The times dispatch. [volume] (Richmond, Va.) 1903-1914, 1904-02-20
sAruRDAY, FEBRUARY 20, 1904.
The Tax on Rolling Stock.

Y s1nor ,na,,v years it has been the rule
I'm Virginia, for railroad companies to be
taxed on their personal property, IN
snludipg their rolling stock, at their domi-
Sic that is to say, in the city where
+ha,- main offices are located. The point
gghas been raised in tho General Assem-
;shl, however. that the counties through
which tho railroads pass as wei as ' = '''
d cities in which their main offices are 10
Gated. should get their share OF the YAK
s,dertyed from the personal property OF
.he railroads. A bill has, therefore, beer:
| introduced in the House providing that
.the rolling stock taxable In this state
Il of the various railroad corporations doing
a hn.,ness In Virginia. shall not be assessed
FOR local taxation at the principal once
OF the respective corporations. but shall
Be distributed over tho whole line OF
the railroad on the mileage basis"
sg3.1f this blu should pass, some OF the
cites Of the State would BIO deprived OF
large revenue, upon which they have
iientnded for years; upon which they
thought they could always depend, ahd
could be embarrassed no little. The city
Of Richmond, for example, would receive
very much less revenue on the mileage
basis than many OF the counties in the
n. state through which railroads. terminal
Wing in Richmond, pass. The courtics
should not be too exacting in this mat
ter fir, an examination Of the Auditors
eSrreport Will show that In proportion to-
"a ,n,onuat,on the cities bear very much
#,nnre than their fair share OF the tax
burden. This was forcefully demons.
strated the other day by Mr.. Egbert g,
leigh president Of the Chamber of Com
merce, IT. an address which he made be-
Si fore the House Committee on Roads and
(4sInternal Navigation.
SsgS First Of all, Mr.. Leigh showed that the,
IiSnumber Of tons of freight in and out or
4 Richmond for the fiscal year ending
y June 30 1908 was 2.444.12o. being the
equivalent Of 2O3.276 cars. or 101S4 trains
Of % cars each: or ar average OF 1915
cars per month, or an average Oh 9t9
cars per day Mr.. Leigh explained that
this did not include the freight brought
here by tho Old Dominion Steamship
Line; nor did 1t include a large volume
of through business which the railroads
Exchange and enjoy here by reason OF the
as fact that Richmond is a Junction point.
To handle SO many cars in Richmond
necessarily brings an expense upon the
clty-an expense Of p9fses projection and
fire protection and so or-and from every
A point of view it must DO plain to every
fair-mnded man that a city handling
SO many cars is entitled certainly to a
/ 4, larger percentage of taxable values than
a county, which handles only few cars
here and there.
Mr. Leigh then drew some interesting
Comparisons between the amount Of
5t,ixes paid by the counties and the
amount paid by the cities. Tie showed
s;latSi The total amount OF taxes on real
estate. personal property, income. capt.
tation and licenses paid into the State
representing l55o000 people was $l.7s4.
S42, while the total amount paid In by tho
III cities. representing 10000 people. was
v 81. 10000. In other words. tho per capita
Itax in the cities was about 81, while in
the cour:ties it was about sl.13.
"a The counties drew out OF the public
treasury for schools. criminal expenses
and the pay of Judges $se7.las. while the
erit IA nyy1a OF
a223.es7. In other words, the net revenue
paid into the treasury by the counties
WAS 1851, 642, while the net revenue paid
by the cities was s972.o33. an excess II,
favor Of the cities OF sl2l 200.
IL The city of Richmond alone paid into
1.-the State treasury $4il365 and drew GU,
ST4.S75, making her net contribution
2Sac54so, which was more than one-fourtl
9ESof the net amount paid by the rest OF the
& State, while the counties Of the State pale
snet less than two and one half times al
much as the city OF Richmond.
But III addition To the large sum pale
Unto the State treasury. Richmond mus
raise great deal OF money for the ex
pense of local government. Her pc
capita tax for State government is s4s
and for city government $l7,4o. maxim,
4 n total of s22.25, against total cost pc
capita for citizens of the counties Q
s2.26. on ar average.
This IL said not in disparasement .
the counties. nor in any boas,ful spiri
but facts are facts, and these facts sho'
that the cities aIs entitled TO some col
sheraton at the hands OF the counties
Assessments in the cities are usual
up to the full market value OF the prof.
erty. while IL the rural districts asses
meRts are IN most instances CERTAIN