Vernon County censor. [volume] (Viroqua, Wis.) 1865-1955, 1902-01-22
TAX PROBLEM IN WISCONSIN.
BY william J. Anderson Formerly Member Of
the Wisconsin State Tax Commission.

in wisconsin does not differ widely from
that of the other middle western states.
There is lack of uniformity in the val
uatiOns placed by assessors on The same
kinds of property in different counties,
and ia the different towns of the same
county; o large percentage OF Intangible
personal property escapes the assessor ;
manufacturing properties are assessed
below the average of real estate, and
there is, throughout, the confusion in
cident to the effort 10 adopt primitive
system to the complex property con-
dl5Ions of the times Besides these
general features, however, is the ques-
ton of the taxation of public service
corporations particularly railroads IL
is the present status of this question
which differentiates and really deter
miues and defines the problem of this
state.
That this feature of the problem is of
paramount Importance at the present
time is due to several causes What is
known as the general property tax is
the system in force in Wisconsin. For
many years, however, the railroads and
some other corporations of the same
class have paid, in lieu of all other taxes,
a certain percentage of their gross earn
ings. This license fee, as it came to be
called in 1850, is paid directly into the
state treasury, and those corporations
are thus exempt from local taxation
The percentage method of taxing rail-
roads was instituted in 1854. IL does
not appear that it was contemplated
that railroads should Iag either more or
less by this method THAI If taxed on the
al 81 Int inn 70 be
satisfactory comparison between the
amounts paid by them and the property
taxed by the ordinary method very soon
led to the belief that the railroads were
Tor might be, at least paying less than
other property. Thus it came about
that almost from the time the new
method was adopted, up TO the time Of
the organization Of the present state tax
commission, there had been more or less
dissatisfaction and agitation of the ques-
ton. The roads are classified according TO
their gross earnings per I;'ile, and four
per cent. is made the maxi mum rate
Since 1875 there has scarcely been
session of the legislature in which the
subj4c of railroad taxation did not
come up in some form.
When the present state tax commits
sion was created by the Legislature of
1899 and charged with the duty of se-
curing improvement in the system and
an equalization of taxation in the state, E"
railway taxation was the dominant fea-
ture of the problem confronting them.
The same was true wIan, after the
death of one of its members, the COM
mission reorganized and began active
work early in 1900. There was no
doubt in the minds of those wno followed
the force of tax discussion as to wins.
phase of the problem should first engage
their attention. There were political
considerations which maze 1t prudent
to take mp the railroad question first,
but more important than these was the
economic necessity for doing so. In no
other way could foundation be 80 we'll
laid for remedying the other evils of the
tax system. Moreover such was the
feeling on the subject that the work of
the commission would have been dis
credited in advance had any other phase
of the problem been given first place
The condition therefore, was not of the
commissions making, and in RELOCATING
to second place the other features of the
problem, they believed they were not
deCeivel as to their relative Importance
Whether the railroads were bearing
their just share of the tax burden the
commission conceived to be solely
question of fact. AS taxed these cor
porations were contributing about one
twelfth of the total revenue, including
state and local. Real estate was paying
about nine-twelfths of the tote amount.
1t was believed that If the actual value
of these two classes of property could be !
q; certAined, a simple and fair compari- |
son of their tax paying abilities might |
be made. These values were ascertain |
ed and the comparison made by methods |
that were simple, though they involved |
an enormous amount of work The |
average market value of all taxable real /
estate in the state, for FIVE years, was
computed upon the actual sales made |
and reported annually by the registers of !
deeds of the seventy counties TO the |
secretary Of state The township or !
assessment district was taken as the |
unit of computation. The total number |
of sales used was 193 124. which repre- |
scented the transfer of about twenty-three /
percent OF all the real property of the |
state. The average aggregate value of |
the taxable real estate of the state for |
five years was thus found to be 81. 1893.
900, 600
The value Of the railroads was com
putsd mainly upon market quotations
of the stocks ana bonds of the various
Gne computation was
made to ascertain the value for one year:
another to get the average value for t
three years; and still another 70 gat the
average value for five years Whelp. a
was the case with branch lines, the Sc
,urities were not listed. the values We're \
determined by capitslizjng the net earn
ngs. This latter method was used also
o test the accuracy of the value obtain
y the stock and bond quotations. BY