The Virginia enterprise. [volume] (Virginia, St. Louis County, Minn.) 1893-19??, 1903-02-06
RAILWAY TAXATION IN WISCONSIN.
THE RAILROAD SIDE OF THE DUES.
TON.
Amount OF License Tax Paid by Wiscon-
sin Railroads.

ISSUED in Behalf Of Wisconsin Railways,
The railroad companies of Wisconsin he
s ieye they "a are already bearing their fu
government of this state. Consequently
they feel that to add anything whatever to
the taxes they are now paying would be
pn1a1r, and to add such great sums as
have been proposed In some quarters would
be long step toward the absolute contsca.
ton Of their property.
Such being their views, they ask the peo-
PIE OF Wisconsin to suspend judgment us
to this CONTROVERSY until they have pre-.
sented their side. They promise to do this
IN the shortest space possible and in the
simplest manner which the facts will permit.
Iney VIII submit the facts they wish to
present III series Of articles of which this
Is the first.
THE ISSUE. 1t is always we'll to nave
the point at issue clearly stated at the out
wasted In the discussion OF questions that
nave little, and very often nothing ut al,
to do with the real question. To prevent
this waste of words let us state what tho
It is not. This is the question before u.s.:
Do the railroads pay their full shale Of the
taxes: II 1t can be shown that they do pay
their full share, 1t makes no difference to
taxes are collected what they are called
We have stated what the question before
Us Is Now let us state what it is not.
Inc l. o question Is often discussed as though
way: 20 the railways pay on the FULL
value of their property the average rate OF
taxation which is paid by other property
on its ASSESSED value. or course the
question is never put in this bald. direct
form because the injustice of such a com
parison would be seen by everybody; but
the question is nevertheless discussed as If
It We're fair to compare the late on the
1uil and even much more than the fu:l
value of railroad property with the rate
paid on the ASSESSED value of other prop
erty which is almost invariably much less
than Its full value.
II the statement Of the subject we have
before us, which has just been made, Is
correct, then it Is fundamentally important
total actual value of the real and personal
property In the state and the total amount
of taxes paid on this property: and. on the
other hand, the total value which should
taxes or license fees paid by the railroads.
The whole question of whether or not the
railroads are bearing their full share of the
cost OF running the government depends OF
true because the total taxes collected from
an real and personal property in the state
subject to taxation divided by the full valne
OF this property gives the average rate paid
Dy these forms of property; and the total
sum or license fees Or taxes paid by the
railroads divided by the full value OF the
railroads gives the average rate paid by
this kind Of property. \ comparison OF
these two rates will show whether or not
the different kinds of property are paying
their full share Of taxes
so much has been said during the last
three or four years about thes Outrag ecns
way in which the railways escape taxation
that a great many people now doubt
whether the railways pay any taxes at all.
10 show that we do pay taxes and that
the sums are really very large whatever
way. they are taken we present below the
total sums paid by all the railways In wis
consin during the last twelve years and
the amounts paid by the leading roads dur
ing the year 1900.
The payment of license fees by the rail-
roads In Wisconsin, from the table present.
cd below, shows that as the state has de-
yeloped the payments have increased.
These statements are fl ON official data and
were carefully prepared.