New-York tribune., 1903-01-21
CIRCUIT BLAMES CORPORATIONS.
Says They Were Responsible for Special
Legislation.

When Controller Grout yesterday heard Of the
decision by the Appellate Division he said:
think that the local assessors will get at once
TO work assessing the value of local franchises ana
shall I expect 2 We f 6erfake 0 4he af t Work
The nyad 1 tax OF se does no make e a
chiseS free from assessment. The whole procedure
pon the part Of the corporations escf nas Peen o Sc @
position taken by the courts But the parties inter
eai session su m Albany akins the State Tax Board
the parties epowered to assess the f franchises & @
on the ground that the act took away an assessing
course OF conduct is well calculated to inspire
leaning toward anarchy in the breast OF even the
the franchise tax may think this conduct has been
keen and farsighted in the end they VIII be rnde-
I do not think the decision at Albany will affect
The law irst deciared that ali franchises should be
taxed real estate & IT aSo S bde6 6o S @ 5H
constitutional in that the franchises We're not real
II il will be necessary to amend the original law
until sec the entire opinion. do rot believe ths MS
allowed 10 form an opinion on my present informa-
ton.
Lawyers who as counsel for corporations own
ing franchises. were interested in the Special
Franchise Tax law asked a bout the effect
of the Supreme Courts decision yesterday. They
considered it a notable victory for the com
panies which had contested the act. AS to ITS
immediate effects. said: Those companies
which have paid their assessments under protest
will be able to recover the money now; those
which paid without protest cannot recover. and
the action Of those which would not pay is
sustained
Another said that this might reopen the entire
question OF the taxation of franchises, although
the decision rendered distinctly on the
point of home rule That is the decision that
the Ford bill was unconstitutional did not hinge
on the right 10 a franchise tangible
property; the part considered unconstitutional
vas the amendment TO the original Ford law,
giving the power to assess these franchises to
the State Board of Tax Commissioners. After
considerable comment the legislation which
considered a franchise or ''goodwilr' tax
able real estate, this lawyer continued:
why, If the State Board of Tax CoInmis-
sioners had power to tax franchises they would
have the power 10 come into this city and tax
our houses or personal property. Our local
SCISSORS would be showed aside. 1t just
this point that the fight was made, and it was
on this point that the decision was rendered"
When asked what effect it would have on the
city he smiled and said that as the city had
never received any money from these assess
rnents he thought ii could continue to raise
money as il had done formerly. Then he ad-
vanced personal idea that, solution of
the great, iopsided tax problem, commits
sion be appointed and paid well TO discuss and
enact suitable measures. He added that prob
ably Governor Oden had some tax bills pre-
pared now. but emphasized the limited time
which the legislature could give TO such laws.
Tax Commissioner Strasbourger said that
the Tax Board had been expecting a decision
of this kind The assessors have been collect
ing material" he continued. $50 that they would
be prepared TO levy franchises in the city and
include these assessments in the general assess
naents for 1903 The assessments on franchises
amount to about 100000 900. We should
tain a severe blow if the courts decision in
valdates the entire act. The tax rate would Of
necessity be much higher. This would be
brought about because the approximate amount
of the assessment on franchises as levied by the
State Board was included in the whole amount
upon which the low tax rate figured