St. Johnsbury Caledonian. [volume] (St. Johnsbury, Vt.) 1867-1919, 1913-04-09
Taxation of Railroads

AS a result Of hearings before
the railroad board of appeals the
appraisal of the railroad (steam
and electric) steamboat and car
companies and power plants and
transmission lines in the state of
Vermont has been Increased $4,-
7S1,7SO over the appraisal made by
state tax commissioner, J. e. Cush-
man, in the year 1912. The hear
ings have been in progress over
two weeks at the state copitol and
were given at the request Of Gov.
Fletcher who felt the old appraisal
was not high enough. With the
change of law requiring this class
of property to pay one and a quar-
ter per cent on it's appraised value
rather than a percentage of it's
gross earnings the appraisal was
an important matter. The taxes
at the above rate on the increase
in the appraisal will be $50, 571.-
% for the year while the increase
of taxation on this class of proper
ty will be in excess of $3.50, 900
over what it was by paying per-
centage on gross receipts. So it is
evident a large increase in revenues
for the state has been effected by
the appeal from the commissioners
appraisal.
There has been a great deal of dis
cussion over the question of the
amount of taxes railroad property
should pay. 1t has been argued
in the past that as personal prop
erty held by the individual was ex-
empt from taxation on account
of debts owing the rail-
roads should not pay very large
taxes as so much of their property
was personal property. That ar
gument fails now as personal prop
erty held by individuals must pay
taxes the same as other property
and the appraisal which includes all
the property held by the railroads
seems fair and just. The fairness
of the appraisal is shown by the
fact the state did not secure as
high an appraisal as it asked in
many cases and that the appraisal
Of some of the properties was ma
terially reduced while others were
materially increased. Again some
were unchanged. So the appraisal
must be accepted as the honest
judgment of the board of the real
value of the property.
The question of the rate of tax
alton on the public service corpor-
alton property cannot be definitely
determined at this time. The rate
of one and one quarter per cent
is not as high as the average rate
of taxation in Vermont under the
old plan of taxing only a part of
the actual property. But now that
all the property is to be taxed
the average may not exceed one and
a quarter per cent. If it does not
there will be no justice in increas-
ing the rate but if it is higher than
that the public will probably de-
mand an increase. The rate of tax
alton on bank deposits remains at
seven tenths of one per cent on a
dollar or five and a half mills be-
low that of railroad and similar
property. Whether there will be
a demand to increase this is uncer-
tain. 1t seems a little inconsistent
that the state should have one rate
of taxation for property placed in
the grand list, another for corpor-
ate property paying only a state tax
and third rate for money deposit
ed in banks. But there are some
sound reasons for this variety and
there viii be no change unless it
is shown to be just.
Taken as a whole we believe that
Vermont is much nearer a system of
equal and just taxation today than
ever before and that a two years
trial of its present tax laws will
show the justice of the system and
that the only changes needed will
be some details, the necessity of
which is revealed by experience.