Aberdeen herald. [volume] (Aberdeen, Chehalis County, W.T.) 1886-1917, 1902-11-20
An ASTOUNDING STATEMENT.
MADE BY STATE SENATOR WARBUR-
TON, OF TACOMA
Saws Railroads are Not Paying One-Tenth the Taxes
Paid by Ordinary Taxpayers and that Proper
Assessments of Railroads Will Reduca Tax
Rate in the State rs Per Cent.

State Senator Warburton has issued
pamphlet showing the inequalities OF
.nroperty assessments in this state in
startling manner. The following ex-
tracts will give the ordinary taxpayer
some food for thought, and prove the
necessity for a railroad commission, If
for no other purpose than to equalize
the burdens of taxation:
For the past few months, says MIR.
Warburtcn, l have been trying to pre-
pare bill that will effect a reform in the
assessment of railroads throughout the
state. When I took up the subject, l
knew the railroads were not paying their
lust proportion of the taxes OF this coun-
tv and state, but l assumed that they
were paying at least somewhere near
the proportion OF taxes that they in JUS
tice and equity should pay. l have been
startled at the results of my investiga-
ton. and 1 wish to give the public as
briefly as possible the general result
OF it.
find that the railroads OF this state
are not paying on valuation to exceed
one-tenth of their actual market value.
This is an astounding statement to
make, and if untrue or unsupported by
the facts, should condemn the author OF
it to the contempt OF all good people. If
this statement is true, the evil should be
remedied at the first possible moment,
and all good citizens should give all aid
within their power to remedy wrong
so monstrous in its proportions.
I desire to prove my statements as
near as possible and offer a remedy.
Most OF the following statements are ac-
curate. can only approximate the
truth in some matters but in doing so |
give the railroads the benefit OF the
doubt.
A railway commission, such as pro-
posed. would have the power to get all
the facts accurately and make no mis-
takes.
The laws of the state require all prop
ertv TO be assessed at "its true and fair
value in money!" This expression is
used by different states as synonymous
with the words "cash value" or "market
value" 1t will be admitted that the
great bulk of the business and residence
property of the city of Tacoma is assessed
at its full market value. We will show
that the railroads and their terminals
are not assessed at one.tenth of their
full market value. The United States
supreme court has held in number CT
cases that the way to reach a correct
assessment of railways where state re-
ouires property to be assessed at its full
market value, is to ascertain the value
of the road as unit, not piecemeal as
by township or county through which it
NAV run. A road is valuable as whole
system, not in two or three mile pieces
The true way to ascertain the market
value of railroad is to add the bonded
indebtedness of the road per mile (if the
bonds are worth par) to the market
value of the stock per mile, and you have
the value of the road per mile. Speak
ing of this the supreme court OF the
United States in what is known as the
Railroad Tax Cases. 90 U. s., 575, says:
at is, therefore, obvious that, wher