River Falls journal. [volume] (River Falls, Pierce County, Wis.) 1872-2019, 1903-01-29
RAILWAY TAXATION IN WISCONSIN.
THE RAILROAD SIDE OF THE DUES
TON.
Amount OF License Tax Paid by Wiscon-
Sin Railroads.
nssued In Behalf Of Wisconsin Rallways)

ISSUED In Behalf Of Wisconsin Railways)
The railroad companies OF Wisconsin he
lieyc they are already bearing their fuu
share Of the burdens or maintaining tne
government of this state. Consequently
they feel that to add anything whatever TO
the taxes they are now paying would be
unfair, and TO add such 81 eat sums as
have been proposed in some quarters would
be long step toward the Absolute cohHSca'
ton OF their property.
Such being their views, they ask the PEG
pie Of Wisconsin to suspend Judgment as
10 this controversy until they have Pre-
scented their side They promise to do this
In the shortest space possible and in the
simplest manner which the facts will permit.
They will submit the facts they wish 70
present In series of articles Of which this
Is the first.
THE ISSUE 1t IS always well TO have
the point at issue clearly stated at the out
set. If this is not done, much time Ii
wasted In the discussion OF questions thar
have little and very often nothing at al,
TO do with the real question. TO prevent
this waste Of words let us state what the
issue in this controversy is aud also what
st is not This is the question before US:
DO the railroads pay their full share OF the
taxes II II can be shown that they 90 pay
thei full share, 1t makes no difference IL
the people Of Wisconsin In what form tht
taxes are collected or what they are called
We have stated what the question before
rs is. Now let us state what 1t is not
The Question is often discussed as thOug@
1t could, with equal accuracy, he put this
way: DO the railways pay on the FULL
value df their property the average rate Of
taxation which is paid by other property
on its ASSESSED value. OF course the
question is never put In this bald, direct
form because the injustice Of such com
pariSOn would be seen by everybody; but
the question Is nevertheless discussed as If
it were fair to compare the tate on the
full and even much more than the fn!l
value of railroad property with the rate
paid on the ASSESSED value of other prop
rrty which Is almost invariably much less
than its full value.
If the statement Of the subject we have
before us, which has just been made, is
rect, then 1t is fundamentally important
to ascertain, on the one hand, what is the
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
lie placed on the railroads and the total
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 on
the correctness of these figures. This Is
rue because the total taxes collected from
all real and personal property in the state
subject to taxation divided by the full valne
Of this property gives the average rate paid
by these forms Of property; and the total
sum If 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; a 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 the outrageous
way In which the railways escape taxation
that great many people doubt
whether the railways pay any taxes at all.
TO 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 the state has de-
veloped the payments have increased.
These statements are from official data and
were carefully prepared.