Georgia Constitution of 1877

(as ratified by Georgia voters in December 1877)

ARTICLE VII.

FINANCE, TAXATION AND PUBLIC DEBT.

SECTION I.

Paragraph I. The powers of taxation over the whole State shall be exercised by the General Assembly for the following purposes only:

For the support of the State government and the public institutions;

For educational purposes, in instructing children in the elementary branches of an English education only;

To pay the interest on the public debt;

To pay the principal of the public debt;

To suppress insurrection, to repel invasion, and defend the State in time of war;

To supply the soldiers who lost a limb, or limbs, in the military service of the Confederate States, with substantial artificial limbs during life.

SECTION II.

Paragraph I. All taxation shall be uniform upon the same class of subjects, and ad valorem on all property subject to be taxed, within the territorial limits of the authority levying the tax, and shall be levied and collected under general laws. The General Assembly may, however, impose a tax upon such domestic animals as, from their nature and habits, are destructive of other property.

Par II. The General Assembly may, by law, exempt from taxation all public property, places of religious worship or burial; all institutions of purely public charity; all buildings erected for and used as a college, incorporated academy, or other seminary of learning; the real and personal estate of any public library, and that of any other literary association, used by or connected with such library; all books and philosophical apparatus; and all paintings and statuary of any company or association, kept in a public hall, and not held as merchandize [sic.], or for purposes of sale or gain: Provided, the property so exempted be not used for purposes of private or corporate profit or income.

Par. III. No poll tax shall be levied except for educational purposes, and such tax shall not exceed one dollar, annually, upon each poll.

Par. IV. All laws exempting property from taxation other than the property herein enumerated, shall be void.

Par. V. The power to tax corporations and corporate property, shall not be surrendered or suspended by any contract or grant to which the State shall be a party.

SECTION III.

Paragraph I. No debt shall be contracted by, or on behalf of the State, except to supply casual deficiencies of revenue, to repel invasion, suppress insurrection and defend the State in time of war, or to pay the existing public debt; but the debt created to supply deficiencies in revenue shall not exceed, in the aggregate, two hundred thousand dollars.

SECTION IV.

Paragraph I. All laws authorizing the borrowing of money by, or on behalf of, the State, shall specify the purposes for which the money is to be used, and the money so obtained shall be used for the purpose specified, and for no other.

SECTION V.

Paragraph I. The credit of the State shall not be pledged or loaned to any individual, company, corporation or association, and the State shall not become a joint owner or stockholder in any company, association, or corporation.

SECTION VI.

Paragraph I. The General Assembly shall not authorize any county, municipal corporation, or political division of this State, to become a stockholder in any company, corporation, or association, or to appropriate money for, or to loan its credit to any corporation, company, association, institution, or individual, except for purely charitable purposes. This restriction shall not operate to prevent the support of schools by municipal corporations within their respective limits: Provided, that if any municipal corporation shall offer to the State any property for locating or building a capitol, and the State accepts such offer, the corporation may comply with such offer.

Par. II. The General Assembly shall not have power to delegate to any county the right to levy a tax for any purpose, except for educational purposes in instructing children in the elementary branches of English education only; to build and repair the public buildings and bridges; to maintain and support prisoners; to pay jurors and coroners, and for litigation, quarantine, roads and expenses of courts; to support paupers and pay debts heretofore existing.

SECTION. VII.

Paragraph I. The debt hereafter incurred by any county, municipal corporation, or political division, of this State, except as in this Constitution provided for, shall never exceed seven per centum of the assessed value of all the taxable property therein, and no such county, municipality, or division, shall incur any new debt, except for a temporary loan or loans, to supply casual deficiencies of revenue, not to exceeb [sic] ne-fifth [sic.] of one per centum of the assessed value of taxable property therein, without the assent of two-thirds of the qualified voters thereof, at an election for that purpose, to be held as may be prescribed by law; but any city, the debt of which does not exceed seven per centum of the assessed value of the taxable property at the time of the adoption of this Constitution, may be authorized by law to increase, at any time, the amount of said debt, three per centum upon such assessed valuation.

Par. II. Any county, municipal corporation, or political division of this State, which shall incur any bonded indebtedness under the provisions of this Constitution, shall, at or before the time of so doing, provide for the assessment and collection of an annual tax, sufficient in amount to pay the principal and interest of said debt within thirty years from the date of the incurring of said indebtedness.

SECTION VIII.

Paragraph I. The State shall not assume the debt, nor any part thereof, of any county, municipal corporation, or political division of the State, unless such debt shall be contracted to enable the State to repel invasion, suppress insurrection, or defend itself in time of war.

SECTION IX.

Paragraph I. The receiving directly or indirectly, by any officer of the State or county, or member or officer of the General Assembly, of any interest, profits, or perquisites, arising from the use or loan of public funds in his hands, or moneys to be raised through his agency for State or county purposes, shall be deemed a felony, and punishable as may be prescribed by law, a part of which punishment shall be a disqualification from holding office.

SECTION X.

Paragraph I. Municipal corporations shall not incur any debt until provision therefor [sic] shall have been made by the municipal government.

SECTION XI.

Paragraph I. The General Assembly shall have no authority to appropriate money, either directly or indirectly, to pay the whole, or any part, of the principal or interest of the bonds, or other obligations which have been pronounced illegal, null and void, by the General Assembly, and the constitutional amendments ratified by a vote of the people on the first day of May, 1877; nor shall the General Assembly have authority to pay any of the obligations created by the State under laws passed during the late war between the States, nor any of the bonds, notes, or obligations made and entered into during the existence of said war, the time for the payment of which was fixed after the ratification of a treaty of peace between the United States and the Confederate States; nor shall the General Assembly pass any law, or the Governor, or other State official, enter into any contract, or agreement, whereby the State shall be made a party to any suit in any court of this State, or of the United States, instituted to test the validity of any such bonds or obligations.

SECTION XII.

Paragraph I. The bonded debt of the State shall never be increased, except to repel invasion, suppress insurrection, or defend the State in time of war.

SECTION XIII.

Paragraph I. The proceeds of the sale of the Western and Atlantic, Macon and Brunswick, or other railroads, held by the State, and any other property owned by the State, whenever the General Assembly may authorize the sale of the whole, or any part thereof, shall be applied to the payment of the bonded debt of the State, and shall not be used for any other purpose whatever, so long as the State has any existing bonded debt; provided, that the proceeds of the sale of the Western and Atlantic Railroad shall be applied to the payment of the bonds for which said railroad has been mortgaged, in preference to all other bonds.

SECTION XIV.

Paragraph I. The General Assembly shall raise, by taxation, each year, in addition to the sum required to pay the public expenses and interest on the public debt, the sum of one hundred thousand dollars, which shall be held as a sinking fund, to pay off and retire the bonds of the State which have not yet matured, and shall be applied to no other purpose whatever. If the bonds cannot at any time be purchased at or below par, then the sinking fund herein provided for may be loaned by the Governor and Treasurer of the State; provided, the security which shall be demanded for said loan shall consist only of the valid bonds of the State; but this section shall not take effect until the eight per cent. currency bonds, issued under the Act of February the 19th, 1873, shall have been paid.

SECTION XV.

Paragraph I. The Comptroller General and Treasurer shall each make to the Governor a quarterly report of the financial condition of the State, which report shall include a statement of the assets, liabilities and income of the State, and expenditures therefor [sic], for the three months preceding; and it shall be the duty of the Governor to carefully examine the same by himself, or through competent persons connected with his department, and cause an abstract thereof to be published for the information of the people which abstract shall be endorsed by him as having been examined.

SECTION XVI.

Paragraph I. The General Assembly shall not, by vote, resolution, or order, grant any donation, or gratuity, in favor of any person, corporation, or association.

Par. II. The General Assembly shall not grant or authorize extra compensation to any public officer, agent, or contractor, after the service has been rendered, or the contract entered into.

SECTION XVII.

Paragraph I. The office of the State Printer shall cease with the expiration of the term of the present incumbent and the General Assembly shall provide, by law, for letting the public printing to the lowest responsible bidder, or bidders, who shall give adequate and satisfactory security for the faithful performance thereof. No member of the General Assembly, or other public officer, shall be interested, either directly or indirectly, in any such contract.

Return to Georgia Constitution of 1877 table of contents

Return to Georgia Constitution Web Page