shall apply alike to the foregoing and following modes of taxation herein provided for." The "foregoing" mode referred to is that of taxation of the property of the railroad; the "following" mode is that of the alternative per mile of line payment to the state. Act 74, 1892. 1892. As does the preceding law, Act 74, 1892, provides that the state tax, 3880, Code, shall be determined by a central state authority. The Railroad Commissioners, acting as railroad assessors, in connection with their preparation of the assessment rolls, i. e., their apportionment for the counties, determine and enter the state taxes on such rolls. § 3882, ibid. The assessment rolls, as made out by such assessors, when sent to the clerks of the boards of supervision, are to be filed and preserved $3883, ibid. as a record by them. And the determination of the tax proceeds as in other cases. 5. Payment of the Tax. It is provided that the tax assessed in behalf of the state "shall be due as other $604, Code, 1880. taxes." No particular provisions are made for the payment of the local taxes, the general revenue laws governing in this regard, and this act providing that the 603, ibid. amounts apportioned to the counties and incorporated towns "shall be entered upon the collector's book, and be collected as provided by law for the collection of other taxes." Act 74, 1892. Act 74, 1892, makes no particular provision for the payment of railroad taxes. It is left to the rules regulating the payment of taxes on property generally. 6. Default of Payment. It is provided that in case the taxes assessed in behalf of the state "be not paid $604, ibid. to the auditor of public accounts within the time allowed other taxpayers, he shall proceed to collect the same in the following manner: He shall issue a distress warrant against the company for the amount thereof, and the same may be issued to any sheriff in the state, whose duty it shall be to levy the same upon any real or personal property of the company to be found in his county, and to sell the same as other property of like character is sold for taxes; and in the collection of said tax, the auditor of public accounts is hereby empowered to do all acts and things which any collector of revenue is authorized to do by law; and should he fail to realize the taxes and costs from the sale of personal property, or otherwise, he is hereby authorized and empowered to expose to public sale, to the highest bidder, all the property of such defaulting railroad company lying and being in this state, together with its franchises, after giving thirty days' notice of the time and place of sale in some newspaper published in the city of Jackson, and make a conveyance thereof to the purchaser. The collector of taxes for any county shall collect the amount due the county, $605, ibid, as is now provided by law in the case of delinquents." Any further provisions that may be necessary are supplied by the general revenue laws alone. Act 74, 1892. Act 74, 1892, makes no particular provision for collection on default. $3884,Code, 1892. It provides that the duties of the tax collector with respect thereto shall be the same as in other cases. 7. Remedies. There are no particular provisions for remedies under the law in operation at the beginning of the decade. The general revenue laws provided for all remedies applicable. 9563-PT v―04—19 § 3880, Code, 1892. § 3881, ibid. § 607, Code, 1880, as amended by 1884. / Act 74, 1892. Act 74, 1892, provides that the assessment rolls made out by the Railroad Commissioners, acting as assessors, shall remain one month in the office of the Railroad Commissioners subject to objection. And the Railroad Commissioners must meet at the capitol in Jackson on the first Monday in July annually, or as soon thereafter as practicable, to consider objections to their assessments. They may amend the same if needful. They must remain in session until all objections are disposed of. II. THE TAX PER MILE OF LINE ON RAILROADS. At the beginning of the decade a railroad company might at its option be taxed under the foregoing provisions, or might choose to be taxed at the rate provided according to its number of miles of line. If it chose the latter tax, which was payable to the state for state and county purposes, it was to be exempt from all other taxes, except taxes for city and town purposes (§ 606, Code, 1880). This tax may be said to be, in nature, the logical predecessor of that provided for by Act 75, 1892, though this latter act imposed a tax called a "privilege tax," for the benefit of the state, which railroads were compelled to bear in addition to the taxes on their property. The law operative at the beginning of the decade provided that: "Each and every railroad company which will accept this act, and annually pay, Act 22, Mar. 12, to the auditor of public accounts, the taxes hereinafter provided for, and will signify their acceptance in writing, shall be exempt (except from the last preceding section), from the provisions of the foregoing sections of this act until otherwise ordered and provided by law, and the payment of the same shall be in full of all state and county taxes; two-thirds of which said tax shall be placed to the credit of the counties through which said railroads may pass, to be drawn by the county treasurers of the counties in proportion to the number of miles of said roads in said respective counties; provided, that lands owned by railway companies, and not used in operating the railroads, shall be taxable as other property and for all purposes, any exemption in their charters to the contrary notwithstanding, as to such lands. And said lands shall be listed by assessors, and taxes shall be collected by the sheriffs and paid into the state and county treasuries; provided, further, that the provisions of this act shall not have the effect to tax any of the lands of the Memphis and Vicksburg Railroad Company until the 1st day of February, 1886." § 608, ibid, as amended by Act 22, Mar. 12,1884. 1890. Act 2, Feb. 24, The above is amended by Act 2, 1890, by striking the last proviso therefrom. The taxes "hereinafter" referred to, are provided for in section 608 as amended. It is provided that "Each and every railroad company whose line is in whole or in part in this state shall, if it accepts the provisions of this act, pay to the state treasurer on the warrant of the auditor, on or before the fifteenth day of December in each and every year, a privilege tax as follows, to-wit." Then follows a schedule for such taxes, ranging from twenty to one hundred dollars "per mile" for certain railroads named therein. And it is provided that railroads not so named, and not exempt from taxation by their charters, shall pay sixty dollars per mile, "provided, that no railroad company shall be subject to taxation under the chapter while the same is in process of construction, but if any part of any road shall be finished, and used for profit, the part so finished shall be taxed, although the whole road may not be finished, nor where the same is now exempt from taxation by its charter." Act 2, Feb. 24, 1890. Act 2, 1890, amends the above section by striking out all following the word "to-wit." The rates substituted vary, for roads named, from fifty to one hundred and fifty dollars per mile. And it is provided that "all other railroads constructed or to be constructed" Act 75, 1892. Act 35, Mar. 17, 1896. §7, ibid. shall pay one hundred dollars per mile. The section concludes as §3379, Code, By Act 75, 1892, the distinctly additional per mile tax, no longer The Railroad Commission must annually, on or before the first Act 35, 1896, relating to privilege taxes, does not modify the sums due from railroad companies, or the special provisions with regard thereto, except that it adds the provision that the findings of the Railroad Commission, with regard to the gross earnings of railroad companies, and the classification resulting, "shall be certified to the auditor of public accounts and chancery clerks of the counties through which each road or roads run." The general provisions of the privilege tax law are somewhat changed by this act, and as they have not been set forth in any code or compilation as yet, such changes are noted here: Section 3406 of the Code of 1892 (part of Act 75, 1892) requiring monthly report of the monthly payments of the privilege taxes, by the tax collectors, and providing that if any collector fail to make such report, he shall be liable to be published as a defaulter, is affected in section 7 of this act by addition of the words, "and a failure of the auditor to publish such defalcation promptly shall render said auditor liable on his bond to the sureties of such tax collector for all amounts said counties may have to pay on account of default of said collector and to be sued on his bond as a defaulter; and the accounts of the auditor against the tax collectors for licenses shall be kept so as to show by denominations and numbers exactly what licenses charged to him by the auditor are in $3885, Code, 1892. Act 5, Feb. 11, § 108, ibid. his hands at any time; and upon the final settlement of each collector, * * * * * The above is changed by the insertion after the words, "the name of the licensee," of the following, to-wit: "or if a firm, the full name of all the members thereof, and the failure of said collector to do so shall subject him to be sued on his bond for all damages that may accrue to any one by reason of his neglect or refusal to do so." Act 5, 1898, is also a privilege tax law. The law, so far as it concerns railroad privilege taxes, is not different from Act 35, 1896, except that the following is added thereto: "On each railroad claiming exemption from state supervision under maximum and minimum provisions in their charter, an additional privilege tax per mile of ten dollars." This law adds to the general provisions of the privilege tax law of 1896, the following: "In all cases wherein a privilege tax is required for carrying on business in this state, and a privilege tax license has been obtained for the same, and afterwards said party shall desire to increase his business and take out additional privilege tax, he shall only be required to pay the privilege on such increase, provided the additional license shall expire at the same time of the original license." C.-THE TAXES ON SLEEPING-CAR AND SIMILAR COMPANIES. I. THE PROPERTY TAX. At the beginning of the decade there is no specific provision for the assessment and taxation of sleeping-car and similar car and transportation companies. Their property is taxed under the general revenue laws providing for the taxation of property. Act 74, 1892. Act 74, 1892, in providing for the assessment and taxation of railroad property incidentally mentions these companies, providing that "Telegraph, express, sleeping-car, palace-car, and dining-car companies shall be assessed for ad valorem taxation in the same manner as railroads; and the railroad commissioners shall be assessors thereof, and shall perform the same duties in respect thereto as in the case of railroads, and at the same time and with like effect. The clerks and tax collectors shall perform the like duties as required in case of railroads. Act 75, 1892. Act 35, Mar. 17, 1896. Act 5, Feb. 11, 1898. "The person or corporation owning or operating a telegraph line, $3886, Code, 1892. or carrying on the business of an express, sleeping-car, palace-car, or dining-car company shall file the schedules required of railroads within the time and under like penalties; and the schedules shall contain the same or such of the particulars required of railroads, as to the property and rights of the company, as the railroad commissioners shall direct, and such other particulars as they shall demand." II. THE PRIVILEGE TAX. Act 75, 1892, was a general law providing for privilege taxes, and among other things it provided that sleeping-car companies should pay such taxes. Previous thereto such companies had not been required to pay privilege taxes. The tax by this law is on each sleeping and palace-car company carrying passengers from one point to another within the state, one hundred dollars, and twenty-five cents per mile for each mile of railroad track over which the company runs its cars." The provisions under which the tax is assessed, collected, etc., are the same as those concerning privilege taxes generally, except that such companies are not required to pay the tax to county collectors before exercising the privilege. "And a tax shall not be levied by county or municipal authorities on the privilege tax imposed on insurance, telegraph, express, or sleeping-car companies, which shall pay the tax levied as above directly to the state treasurer, and receive license from the auditor of public accounts." Act 35, 1896, increases the privilege tax on such companies to two hundred dollars. And it provides that each such company shall pay "in addition thereto, twenty-five cents a mile for each mile of railroad over which the company runs its cars in this state." This provision differs from the foregoing in that it is limited to miles of line in the state. Act 5, 1898, makes no change in the provisions specifically applying to such companies. § 3387, ibid. § 3401, ibid. § 3412, ibid. MISSOURI. A. GENERAL CONSIDERATIONS. I. CONSTITUTIONAL LIMITATIONS. "The power to tax corporations and corporate property shall not be surrendered $2, Art. X, Conor suspended by act of the general assembly." stitution of Missouri. § 4, ibid. "All property subject to taxation shall be taxed in proportion to its value." "All railroad corporations in this state, or doing business therein, shall be sub- § 5, ibid. ject to taxation for state, county, school, municipal, and other purposes, on the real and personal property owned or used by them, and on their gross earnings, their net earnings, their franchises, and their capital stock." II. GENERAL STATEMENT: SYSTEM AND DEVELOPMENT FROM 1890 TO 1900. Railroads are taxed upon the basis of general property valuation. The assessment is by two authorities-the State Board of Assessment and Equalization, and the local assessors. The local assessors assess all the property not used in operation of the railroad situated in their several districts. The assessment of the property used in operation of the road is by the State Board of Assessment and Equalization, but is somewhat different from the usual assessment, partaking more of the nature of an |