Knoxville daily chronicle. [volume] (Knoxville, Tenn.) 1870-1882, 1881-01-08

A Petition from the Knox County
Court ON the Subject.


Court on the Subject.
The following petition, which was
crowded out of our Issue Of yesterday,
was read and adopted by the Knox
county court Wednesday,:
To The General Assembly of the State Of
Tennessee, sitting at Nsshuile:
Your petitioners, the justices of the
county of Knox, in the state of Ten.
nessee, now in session as county
court at Knoxville, respectfully repre-.
sent TO your honorable body that the
method OF assessing the property OF
railroad companies for taxation as now
prescribed in this state is, in it's appll-
cation, unjust and unequal as between
| these corporations and other cit zens
of the state, and fails to meet the re-
quirements of section %. article 2, of
the constitution, that "all property
shall be taxed according 10 its value"
and that taxes shall be equal and uni.
form throughout the state"
The law on this subject is contained
in acts of 1875. chap. IS. p. 100, as
amended by the acts of 1877, chap. 10.
r. 81. By reference to these act, it
will be seen that the property of all
railroad companies is to be assessed by
three assessors, to be appointed by the
governor every second year. These
assessors are required to ascertain the
taxable value of the entire property of
each company, and the number OF
miles of road owned by such. and then
to pro rate this value among the sew
eral counties through which road
passes, in proportion to the number of
miles Of road lying in each. 1t is
further provided that in determining
the taxable value of a company the
assessors shall deduct from the real
value of all its property the each value
of all the stock held by the individual
| shareholders in such company.
Your petitioners respectfully urge
! that these provisions are obnoxious to
the section of the constitution above
. mentioned in two important paltcu
!, | ars:
- Firs.-By requiring the cash value
J. OF its stock to be deducted from the
> actual value of its property, the law
= exempts from taxation in the hands o
:. railroad company an amount o
:, property equal to the value Of its stock
- In some cases this reaches several mil
- lions of dollars, and in nearly all, sew
eral hundred thousand, while no oihe
v citizen has an exemption beyond on
thousand dollars.
SecondIy-The method of appor
tionlng the assessment among tn
counties through which a road passes
e is, also, in it's practical working, clear
ly destructive of that equality and un
iformity Of taxation, which it shout
be the object of the laws to obtain
It This method is not inequitable, an
N may be very proper as regards the rol
ing stock or such personality as bonds
az notes and mortgages, which has n
g. fixed locality, but your petitioners RI
of spectfully suggest that it should not
+. applied to real estate, nor other prof.
y eIty having permanent local statu
Is This class of property is not distrit
Id uted in proportion to the number
~ miles Of track laying in each count.
70 but is much larger in some having
less extent of track, than in othe
III having greater extent. Thus lsre
be part of the assessment properly D.
longing to one county is distribut
no among others which perhaps lay
q higher or lower rate Of taxation, al
40 the principal of equity guaranteed
l the constitution is destroyed.
Ia In the application of the preset
RI method of assessment to the East lie
W nessee, Virginia and Georgia railroa
Sis passing through this county, the r.
suit is that while said road has, with
" the limits of this county, exclusive
A. rolling stock and moveables. proper
to the value of one and half million
ri the highest assessment yet apportion
to the county is $40 600.
I'd, Petitioners respectfully refer yo
honorable body to the records of Il
various assessments Of railroad pro
T.. erty, now in the office of the sta
comptroller, and suggest that the
: suits Of the workings OF the prese
system be fully invest gated, and
, defects remedied by appropriate leg
lation.