Newark evening star and Newark advertiser. [volume] (Newark, N.J.) 1909-1916, 1912-10-31

Tile star extends the privilege OF these
Recommendations of not more than one
hundred words treating OF topics o. 'hs
hour.
state Boards Action on X. r.. Tax.
To the Editor of the Evening Star:
Sir-I wish to reply to h recent
articles in your newspaper rejecting
upon Governor Wilson and the State
Board of Assessors in the valuation
Of railroad property of this State.
The facts are as follows:
The equal-tax agitation of a few
years ago led to the abolition of the
privileged rate of S. a thousand on
main stem property of railroads and
the imposition of the railroad tax at
the average State rate paid by other
property. The increased revenue
coming to the State by this first re-
suit of the equal-tax agitation was
between two and three million dollars
a year. The agitation also led to the
passage of a law by the Legislature
in Governor Forts term authorizing
the governor to have a complete re-
valuation of the railroad property by
an expert retained for hat purpose.
and Mr.. Charles Hansel was employed
to do that work.
Mr.. Hansel completed his task in
1911, just before the time required by
the law for the board to fix the valu-
atoms for the year and to send tran
| scripts thereof to the different taxing
districts in the State having second
class railroad property, in order that
the same might be included in the
tax levy of the respective localities
made up in September. Mr.. Hansel
and a large corps of engineers had
been at work q year and a half Oh
this task, and their work was i'm
mensely voluminous. 1t was utterly
impossible for the board to go over
Mr.. Hansel's figures except in the
toughest kind of a way prior to the
time fixed by the law for making a
preliminary assessment. We did. how
ever, double the valuation of the main
stem lands of the railroads and in
crease by 20 per, cent. the valuation
found by Mr.. Hansel on terminal
lands in Jersey City and Hoboken.
Otherwise we took MI. Hansers
figures on all tangible property as the
basis of our assessment, without in
vestigation as to it's correctness.
In his plan of valuation Mr.. Hansel
valued the physical property ana
then worked out a formula by which
he measures the value of the in
tangible, or franchise, value of the
property which is over and above the
physical value. This formula has
never been submitted u the courts.
and it contains two factors concern
ing which there is a wide difference
Of opinion. One of these factors is
an annuity, which is allowed theo-
retically upon the value of the phys
ical property, and it can be placed
anywhere from 4 to 8 per cent.
The other factor is the proportion
of the total earnings of the roads
from their Hudson terminals to their
various western terminals outside OF
the State, which ought to be properly
allocated, as 1t is called, to New Jcr-
sey, on account of the great terminals
here, (which terminals are designed
not for New Jersey business alone.
but for all the business of the roads.
III u Oui VI . itAoA aDoi6siiitilt VIZ
made no attempt to decide what was
the proper percentage for the annuity
or what was the proper amount to be
aIlocated on account of the terminals.
After our preliminary assessment
| the railroads appealed upon practi-
cally every item of Mr.. Hansel's val.
uation, and the board has been en-
gagged for more than a year in "a
most exhaustive trial of these ap-
peals. The board has been assisted
by Ex-Governor Fort and John Il.
Hardin, Of Newark, al counsel, anu
has had the services of MIR. Hansel
during all the appeals. The board
has held at least n hundred hear
ings on this matter in Newark, Jer-
! sey City and Trenton. all Of which
have been public, and many of which
have been attended by the newspa-
per men. Testimony has been taken
at great length. counsel for the State
and the railroads have been heard
on the matters even OF the most
! minute detail. Every point raised
by tho railroads has been subjected
to a reexamination on the ground
by Mr.. Hansel and MIR. Focht, the
regular engineer of the board. Many
of the points raised by the railroads
have been on examination by Mr..
Hansel admitted to be correct. Mr..
Hansel was obliged to make his valu-
atoms without the aid Of the rail-
roads, and on physical property the
railroads were able to show from
their records facts which resulted in
Mr.. Hansers correcting his error.
Upon such matters as floating
equipment Mr.. Hansel was instructed
| to value all of the property, although
on appeal under advice of counsel
the board held that the floating
equipment was assessable under the
law in New Jersey only for that pro-