Eagle River review. [volume] (Eagle River, Wis.) 1890-1927, 1903-01-31
RAIL WAY TAXATION IN WISCONSIN,
The RAILROAD sIDE OF the DUES.
TON.
Amount OF License Tax Paid by Wilson's.
sin Railroads.
ISSUED in Behalf of wisconsin Railwaysl

ISSUED In Behalf of Wisconsin Railways)
The railroad companies Of Wisconsin be-
iievc they are already bearing their full
share Of the burdens of maintaining the
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 eat srms az
have been proposed in some quarters would
be long step toward the absolute confsca-
ton OF their property.
Such being their views, they ask the peo-
to this controversy until they have pre-
sented their side. They promise to do this
In the shortest space possible and in the
They will submit the facts they wish to
present In a series Of articles Of which this
ls the first
the point at issue clearly stated at the out
set. II this Is not done, much time is
wasted In the discussion Of questions that
nave little, and very often nothing at NIL,
this waste of words let us state what tho
Issue in this controversy is and also what
It Is not. This Is the question before US:
Do the railroads pay their full shale Of the
taxes? If it can he shown that they do pay
their full share, 1t makes no difference to
the people of Wisconsin In what form tho
taxes are collected or what they are called
We have stated what the question before
us Is Now let us state what 1t Is not.
The question is often discussed as though
1t could, with equal accuracy, be put this
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 com.
parison would be seen by everybody; but
the question Is nevertheless discussed ia IL
It We're fair to compare the late on the
full and even much more than the full
value of railroad property with the rate
paid on the ASSESSED value of other prop.
erty which Is almost invariably much less
If the statement of the subject we have
before us, which has just been made, Is
correct, then 1t Is fundamentally important
to ascertain, on the one hand, what Is tho
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
be placed on the railroads and the total
axes 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
true because the total taxes collected from
all real and personal property in the state
subject to taxation divided by the full valpe
Of this property gives the average rate paid
by these forms of property; and the total
sum of 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 OF 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 TINT
the sums are really veIy 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-
veloped the payments have increased.
These statements are from official data and
were carefully prepared.