Abilene weekly reflector. [volume] (Abilene, Kan.) 1888-1935, 1906-10-11
RAILROAD TAXES.
KANSAS RECEIVES MORE PER MILE
THAN ADJOINING sATTEs.


ject of assessment and taxauon Oh
property. II has been declared by
some of those who are opposing the
Republican ticket in Kansas that the
party is shielding the railroads and
not requiring them to pay their full
share of taxes Members of the pres
ent board of railroad assessors deny
the truth of this statement and their
figures, taken from the tax records OF
the state, seem to bear out their state
ments. I. T. Kelly, state treasurer
and member of the board of rail-
road assessors, has made statement
concerning the assessment of railroad
property and has quoted figures to
show that his statements are correct.
He says:
"rhe illustration, as to how prop
erty is assessed in one county, will be
sufficient to demonstrate that, If rail.
road property and other property is to
be assessed on an equal basis, then
the assessment of railroad property
must be reduced.
"In Douglas county, which is an av-
erage county, land is assessed at $6,4S
per acre; horses at $1S.O9 per head;
cattle 1856; mules $14.60; sheep 81
cents; hogs $2.04. These values are
said to be one-fourth of the real value
of this class Of property in that
county.
1T is not likely that the land in
Douglas county can be bought for
1852 per acre. 1t is not likely that
horses six months old, or over, can be
bought for $52.36, or cattle for $14.64.
This county returned in money for
taxation 100000 AT the same time
that this assessment was made, the
Comptroller of Currency and the Bank
Commissioner of this state issued a
call for a statement of the conditions
of banks, to the credit of individuals
in that county, and it developed that
there was on deposit in the banks at
this time $2,500,O00. But 8 per cent
Of it was listed for taxation. Douglas
is taken as merely sample. All 9TH
er counties make practically the same
showing.
Discussing the matter relating to the
assessment of Railroad property In
the state of Iowa, Kansas paper re-
Gently had this to say:
but land is assessed in Iowa on an
average of $4100 an acre and rail-
roads at 500, 100000 per mile" Again;
But If lands could be assessed at
their actual selling value, so could
railroad property be assessed at saw
900 mile, its estimated value in this
state, (Kansas) instead OF $1,000, its
assessed value"
For the purpose of argument, l will
admit for the time being that this
statement that railroad property in
Iowa is assessed at $4,000 mile and
that railroad property in Kansas is as
sessed at $1,000 a mile is true. Had
the paper been solicitous in Its Efforts
to present the facts In this case, IL
would have inquired how much tax
per mile the railroads of Iowa pay on
this $4,000 assessed valuation, as
compared with the amount OF tax paid
per mile by the railroads of Kansas,
with it's $1,000 assessed valuation.
"The Official Report of the Railroad
Assessors of the state of Iowa for 1903
shows that the railroads of Iowa pay
taxes on their mileage, pen mile,
$21309; and the same year, 1t could
have been ascertained that the rail-
roads in Kansas paid taxes per mile
$3OO23; in other words. the railroads
of Kansas, with one-third of the as
sessed value of the roads in Iowa, pay
$S7.14 more tax per mile than the rail-
roads do in the state OF Iowa.
Now as to the valuation. on page
81 of the 34th annual report of the as
sessed value of railroad property in
the state of Iowa, issued July ~,
1905, is shown that the assessed
value of railroads in that state is
$59S70O per mile and not $4,000 as
stated. Twenty-three thousand dollars
is understood to be the actual cash
value of railroads in Iowa, and under
the laws of that state, property is rs
sessed at one-fourth of its actual cash
value.
wv. r. Stubs, who Is railroad con-
tractor, in an interview short time
ago, said he could reproduce, or re-
build the 5000 miles of railroad in
Kansas for $4,000 per mile and have
millions left for his profit. II the rule
applied in Iowa was applied TO the as
sessed value of the roads in Kansas.
by multiplying the assessed value per
mile, $500, by four, the actual value
of these roads would be $29, 10000 per
mile, or 100000 per mile more than
Stubs says they can be built for
and $62OO0O per mile more than they
are valued at in Iowa.
Frequent references have been
made to the census report Of 1900 and
the Interstate Commerce Commission
report, as to the value OF railroad
property and the taxation Of the same.
| insist that the question has not been
fairly presented and rs q reflection on
the Republican Board Of Railway As
SCISSORS.
ct is shown by Official Reports that
railroad property is assessed higher In
the state of Kansas than other classes
of property and assessed higher than
the same class of property In other
states. In the 1900 census report IL
il shown that the average tax paid
per mile by railroads In the United
States is s2s7.00. In Kansas last year
the amount of taxes paid per mile By
the six principal roads Of this state
was s3OO.2S, or Sss.2s more than the
average tax paid per mile by the roads
OF the United States.
that aIfafn KAnCTI