The Columbian. [volume] (Bloomsburg, Pa.) 1866-1910, 1891-05-01

1
does 1t pay2
This shows the aggregate amount
levied for county purposes in 1889. is
$r6,58 900 for support of townships,
boroughs, municipal as per census re-
port 1880, IS $I7,73I,ooo total, S34,
$4,000.
Undoubtedly this is several millions
too low, as the statistics for townships
and cities are ten years old and there
has been great increase in the taxes
for those purposes.
| And we have corroborative evi.
dence of the statistics which have been
gathered under the law of 1880.
The forty-four counties and town
ships which have made returns show
that $a9, 3a6,oI2 were collected in that
year for the maintenance of the
county, township and municipal gov
ernments.
Twenty-three counties and the city
| of Reading failed to report in time. 1t
is evidently true that if their reports
were included the sum would much
exceed the $34,3I6,ooo exhibited
above, as such cost Of township and
borough, county and city govern
ment In 1880.
| We are met by the argument that
the cost of construction and equip
ment more nearly represents the value
of the transportation corporations
of the State
While we do not SO regard il, be
cause great factor of the value of
every such enterprise is that valuable
thing which gives life and authority to
it, its franchise, conveying as it does
the right of eminent domain and other
considerations, and the vast sum of
accumulated profits and surplus which
cannot be included therein, we are
prepared to meet all objectors on their
own ground, and herewith give esti-
mates based on the official reports Of
the Secretary of Internal Affairs for
1880, as follows.
| Total cost of Railroad equipment,
(P. s3aJ .............'.......... s1,Oss OBS 900
| Total cost of Passenger Railroad
| Equipment P. 10Sa) ........... 1l,5l5,000
| Total cost OF canals ls............. 3025S,000
| Total cost of telegraphs and tele-
phones, (P. I33a). ............... 1891 900
S1,1121A,OCO
An amount considerably greater
than that shown by the returns of the
same Office as the value of all the
farms Of the State. On this property
we find that the railroad corporations
paid last year capital stock tax and
tax on gross receipts amounting to
$I,II2,I59,ooo, or about Is mills.
We feel assured that the taxpayers
Of the State do not appreciate the
enormous discrepancy Of the taxes on
the real estate and those on corporate
and personal property. Much of this,
as the stock of manufacturing compa-
nies and building and loan associa-
tions, among the more profitable in
the State much of it yielding from IL
to 20 per cent. annual income, is en-
tirely exempt from taxation by law in
defiance and in plain violation of the
Constitution.
The tax which is levied upon trans.
portation and transmission companies
and personal property, is as we have
seen but and Is mills upon the
lowest valuetion we can ascertain. 1t
is very much below that which is laid
upon the same property in our neigh
Dor states.
Ex-Auditor- General Niles has shown
this very sharply in the instance which
he cites of the Pine Creek railroad in
Tioga county.
This railroad cost $4,634,ooo and
has a mortgage Indebtedness Of $3,-
10000 On account of this the capital
stock face value, $I,ooo,o 900 it is ap-
praised at $4,000 the Indebtedness
being deducted ; privilege which the
law refuses to real estate encumbered
with mortgages or judgments Upon
this they pay tax of 3 mills, for State
purposes only. This railroad earned
IN 1889, $723,23a.So; the total ex-
penses of running it amounted to
$473.93S.IS, profit of $249,4o3.62,
or nearly 6 per cent on the total cost.
And yet it paid but paltry sum 5000
to the State and nothing at all to the
districts through which its IS miles of
roadway runs.
Take the Corning, Cowanesque and
Antrim railroad:
1t cost to build and equip,............ $s,25oOOO
1t cost to run 1t In 1SS9 ............... $4,000
| III earned IN 1883, 6sl,OW
1t paid clear profit to stockholders. 151,OOO
1tpays about $500 yearly tax on gross
earnings and capital stock into the
Pennsylvania State treasury, nothing
to the townships or the county of
Tioga, whence all its business and
through which 374 of its So miles run.
But Isl miles of it pass through New
York. 1t crosses the State line and
passes through three townships
Il