Section 4
SEC. 4. There shall be appointed by the Governor-General, by and with the consent of the Philippine Commission, a central equalizing board for the purpose of making a. general review of the assessments and valuations as finally perfected by the several boards of tax appeals throughout all the provinces, and for securing, so far as is practicable, a uniform basis of valuation and of assessments of rental values. Members of the central equalizing board shall each receive a compensation of twenty pesos per day for the time actually employed in the performance of their duties, together with their necessary traveling expenses, including subsistence when absent from Manila, to be paid out of the Insular Treasury. The chairman of the board shall be designated by the Governor-General in his original appointment, and shall preside at the meetings, but in his absence the members present may elect a temporal presiding officer. A majority of the board shall constitute a quorum, and the action of a majority of the quorum shall be binding as the action of the board. The board shall organize and enter upon the performance of their duties on September first, nineteen hundred and six. The duties of the board shall be as follows: It shall make due investigation to ascertain whether in any province the rate of valuations and assessments, both as to the value of the land and improvements and as to the annual rental values, are in excess of true valuations and assessments as compared with Hie. valuations and assessments of like property in other provinces, or are below such assessments of like property in other provinces, and shall raise or lower the average valuation as it may find to be just and expedient, for the purpose of securing a substantially equal basis of taxation throughout the Islands. In eases of alleged inequity and injustice on the part of the board of tax appeals in any province in any particular case or cases, the central equalization board may in its discretion revise and correct airy errors or injustices that may be shown to have existed by reason of the action of boards of tax appeals, due notice and an opportunity for hearing being given to persons interested and to the provincial board of the province affected before any such action shall lie taken. The central board shall have the power to summon witnesses and to enforce their attendance in the same manner that the Courts of First. Instance summon and enforce the attendance of witnesses, and may administer oaths to witnesses. It shall prepare a report wherein it shall set forth the amount that would be realized from taxation at the rates provided t»y law if taxes were collected upon the valuations of land as finally determined, and also the amount that would be realized by a system of taxation based upon rental values, and shall state in detail the reasons for their conclusions and their recommendations. It shall not, however, recommend any system of taxation upon rental values that would produce a substantially less sum in the way of revenues for local purposes than would be produced by a taxation based upon values of lands and improvements by existing law. It shall report any information which it may ascertain and which in its opinion would be useful to the Commission as a basis for additional legislation upon the subject of securing revenues from lands and improvements thereon for the benefit of the provinces and municipalities. It may hold its sessions in the city of Manila and in any province or municipality where it shall find it desirable to hold such sessions, or it may, in its discretion, send one or more of its members into any province or municipality to act as a special committee of investigation. In the city of Manila the Executive Bureau shall provide room in which its sessions may he held, and in the provinces the board shall be entitled to the use of a room in the provincial building for that purpose. A secretary shall be appointed by the Governor-General for the aid of the central board and to record its proceedings, who shall be competent to take testimony in shorthand, and such secretary shall be entitled to a compensation at the rate of three hundred pesos per month and actual and necessary traveling expenses, including subsistence; but nothing shall be allowed for subsistence of the secretary during the time sessions are held in the city of Manila. The necessary stationery will be provided for use of the central board, and all expenses thereof, including those of the secretary, shall lie paid from the Insular Treasury. The board shall complete and file its report, with the Governor-General not later than November fifteenth, nineteen hundred ' and six, after which date all expenses of the board shall cease.