The news & observer. [volume] (Raleigh, N.C.) 1894-current, 1897-07-11

| owners. Many of the States put the tax
by declaring percentage on gross re-
ceipts This may be best in some cases
to secure the State against fraud, but
| it is not so fair as the North Carolina
plan. If your Commission will execute
| the law and put the valuation at fifty
million dollars, it will be nearly equi-
valent to a tax of four per cent ON the
gross receipts of all the railroads IN the
State. Other States, according to the
| last accessible reports, taxed gross earn
ings as follows, discarding fractions of
one per cent: Massachusetts, nine per
cent; New York, nearly seven per cent;
Ohio, about three and a half per cent;
| Illinois, five per cent 1.-THE Illinois Cen
! trail pays seven per cent to the State.)
| The attention of your Commission
| is invited to certain cases of gross in
| Justice and inequality in these railroad
| assessments. For example, take eleven
| certain railroads belonging to the South
ern Railroad Company which makes to
you report consolidating these eleven
| in one. Their length is six hundred
and eighty-one miles. Their net earn
| ings according to their report are thir-
| teen hundred and seventeen dollars a
mile. This is six per cent on more than
twenty thousand dollars a mile. They
are valued for taxes at about six thou
sand three hundred and fifty dollars
mile. The Cape Fear and Yadkin
Valley earns little or nothing, say be-
tween one hundred and two hundred
dollars mile, and yet it is valued at FIVE
thousand dollars mile.
This indicates system of arbitration
that ought to be highly satisfactory to
the Southern Railroad Company. As to
the Yad1in Valley, possibly it was con-
sidered that it could as well afford to
pay taxes on atmosphere and moonshine
as it could to pay twelve thousand dol
lars a year for the pleasant pastime of
a needy and destitute millionaire in Bal
timore, who, am informed, obtains this
relief from the Federal Circuit court
Then take the Wilmington, Newbern
and Norfolk road. It's total assessment is
about forty three hundred and sixty
dollars per mile. It's net earnings are
simply nothing. 1t ought not to be taxed
on anything except the value Of its iron,
rolling stock and structures and real
estate. which probably would be less than
| two thousand dollars a mile. Here is
a case Of double taxation much more cal
culated to drive capital out Of the State
than is the action Of those of us who be-
lieve that railroads should be treated like
other property and that they are here to
serve the people and not to govern them.
Now take look at the North Carolina
Railroad:
Total valuation for taxation
In 1876 .@A,oto,OOO
Gross earnings ........... I,4SO,OoO
M
Net earnings. $50. .......9 oOo,UVU
From this it appears that this railroad
earns more than 6 per cent on $4,000
OOO Then why is it not worth $6,OOO,-
600?
Thoughtful men in North Carolina
know by unanswerable reasoning that it
is worth more than 100000 to the
combination of capital which controls it:
and yet they have been paying taxes
upon a valuation much less than one-half
of this amount.
The Southern Railroad Company pays
taxes on this railroad on valuation Of
only ST., 900 mile, when, according to
their own showing, it earns for them q
per cent on more than $780, per mile.
Again. If this railroad were an or1i-
nary corporation it would be taxed upon
the actual value Of its stock. North
Carolina railroad stock is worth on the
market more than 125, so that its four
million par of stock has an actual COM
mercial value Of more than $5,OO0,OO0.
Why should it be let off with valua-
ton Of $500, OOO-about one half its
| market value, while If it were an ordi-
nary corporation it wonid be taxed upon
it's market value which is more than
$5,OOO,OOO?
| 1t is said that the railroads contend
that they ought not to be taxed accord
| ing to their true value. because in many
localities farm property is only taxed at
4 two-thirds of its value. The substance
| Of this contention is that your Commits
sion should violate the law and diregard
your oath because somebody else has
done so. Local boards have no more
right to value property at two-thirds
| than they have to put it at four-thirds
of it's value There are thousands upon
thousands of farms in our State that pay
taxes upon a much greater valuation
than they would pay if the valuation
| were fixed according to earnings of the
farm divorced from the personal earn
ings Of the owners. They are frequently
charged in valuation with net earnings
| which are not the earnings of the land
but largely the earnings Of the individ
ual owner. He gives to it his time and
toll.
This matter Of increasing railroad
valuation so as to get them on leve
with other property is Of more present
importance than the question Of lowering
traffic rate.
AS to the weak railroads, / know OF
no good reason for subjecting them tc
any general reduction. 1t may be thai
in certain specific cases their rates car
be reduced with benefit to the public and
without injury to the railroads. Re
auctions in rates should be made accord
ing to the ability of the carrier to stanl
them and this can be ascertained by
| lonlxinn OF THAR aa rninoS