Jamestown weekly alert. [volume] (Jamestown, Stutsman County, D.T. [N.D.]) 1882-1925, 1896-04-23
AN IMPORTANT CASE
Brought Before the State Su-
preme Court for a
Decision.
Taxation of Certain City Prop
erty in Fargo Resisted.
Grounds Therefor.
Some Figures on the Assess
ment of Property Show.
ing Discrimination.

One OF the most important questions
that has ever come before the state su-
preme court was case presented yes
terday at Bismarck ty Atty. J. E.
Robinson Of Fargo, who is in this city
Tuesday looking after some local taxation
matters. The case referred TO goes
direct into matters of taxation and is of
interest to every tax payer Of the state,
and the decision of the court will be re-
garded with unusual interest accord
ingly.
Mr.. Robinson brought suit in the dis
trct court of the 3rd judicial district for
the owners of Fargo city property, to
have taxes to the amount of'some $4,000
set aside, and the assessment de.
clared void, on the grounds that the as-
sessmentsof other city property was not
uniform as the constitution requires.
The grounds on which the suit is based
were that large tracts Of property in
said city had been Intentionally left of
the assessment rolls, and that other
property had been assessed at figure
greatly below It's true value.
The law provides that all property
shall be assessed alike at it's true value.
Mr.. Robinson's clients claimed this had
not been done, and brought proofs to
show 1t. The district court sustained
their position and declared the assess
ment Of the porperty void, and the
purchaser of the tax certi6cate-the
property having been sold for delinquent
taxes-appealed to the supreme court
for it's decision It is at once seen that
the question raised Is of the utmost i'm
portance and one that effects the entire
state.
Atty. Robinson cited instances OF un-
fair assessments IN support of his posi-
tion. One was that a portion Of the
property of the Northern Pacific road
adjoining the right OF way in the city OF
Fargo was, for some reason, not assessed
and that the value of the road bed,
track, rolling stock etc. was given by
the road officials at $4,000 a mile,
while the assessment on the main line
was but $1,000 mile.
There never was time, says Mr..
RI binson, when the cost OF the steel
rails alone did not equal $1,000 mile.
The attorney made another point IN
this instance of failure to tax property
uniformly, that the general government
to assist in constructing the road, gave
the company 40 sections Of land for
every mile Of main line road, built and
equipped. The assessment shows that
the assessment and taxation on one mile
Of road was less than that on one section
of land; the plaintiff also pointed out
that the net earnings of the road per
mile in North Dakota are reported at
$1,000 in the company's report to
the commissioners of railroads.
The valuation of all the railroad prop
erty IN the state was fixed by the state
equalization board, last year, based on the
amount the companies felt they were able
to pay and in the case Of the Northern
Pacific the argument was used that there
was question as to the taxsbility OF the
company's lands, granted them from the
government. There is now no longer q
question as far as the patented lands are
concerned.
This case recalls the fact that the mat
ter of railroad taxation was thoroughly
gone into by the last Legislature, and the
gross earnings law, under which all the
roads but the Northern Pacific had been
paying taxes, was repealed. Great ex.
pectations were aroused as to the future
benefits IN reduced taxation owners of
farm property would receive, which were
doomed to disappointment by the action
of Gov. Allin's celebrated state equaliza-
tion board. Many are familiar with this
matter. and it is at present unneces-
sary to comment on it further.
It is fact that no one would object
to lower valuation OF property, provld-
ing AL kinds OF property are assessed
uniformly. 1t is natural for the rail
roads to get as low rate of taxation as
possible, and no one blames them for so
doing; the blame rests on those who
place the burdens of taxation on farm
and other property and permit corpora
tons to escape with light tax.
Another instance cited by Mr.. Robin
son was that of the Columbia hotel pro-
perty in Fargo. This building cost to
erect $4,000 and the lots on which it
stood were valued at $4,000. The |