The farmer and mechanic. [volume] (Raleigh, N.C.) 18??-19??, 1903-08-04
MICHIGAN AND NORTH CARO-
LIMA.

They failed. because the people OF North
Carolina had virtually instructed their
representatives not to touch that section
which makes the method Of
! taxing railroads mandatory and just. The
CORPORATION Commission has no
discretion except within prescribed lin
it,. They must ascertain the
true value in money OF railroads by the
sale Of stocks and bonds and the earnings
When. from these two sources, the true
value Is ascertained. it must go on the
tax books. The method * plain and man,
datory. The Legislature virtually assess
cd the railroad property itsell, leaving to
the Corporation Commission a mandate
to add up the figures, ascertain the true
value in money and put the property
on the tax books at the valuation the
actual sales and earnings show 1t i worth.
A few years ago the State Of Michigan
adopted a plan Of valuing railroads for
taxation substantially similar to the one
under which North Carolina viii operate
nor the Ilfsl llnle TINS year NHdl Wa
the result? The Railway Age thus gives
it:
BY substituting for taxation upon earn
ings the plan OF assessing upon actual
value" of the property the Tax Commits
sion of Michigan succeeded IN raising the
amount of tax assessed against the fifty
three big and little ailWay companies IN
the State from $1.4S3. SOC in 1901 to 81 $50.
429. an increase Of 81, 366, 522, or over ninety
per cent"
In North Carolina there are 1851 miles Of
railroad. The total taxes paid to State,
$547 ,262, Of which there is paid into the
State Treasury 1929, 035. OF.
In Michigan, which State had before
passing the new law taxed the railroads
upon a basis nearer their actual value than
has prevailed in North Carolina, there are
S,193 miles of railroad. They pay in taxes
III that State 50. $50, 429.
Here it is: Michigan has two and
twenty-five one hundredths (2.22) more
miles of railroad than North Carolina, but
it receives in taxes from railroads five and
one-ffth times as much money as North
Carolina.
North Carolina taxpayers all over the
State have been compelled to submit to
an Increase on the assessment OF their
property. In the city of Raleigh the
property has been assessed according 20
law. We take it that assessors all over
the State have complied with their oaths
and assessed property at its true valle
in money This being true the railroads
ought to be willing to pay taxes at the
price which the property brings on the
market at the lowest point it has reached
in the late slump in Wall Street. The Cor
poration Commission ought not and Will
not assess railroad property at the figures
stocks and bonds brought on the tidal
wave. The fair way would be to strike
an average between the highest and low
est notch. Probably the best way, all
things considered, is to assess it at the
lowest notch it has reached on any bona
ide sales recorded on the markets.
North Carolina now has as good a tax
ing law as Michigan, and if its officials
follow it strictly railroad property will be
assessed this year for the first time in
the history of the State at its true value
in money" The law in North Carolina IS
based upon the language used by Justice
Miller, who, speaking for the United
States Supreme court in the Tax Cases %
u. S. 275, said:
1T IS obvious that wheH you have ascer-
tanned the current cash value of the
Whole funded debt and the current cash
value of the entire number of shares, you
have, BY H ACTION OF THOSE WHO
ABOVE ALL OTHERS CAN BES EST
NATE IT, ASCERTAINED HI TRUE
VALUE OF THE ROAD-all its property,
is capital stock, and It's franchises-for
these are all represented by the value OF
its bonded debt and OF the shares of its
capital stock"
The above rule laid down by Justice Mil
lc- was put into our statute under which
the Corporation Commission must make
the assessment. To virtually the same eff
feet, IN Express Co. vs.. Ohio. 100 u. S.
1S5, Justice Brewer said:
VIA EF Eli Is WORTH
FOR THE PURPOSE OF INCOME AND
SALE IT IS WORTH FOR II PUR-
POSE OF TAXATION"
If those railroad attorneys and officials
who are haunting the offices Of the Cor
lporation Commission this week. will read
the rule laid down in section fifty (Which
they tried to seduce the Legislature into
repealIng) III connection with the utter
arces OF Justices Miller and Brewer they
E Will see that an end has come to the old
slip-shod method of taxing railroads that
has heretofore prevailed in North Carolina:
7, The new system has no elasticity but IS
one where the rule is enforced that what
, ever property IS worth for the purpose Of
income and sale it IS worth for the pur-
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