The Guthrie daily leader. [volume] (Guthrie, Okla.) 1893-1996, 1910-04-18
WILL Be USED AS
BASIS FOR TAXATION
System viii Facilitate Work
That Heretofore Has Been
Practically Impossible


300 other public service corporations
doing business in Oklahoma are re-
qui ed to report 10 the state auditor
on on before the first day Of Febr-
ary OF each year, a complete sched.
ule Of all property assets and fran
chSes Of such corporations, in order
that same may be taken by the state
board OF equalization as a basis for
the valuation Of such property for ad
Yalorem taxation
Public service corporations IN Ok
lahoma are defined to include all
telegraph companies, express com
panies, railroads and sleeping car
companies, electric light and gas dis.
trbuting companies and oil pipe line
companies.
ANY person, firm or corporation
owning or operating any of the va
rious classes Of business enumarat-
cd Is made a public service corpora
tion whether such business Is incor-
porated or owned by individuals.
When the law giving the state
beard Of equalization the duty Of as
sessing such industries in the state
became effective. there was no ec-
ord available to determine who Or
how many such institutions were in
operation in the state. State Audit
or Trapp started to gather this in.
formation from all sources available,
appealing to the county clerks OF
zach county in the state TO furnish
a list OF all such properties in his
county. In addition TO diligent
a.ch of the corporation records OF
the Office of the secretary OF STAGE as
made and blanks mailed to all per
sons and companies whose names
Wee thus secured from practically
all the larger properties such as rail
road companies, express companies,
telegraph companies, watewrorks,
gas and electic light plants, but the
numerous mutual and rural telephone
lines were found TO be almost unob-
tainable. Many of these lines are
only mile or TWO long, strung from
fence posts OF one neighbors farm to
another neighbors, but with an In
strument at each end, but under the
terms OF the revenue act they are
public service corporations and must
be valued by the state board
About three hundred telephone
companies. big and little, were as
sessed by the board last year. This
year by gaining access TO the records
of the corporation commission the
auditor has increased the list TO 6O7 +
While the railroads, under the new
rail DAD taxing act, Will be required
20 return only their gross earnings
and expenses foT their main line val
uations, they will return all depots,
side tracks, etc., as before, 10 bc
valued ad val0rem.
The magnitude Of the task In the
AUDITORS Office in assembling and
scrutinizing the returns { ON the va.
rious public service corporations can
be appreciated when IL Is considered
that every such corporation has 10
show the distribution of It's property
by county, township and school dis
tricts. In the case Of a rail Dad the
task of verifying such figures IS
painsiaklng Each report must show
the exact number Of miles OF the
road that is situated in each county
Of the state the entire number OF
miles in each school district of each
comfy, and the entire number 0f
miles in each township of each couu.
ty and the districts in each county
must IN each instance be the t0tal
number OF miles shown in thai
county
In the case OF the larger telephone
companies. like the Pioneer. the
checking Of their report is of such
greater magnitude than that Of 4
railroad because OF its thousands ol
ramldcations
Then the reports for telephone com
panies must show the total one wire
miles of each line rs the total mum
Der of miles Of poles.
II line is one mile in length. ant
there are lnree wi es on such line
IL would have total Of three on
Wire miles, and total OF one pole
nile.
Each telephone conpany's property
must be apporiioneI to each schoo
district and to each township in eact
county traversed The total on
wire miles OF the different township
c. each county and the total one wiri
miles 10 the different school districts
must be the same In the same man
ner the total pole miles In township
and school dist lets musl correspond
Whenever errors are found ia re
turn the state auditor returns SAM
TO person executing IT, with detailei
instructions for correction Of to
same Frequently new blanks hav