The Saint Paul globe. (St. Paul, Minn.) 1896-1905, 1902-10-04

the So, 600, 900 stock for eacheof the Min
rect. y
at aer on is ny no paps sad ag p this
'All 1 want to do is to be consistent. Our
statutes provide how the, aesesament of
these corporations is to bes made. The
sopDe agd court o ad0 fes 70 how aUn It shall
the assessing of this company. last year
we had q tax commission which, formu -
lated q. tax. CODE. On the. questions Of
out how they should be assessed Their
plan was to add the capital stock and
bonded Indebtedness and funded debt to-
gether and then subtract Che, @alue of
the real and personal property, and the
remainder would be the vaiue Of the fran
cfise. This plan might be a trile hard.
but suppose the legislature had passed
the tax code. II
should be Made s7o6,ooo.
What want is to treat the street rail-
way companies just as other property is
assessed. If you do this, then you will
have to make the assessment for the COM
pany $1,000, 600. The street railway com
pany is confined to both cities, and there
Is not another city in the United States
has an exclusive franchise and the sole
monopoly of all the street car facilities
The law provides that this company shall
be assessed the same as other property
The general impression is that it is not
paying taxes enough. The capital stock
is SIS, 100000, and it is worth today more
than par.
at is safe to say that the stock Is
worth $21, 100000, and q Tair assessment
would be $7,O0O000 which assessment
would not affect the company nor the
stock. In justice to every other class of
property in the state it should be assess
"The great body of middle-cla tax
payers would have hard time If it
mob Gov lit r,4o n ha1
ton. The street railway company has
never been satisfied with any raise, no
matter how small it has been. In 1900
the assessment for the St IT. Paul Pau Street
it was $1,956.5S0, and this year it Is
only returned 81 higher This is lower
than it was by $4,000 when the stock
of the company was only worth half what
1t is today On the stock market"
Schools Are Menaced.
-, Mr. Dunn introduced resolutions fixing
the assessment for the St. Paul company
at $2,755, 200, and the Minneapolis COM
pany at $4,l33S00, making in round fig
ures the total assessment for real and
God knows continued Mr. Dunn.
that these resolutions Should carry, as
both cities will need all the taxes they
can can get. Minneapolis MI cannot run her
low valuation or rate. General sentiment
among the people is that the public serv-
Ice corporations have not paid a just
proportion of the taxes. If these com
panies do not wish to invite drastic leg
islation along the line of Taxation they
had better acquiesce in a fair assessment.
Certainly If two years ago a. 81, Goo 900 as
sessment was fair one when the stock
was only worth one-half what it Is now,
a $1,000 600 one is not too much now"
MT. Dunn read figures showing the taxes
paid by the Chicago, Philadelphia and
Cincinnati companies, where there was
no exclusive franchise. Mr.. McKibbin
brought out the fact that the committee
on franchises at the meeting a year ago
had made deal with the Street railway
company.
Raises Cry of conAscation.
In speaking of this, Mr.. Mum said:
Legislation was pending between this
company and the state last year, when
the board met, and in conference with
the committee the company agreed to
withdraw Its action in the courts on the
understanding that there would only be a.