The Billings gazette. [volume] (Billings, Mont.) 1896-1919, 1901-08-02
THE REMEDY D

equalization at Helena, last Tuesday,
is another strong argument for a re
vision of the constitution in the mat
ter of vesting the right to assess
the property of the railroad companies
operating in the state. The board, as
on many previous occasions, permit
ted the eloquence of the various rep
resentatives of the railroads to in
fuence it's decision, and the protests
and petitions of citizens were ignored.
This condition of affairs will always
obtain until by constitutional amend
ment the authority to assess the prop
erty of the railroads is placed with the
assessors of the different counties and
the power to alter or amend such
assessments is placed with the var
ious county boards Of equalization.
Why the trainers of the constitution
deemed it wise and proper that the
railroads should be assessed in a
different way than is employed in
listing the property of the citizens
of the state does not appear exactly
clear. They probably had some good
reason for it, but that reason is not
generally known. nor is it very appar-
emit If they thought it would result
in securing a valuation of the compan-
les properties nearer their actual and
intrinsic worth. they certainly made a
mistake for of all those who pay
taxes in the state no one escapes so
lightly as do the railroads. While the
owners OF sheep and cattle are COM
PEELED to pay taxes on a valuation of
their property 20 high~as to reach al
most the full price that al be OBJ
tanned ON the market. and in some
cases higher than could be realized
at forced sale, the railroads annually
are permitted to put in sorry pleas
of over assessment and discrimination
and get off with paying an amount of
taxes representative of less than one
third the actual value of their hold
ings.
Some time ago The Gazette called
attention to the discrepancies between
the boards valuations and those of
the railroad companies themselves.
While the former in some instances is
content with assessing certain roads
at a trile over $ $1,000 per mile, the
companies owning them bond those
same roads at $4,000 per mile. This,
of course, represents only the actual
and real valuation placed by the COM
panies upon the physical parts of
those roads and has no connection
whatever with their earning capacity.
The board, however, does not seem
to think it necessary to take any of
these facts into consideration in ar
irving at a just and proper valuation
of the property of the companies and
prefers to take the statements of
those whose business it is to appear
before it and plead for low valuations
and a consequent tightening of the
tax lists of those employing them.
1t is true that the board, a few days
ago. raised the total assessment of the
railroads, but in an amount so small
as to create the suspicion that it was
done more for the purpose of mollify-
ing thefeelings of those who addressed
themselves to the board so that JUS
tice might be done to the citizen tax
payers of the state than to compel the
companies to bear an equitable por-
ton of the burden imposed by law up
on all owning property. Two and one
half per cent is the extent of the in
crease decided upon. This will ap-
proximately amount to 1915, 900 for
over 1000 miles of railroad and is out
of all proportion to the advance made
on other property listed in the state
The petitioners from Lewis and
Clarke county were right when they
stated that the railroads of the state
did not pay their just proportion of
taxes, and in calling the attention of
the board to the law which requires
that s'all taxable property must be
assessed at it's full cash value' they
gave it's members a plain hint as to
their duty in the premises, but it
seems the hint was lost. The same
may be said of the statement by
former Senator Power, who when
called upon by the governor for an
expression of his views, replied that
the statutes were very clear and all
property should be assessed dollar
for dollar. But the board was not
there for the purpose Of violating pre-
cedent to that extent and contented