SEC. 5. The _ad valorem_ taxes on real estate and personal property shall not exceed for all State and county purposes sixty-six and two-thirds (66-2/3) cents per annum on the one hundred dollars ($100) assessed valuation of such property, unless a greater rate be approved by a majority of those who shall vote at an election held thereon. The _ad valorem_ taxes collected on real estate and personal property by cities and towns shall not exceed, for all purposes, seventy-five cents (75c.) per annum on the one hundred dollars ($100) assessed valuation, unless a greater rate be approved by a majority of those who shall vote at an election held thereon: _Provided_, that these limitations on the rate of taxation shall not apply to taxes necessary to pay debts contracted prior to the adoption of this amendment, nor to taxes heretofore authorized by an act of the General Assembly, or by vote of the people. [Sidenote: Caption tax.] [Sidenote: Application of State and county capitation tax.] [Sidenote: Exemption from capitation tax.] SEC. 6. The General Assembly shall provide for a capitation tax on every male inhabitant of the State over twenty-one and under fifty years of age, but not exceeding two dollars ($2) per annum for all State and county purposes, and municipalities may be authorized by the General Assembly to levy a capitation tax, but not exceeding the amount hereinbefore authorized for State and county purposes. The proceeds collected from State and county capitation taxes shall be applied to the purposes of education and the support of the poor in such proportions as the General Assembly may direct. The General Assembly may also provide by general law for the exemption from payment of said capitation tax in special cases on account of poverty and infirmity. [Sidenote: Limitation of power to contract debt.] [Sidenote: Credit of State not to be given or lent.] SEC. 7. The General Assembly shall have no power to contract any new debt or pecuniary obligation in behalf of the State, except to supply a casual deficit, or for suppressing invasions or insurrections, unless it shall in the same bill levy a special tax to pay interest annually, and provide therein for the levying of tax for the payment of the principal by the date such debt matures. The General Assembly shall have no power to give or lend the credit of the State in aid of any person, association, or corporation, municipal or otherwise, unless the subject be submitted to a direct vote of the people of the State and be approved by a majority of those who shall vote thereon. VIII. By striking out section one of article eight and substituting therefor the following: [Sidenote: Corporations not created by special act.] [Sidenote: Exceptions.] [Sidenote: General laws.] [Sidenote: Alteration and repeal of general laws and special acts.] [Sidenote: Repeal of charters.]