 660, § 285.)

In whom legislative power is vested. Initiative and Referendum.

SEC. 1. The legislative power of the state shall be vested in a general assembly consisting of a senate and house of representatives but the people reserve to themselves the power to propose to the general assembly laws and amendments to the constitution, and to adopt or reject the same at the polls on a referendum vote as hereinafter provided. They also reserve the power to adopt or reject any law, section of any law or any item in any law appropriating money passed by the general assembly, except as hereinafter provided, and independent of the general assembly to propose amendments to the constitution and to adopt or reject the same at the polls. The limitations expressed in the constitution, on the power of the general assembly to enact laws, shall be deemed limitations on the power of the people to enact laws. (As amended September 3, 1912.)

Original § 1 read as follows: "Sec. 1. In whom legislative power is vested. The legislative power of this state shall be vested in a general assembly, which shall consist of a senate, and a house of representatives. See Const. 1802, Art. 1, § 1.

That

The same provision, in nearly the same words, is found in the former constitution. includes all legislative power which the object and purposes of the state government may require, and we must look to other provisions of the constitution to see how far, and to what extent, legislative direction is qualified or restricted. Hence the difference between the constitution of the United States and a state constitution such as ours. In the former we look to see if the power is expressly given; in the latter to see if it is denied or limited: Baker v. Cincinnati, 11 O S. 534.

By the terms of our state constitution, "the legislative power of the state" is declared to be "vested in the general assembly." This grant of power is general in its terms, not special; it embraces all such legislative power as the people of the state could, under the federal constitution confer the whole "legislative power of the state." The limitations upon the exercise of the power thus broadly conferred, are special, and are to be found in other parts of the same instrument: Baker v. City of Cincinnati, 11 O. S. 534.

Whatever power of taxation resides in the general assembly, does so as an incident of the general legislative authority delegated to that body by Art. II, § 1: Board of Education v. State, 1 O. S. 531.

The power to impose taxes is a legislative power, and is vested in the general assembly by 81, of Art. II, of the constitution: State, ex rel., v. Guilbert, 70 O. S. 229; see, to the same effect, Telegraph Co. v. Poe, 61 Fed. 449, 8 O. F. D. 158; Insurance Co. v. Commissioners, 99 Fed. 846, 13 O. F. D. 198.

In our present constitution, as well as in the former, the general grant of legislative authority includes the power of taxation in all its forms. Restrictions upon its exercise are to be looked for in other parts of the instrument: Hill v. Higdon, 5 O. S. 243.

The general grant of legislative power vested in the general assembly by this section includes the power to collect revenue for public purposes and the limitations on the exercise of this power are to be found in other provisions of this instrument, and in the constitution of the United States: Telegraph Co. v. Mayer, 28 O. S. 521.

The power of taxation is limited, but not conferred by Art. XII, §2, of the constitution. It is included in the legislative power conferred on the general assembly by Art. II, § 1, of that instrument. The limitation is on the power to raise revenue by the taxation of property; all other recognized modes of exercising the power may be resorted to by the legislature whenever in its wisdom it may be deemed necessary: Adler v. Whitbeck, 44 Ŏ. S. 539.

The power to authorize assessments, as distinguished from taxes proper, is comprehended in the general grant of legislative power to the general assembly: Reeves v. Treasurer, 8 0. S. 333.

The power to authorize assessments for the construction of free turnpike roads, and the opening of drains, as well as for the improvement of streets and sidewalks, exists to the same extent under the present constitution as under that of 1802: Reeves v. Treasurer, 8 O. S. 333.

The legislature, in the exercise of the general power of taxation, as distinguished from the power of local assessment, may create a special taxing district without regard to municipal or political subdivisions of the state, and may levy a tax on all property within such district by a uniform rule, according to its true value in money, for the purpose of defraying the expenses of constructing and maintaining public roads therein: Bowles v. State, 37 O. S. 35. A per capita tax on dogs is not inhibited by the constitution. While the purpose of a statute imposing such tax is the protection of woolgrowers, it is an exercise of the police power, and not of the taxing power vested in the general assembly: Holst v. Roe, 39 O. S. 340. The legislative branch has the exclusive power of taxation. It may in the absence of constitutional restrictions delegate the taxing power to municipalities in such measure as it deems expedient, but it can not confer any greater power than the state itself possesses, and it must observe the restrictions and limitations of the organic law: State, ex rel., v. Toledo, 48 O. S. 112.

It was at first held that a provision in the charter of a corporation fixing the rate of taxation upon its property was a valid contract which the state had the right to make under the provisions of the constitution of 1802 State v. Commercial Bank, 7, O. (pt. 1) 125. Subsequently an act was passed, the operation of which was to increase the taxes of certain banks over that fixed in their charters, and the supreme court of the state then held (Bank v. Debolt, 1, 0. S. 591) that as the power of taxation is a part of the legislative sovereignty of the state, and is not the subject of contract, of barter, or sale by the legislature, such charter contracts were void; see, to the same effect, Debolt v. Trust Co., 1 O. S. 563; Knoup v. Piqua Bank, 1 O. S. 603; Toledo Bank v. Bond, 1 O. S. 622; Plank Road Co. v. Husted, 3 O. S. 578; Bank v. Wilbor, 7 O. S. 481; Skelly v. Bank, 9 O. S. 606.

The supreme court of the United States, however, held such contracts to be valid: Dodge v. Woolsey, 59 U. S. (18 How.) 331; Bank v. Debolt, 59 U. S. (18 How.) 380; Bank v. Thomas, 59 U. S. (18 How.) 384; Piqua Bank v. Knoop, 57 U. S. (16 How.) 369.

The supreme court of Ohio eventually yielded to the authority of the supreme court of the United States upon the specific statutory contracts for exemption, which had been considered by the supreme court of the United States: State, ex rel., v. Moore, 5 O. S. 444; Bank v. Lewis, 5 O. S. 447.

It is now well settled that under the present constitution the taxing power, which constitutes a branch of the legislative power, and which is of vital importance, and essential to the existence of government, can not be surrendered or abandoned, either in whole or in part, by the legislature, to promote private and individual interests, so as to limit the power and control of future legislation over it; but like the right of eminent domain, and the right of control over existing laws by amendment and repeal, both of which are also vital and essential prerogatives of the legislative power, must continue in unabridged subserviency to the public safety and welfare, the original and paramount purpose of the delegation of all civil power by the people: Bank v. Bond, 1 O. S. 622; see, also, Debolt v. Trust Co., 1 O. S. 563; Bank v. Debolt, 1 O. S. 591; Knoup v. Piqua Bank, 1 O. S. 603; Plank Road Co. v. Husted, 3 O. S. 578; Bank v. Wilbor, 7 O. S. 481; Skelly v. Bank, 9 O. S. 606.

Use of initiative and referendum limited.

SEC. le. The powers defined herein as the "initiative" and "referendum" shall not be used to pass a law authorizing any classification of property for the purpose of levying different rates of taxation thereon or of authorizing the levy of any single tax on land or land values or land sites at a higher rate or by a different rule than is or may be applied to improvements thereon or to person property. (Adopted Sept. 3, 1912.)

ARTICLE XII.

FINANCE AND TAXATION.

This article as originally adopted contained only six sections, corresponding to the first six sections of the present article. Of these Section 2 was amended in 1905. No other changes were made until September 3, 1912, when Sections 1, 2 and 6 were amended and Sections 7, 8, 9, 10 and 11 were added to the article.

The provisions of Art. XII, of the constitution of Ohio, are not grants of power to the legislature, but limitations and restrictions on the general powers conferred by Art. II, § 1. Thus, Art. XII, which relates to taxation, is not a delegation of authority to raise revenue, but a limitation of that power as conferred by Art. II, § 1: Telegraph Co. v. Mayer, 28 O. S. 521.

In forming the constitution of this state, the necessity for taxation was recognized on the one hand, and the dangers incident to the exercise of the power on the other; and to provide what was necessary for the one, and against the dangers of the other, Art. XII, of the present constitution was adopted. It prohibits one form of odious taxation and forbids the contracting of debts by the state for internal improvements, which might be so used as to create a necessity for oppressive taxation: Chamberlain v. Cleveland, 34 O. S. 551,

Before the adoption of the present constitution the whole matter of taxation was com mitted to the discretion of the general assembly. It might be levied upon such property and in such proportion as that body saw fit. The right to make exceptions and exemptions was unquestionable. But this discretion no longer exists. The public burdens are made to rest upon the property of the state, and whenever money is to be raised by taxation, the positive injunction is, that laws shall be passed, taxing by a uniform rule, all moneys, credits, investments in bonds, stocks, joint stock companies, or otherwise; and also all real and personal property, according to its true value in money: Zanesville v. Richards, 5 O. S. 589.