Northern Wisconsin advertiser. [volume] (Wabeno, Wis.) 1898-1925, 1903-02-19

property in the state and it must fix
The rate at which the companies shall
pay taxes. In fixing Inis rate it must
take into consideration not only the
amount necessary for the state gov
eminent but also the amount to be
raised for all school purposes and all
county, municipal or town purposes,
except assess ments made against prop
erty for special improvements. The
rate which will be charged the rail-
roads will be the average rate charged
upon all of the property of the state.
Assessment Commission.
The bill is entitled to provide for
the taxation of railroad companies +"
1t constitutes the state tax commits
sion as state board of assessment OF
the property of railroad companies.
In the properties to be asse sed are all
franchises, right of way, road bed.
tracks, stations, terminals, rolling
stock, equipments and all other real
and personal properties of the COM
panies."
The bill does not apply to the prop
erty of street railway COMPARES.
Board Has Much Power.
The state board of assessment is to
have free access to all the books,
papers, documents and records, what
soever of the companies, and has
power to summon and examine wit
nesses in the process of making its as
sessment.
Companies File Reports.
The companies are to file with the
board full and complete reports, be-
tween July l and August Is of each
year, setting forth the history of the
constitution of the corporation, the
stocks and bonds and all securities
and collateral, and the market value
of the same. If any company refuse
to file the statement or efuse to ap
pear when summoned for examination
by the board, that company shall
thereby waive and forfeit all right to
question or contest the justice or &C
curacy of the assessment.
The board is to ascertain the true
full cash value of the property of each
of the railroads during the month OF
September each year. The secretary
of the board is to prepare a complete
list of the property with other Stats
tics.
On the second Tuesday of Novem-
Der of each year the board is to sit al
the capitol for a sufficient time for
all who desire to appear and be heard
as to the merits or injustice or other
feature of the assessment, but the sit
ting is not to last longer than Deem
Der Is.
Between the first Monday in Deem
Der and the 18th of January annually
the board shall determine the aggre
gate tax on all other property in the
state and from this data determiI
the average rate of taxation on the
, other property. This rate so deter
mined is to be the rate charged upon
the railroad property.
! The remaining sections OF the bill
are re-enactments of the present Ii
cense fee system and stipulations Of
the procedure to be followed in the
event'of litigation in contest of the act
so that the state shall by no means
| lose the taxes on railroads equal al
least to the amounts now paid by the
companies. The license fee system
taxes railroads upon their gross earn
ings per mile or SIS per mile for roads
that have very low earningJ Foui
per cent. is charged roads that pay
5000 per mile or more in gross earn
ings, 31a per cent, those that pay
between $4,000 and $4,000 per mile
per cent, those that earn between
So 1000 and $4,000 per mile, and 81
per mile those roads that earn less
than $4,000 per mile. Railroads op.
Grated on pile or pontoon bridges are
charged 2 pr cent. of their gross
earnings. Under the license fee sys.
tenn the roads pay their tax semi
annually.