The Jersey City news. (Jersey City [N.J.]) 1889-1906, 1897-02-24
GREAT FIGHT ON.
Equal Taxation Bills Before
the Assembly and War
Declared.
D0D'S RINGING REPORTS.
Jersey City's Case Ably Stated
Roll and the Railroads
Beaten in the First
Skirmish.
THE VOTE As TO 5.
Bicycle Baggage Bill Also Scores
First Blood Against the Cor.
porations and Their
Heelers.
specta. to the Jersey. CITY Nssus.

Specia. to the jersey City Nssus.
TRENTON, Feb. "a, 1S97.-The sickest
men in the Assembly this morning are
the members of the Committee on Rail-
roads and Canals, and the sorest mem
Der of that autocratic body is ]. Martin
Roll, its chairman. Three times did the
House rise up and smite them in their
sorest spot; it upset their plans on rail-
road bills.
Mr.. Roll reported favorably the Com
missions alleged equal taxation bill, and
unfavorably Mr.. Kinks genuine equal
taxation measure. Mr.. bod submitted
this minority report
To the House of Assembly
Your Committee ON Railroads and
Canals, to whom was referred Assembly
bill No. /, under the Railroad Tax law,
all property used for railroad purpose is
assessed by the State Board of Asses
sors, who are required to ascertain sep
arately as to each railroad:- ,7
l. h length and value of the main
with It's rails and sleepers and depots
used for passengers connected Herewith
(this is generally known as first-class or
main stem property.
used for railroad purposes Qhis is gen
orally known as second-class property
and includes the terminal properties OF
). me value Of ali its tangible prop
erty.
4. The value of its franchises. The
fsss was gal. spo,3f s Of all o6 this ai pfopesrt y FOR fGr
lows:-Main stem, about sl02, 0O0. 900; sec
ond-c1ass or terminal property, about SAL
oO0,0oe; personal, about s22, 900. oo0. and
Upon the total value of these four
items an annual tax of one-half of. one
per cent. is levied for State purposes,
ditional tax at the local rate not exceed
Ing n per cent. Is levied for the use of
the taxing districts wherein the same is
roads n ans companies paid sl.1o3,-
ties through h State, s41o.ss2.R. Of this
class property, the sum of 500, A1.06
DISTURB the taxes paid to she,s siaRes On the
The bill simply provides %, that the tax.
paad to the State by the companies on
second-elass property shall be paid over
ton of 500, 4h.O6 in the revenues Of the
State; and 90 that the railroads shall pay
taxes to the municipalities at the local
rate upon their second-class property as
assessed by the State Board of Assessors.
II order, however. to guard against any
y y sSravaruatio OF railroads and under
uat of other peoples property by
the local assessors a proviso IS added. AZ
that the State Board Of Assessors shah
e edbar nro the valuations OF railroads n
otner words, If the Board ind in any
taxing district that the local assessors
ard Of riYtn TOT taxation at the stand
n MY Z same snail be applied to railroad
neepsT 81 M T t. IS estimsted by the engi-
this bill would not Increase the annual
S sasx against all the railroads more than
The great merit of This nil, i th,.t
second class property it produced eGYsai
ua1atfon, N settles the problem upon
eqmuahie and fair principles for ever. IF.
81 ~ s Z GIs claim, the railroads are tby reason
q nlgner standard of vatuation paving
more than their fair share of taxes upon
LIES Grass OF property, then the State
Roaro OF Assessors. under the eoualizing
tpese conferred by the bill. viii reduce
Ine present system bears ~unequalqy
oug the State. The total amount
y, Sc ssc on class property in the State is
sew W Gi 10 w W esa Of there Is located IN Jer-
$So.2l9,027, or about rs per. cent. Of tIe
oopad. eleven taxing districts In the State
contain sS5,28S,115 of this property, while.
- - a.. me otner 22 taxing districts there
~tsvosVv, XIII ftl6 1ldln Stem
property is fairly distributed throughouf
me state, The second class property is
conained mainly to the great Terminal
Polnps, such as Jersey City, Elizabeth.
Camden and the Amboys.. Hence. under
the present system, these localities are
dui taxed for the benefit of the State.
inis second class property should be
TAXED at the local rate; it enjoys and re-
quares the same police and fire protection
as other property; If It were not owned
py the railroads Ut woul be taxed locally.
Inc present rate of one and a half per
cent. upon this property in the act of 1884
was nxed because it was believed at the
time THAT this was the average rate of
taxatdon throughout the State. No dnyes-
tigation, however, was made at the time
TO ascertain the average rate of TAXATION
throughout the State. Recent inyestfpa
ton has shown that it was then 1.76. IF
thus appears that through lack Of fnfor-
nation in 1884 the Legislature fixed the
rate rs points too low; tina little mistake
IN percentage has cost the kin districts
about $9l,0D per year for the past twelve
years, or a total Of over 81, Zoo. 900. Since
1884 the average tax rate throughout the
State has increased until 1895 1T reached
z.O56. If LEO was a proper rate in 1894.
then it is only fair that the railroads
should bear their share of the Increased
cost of government.
The railroads do not pay their share of
taxation In this State; the are a highly
favored class in the community. indi-
viduals are taxed throughout the State
upon every hundred dollars of valuation