§ 21, Act 450, Mar. 15, 1884.

§ 22, ibid.

§ 21, ibid.

Ibid.

Ibid.

§ 22, ibid.

rogatories, and forthwith forward the same to the auditor of public accounts. Such interrogatories shall be forwarded by the auditor to the commissioner of the revenue on or before the first day of May of each year."

The auditor of public accounts upon receipt of the report must lay it before the board of public works. Said board must, after thirty days' notice to the company, firm, or person, "proceed to ascertain and assess the value of the property so reported upon the best and most reliable information that can be conveniently procured, and to this end shall be authorized to send for persons and papers, should it be deemed necessary.

3. Determination of the Taxes.

The statutes prescribe the rates of the taxes, viz: "thirty cents on every hundred dollars of the assessed value of the property," "for the support of the government;" "ten cents on every hundred dollars value thereof to be applied to the support of the public free schools of the state, and the income tax is one per cent on all the net earnings in excess of six hundred dollars."

It is provided that "A copy of the assessment, including license tax, as soon as made, shall be certified by the secretary of the board to such officer, member of the firm, or person, as the case may be." And in case of failure to make return or pay the tax and the resulting assessment, by a commissioner of the revenue under the direction of the auditor of public accounts, it is provided that "the tax, together with a penalty of twenty per centum thereon, shall at once be levied upon the value of the property of such company, firm, or person."

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4. Payment of the Taxes.

The taxes and license imposed by the board are to be paid into the treasury of the state within sixty days after receipt of the certificate of assessment from the board of public works. In case of failure to report and pay assessment and levy under direction of the auditor of public accounts resulting, the company must pay "within thirty days," or the tax will be collected as provided.

5. Default of Payment.

It is provided that if the taxes are not paid into the state treasury within thirty days from the levy, they shall be collected by the treasurer of any county or corporation wherein such company, firm, or person may transact business, to whom the auditor of public accounts may deliver a copy of the assessment. "The treasurer receiving such assessment may distrain and sell any personal property of such company, firm, or person, and shall pay the taxes into the treasury within three months from the time of delivery to him of such assessment, deducting the same commission allowed by law for collecting other taxes in his district."

For failure to report and pay as required, the company is subject to a penalty of an additional twenty per centum to be added to the tax, and, further, it is provided that for failure to comply with any of the requirements of either of these sections (§§ 21, 22), each company, etc., so failing, shall pay a fine of not less than five hundred nor more than one thousand dollars, “to be recovered in the mode prescribed by law, in any county or corporation court in which said company, firm, or person may transact business, or, at the election of the auditor of public accounts, in the circuit court of the city of Richmond."

Act 535, Mar. 1, 1892.

§ 1, ibid.

§ 2, ibid.

§3, ibid.

Ibid.

II. TAXES ON CAPITAL STOCK OF PULLMAN SLEEPING, PALACE, OR
DINING-CAR COMPANIES.

1. Nature and Application.

As provided by Act 535, 1892, this tax, or these taxes, for they are for two distinct purposes, one for government and one for public school purposes, and at different rates for each, are based on "the assessed cash value of that proportion of the capital stock of all Pullman sleeping, palace, or dining-car companies which is invested and used in Virginia."

2. Assessment and Determination of the Tax.

The provisions on assessment and determination of the tax are interwoven and are all embraced in the following: "In order to determine the amount of the capital stock of said companies which is taxable in this state, there shall be taken as a basis of assessment such a proportion of the cash value of the entire capital stock of said companies as the number of miles operated by the companies in this state bears to the whole number of miles operated by them in this and other states. "It shall be the duty of the manager, chief agent, or principal accounting officer of said companies in this state to furnish the auditor of public accounts of the state of Virginia with a statement, under oath, of the cash value of the shares constituting the entire capital stock of the said companies, the whole number of miles operated by them in this and other states, and the number of miles operated by them in this state as of the first day of February of each year. This statement shall be made before the first day of June of each year. Should said manager, chief agent, or principal accounting officer of said companies fail to make and deliver this statement to the auditor before the first day of June aforesaid, then the auditor shall proceed to make the statement upon the best information he can secure, upon the basis of the statement required above of the manager, chief agent, or principal accounting officer; or should they fail to make it, upon the basis of the statement made by the auditor, the auditor shall proceed to estimate the sum to be paid by said companies." (For penalty for failure to make the statement, see below.)

3. Payment, and Default of Payment.

There is no affirmative provision as to time of payment of the tax. Such time is limited, however, by the following provision on collection on default: "This sum, if the same be not paid in sixty days, shall be collected by any treasurer to whom the auditor may deliver the same for collection. The treasurer may distrain and sell any property of said company, and shall pay the taxes into the treasury within sixty days after the assessment shall have been delivered to him. All acts and parts of acts in conflict with this are to that extent repealed. Any manager, chief agent, or principal accounting officer who shall fail to do any of the duties required of him by this act shall be guilty of a misdemeanor, and on conviction thereof shall be fined not less than fifty dollars nor more than five hundred dollars."

§3. Art. VII, Constitution of

WASHINGTON.

A.-GENERAL CONSIDERATIONS.

I. CONSTITUTIONAL LIMITATIONS.

“The legislature shall provide by general law for the assessing and levying of Washington. taxes on all corporation property as near as may be by the same methods as are provided for the assessing and levying of taxes on individual property.”

17, Art. XII, jbid.

"The rolling stock and other movable property belonging to any railroad company or corporation in this state shall be considered personal property, and shall be liable to taxation and to execution and sale in the same manner as the personal property of individuals, and such property shall not be exempted from execution and sale."

II. GENERAL STATEMENT: SYSTEM AND DEVELOPMENT FROM 1890 TO 1900.

Railroads are taxed upon the basis of their general property valuation and for the same purposes that other property is taxed. And, as the constitution provides, they are assessed "as near as may be by the same methods as are provided for the assessing and levying of taxes on individual property." They are assessed by the local assessors, for though returns must be made to the auditor of state, as well as to the county assessors, such state returns do not lead to assessment or apportionment of valuation by the state authorities, but are merely to assist in the equalization after assessment by local assessors.

The law pertaining to the taxation of railroads at the beginning of the decade was in all respects the same as that providing for the taxation of individuals. By Act 105, January 18, 1888, the law then on the statute books, providing for the taxation of railroads upon a basis of gross receipts, was repealed. And Act 125, January 31, 1888, filled in the breach by providing that "The taxes upon the property of railroad companies in this territory shall hereafter be assessed, levied, and collected as the taxes upon the property of individuals in this territory are assessed, levied, and collected, and that all the provisions of law now in force, or that may hereafter be put into operation in this territory, providing for the assessing, levying, and collecting of taxes upon the property of individuals shall, unless otherwise provided, apply and be applicable to the assessing, levying, and collecting of taxes upon the property of railroad companies." This law but anticipated Article VII, section 3, of the Constitution, above cited, adopted August 22, 1891, by which said law was, in its turn, reinforced. But the law contained no detailed provisions concerning the assessment, levy, and collection. All was left to the general revenue provisions.

Such was the condition at the beginning of the decade, but Act 140, March 9, 1891, a general revenue law, made detailed provision for certain of the steps in the assessment of railroad property, but went no further, the other elements in railroad taxation remaining as before subject to the general taxation laws. This act was amended in some minor points by Act 124, March 15, 1893, also a general revenue law. And the law as then in operation was still further changed in lesser points by Act 71, March 15, 1897.

There is no specific provision for the taxation of sleeping-car and similar car and transportation companies, as such. Their property is reached only under the general revenue laws providing for the taxation of realty and personalty.

B. THE RAILROAD TAX.

1. Nature and Application.

Railroads are all taxed upon the valuation of their general property, for the same general purposes that other property is taxed. The law, as it was in operation at the beginning of the decade, made no further provision than that taxes should be assessed, levied, and collected upon railroad property in the same way as upon the property of individuals. This provision was reinforced by Article VII, section 3, of the Constitution.

2. Assessment.

Act 125, Jan. 31,

1888.

At the beginning of the decade taxes upon railroad property were to be "assessed, Ibid. levied, and collected as taxes upon the property of individuals in the territory are assessed, levied, and collected." Act 140, 1891, as amended by Act 124, 1893, and Act 71, 1897, contained detailed provisions for certain steps in the assessment.

Act 140, Mar. 9, 1891: Act 124,

71, Mar. 15, 1897.

$28, Act 140, 1891: $29, Act 124,

"Railroad track," "rolling stock," and other real and personal propMar. 15, 1993: Act erty are all listed and assessed in the counties where situated, according to prescribed method. For this purpose various sworn lists and schedules must be returned to the county assessor of the several counties in which the property is located. These schedules include schedules of right of way, rolling stock, and other real and personal property. The schedule of right of way, which is the same in all three acts, must 1893; § 29, Act 71, show "the property held for right of way in each county and in each city, town, or village through or into which the road runs and describing each tract of land other than a city, town, or village lot, through which the road may run in accordance with the United States surveys, when the land is surveyed, giving the width and length of the land held in each tract, and the number of acres thereof. They shall also state the value of improvements and stations located on the right of way. New companies shall make such statement in April next after the location of their road."

1897.

$32, Act 140, 1891: $33, Act 124,

1897.

$33, Act 140,

$1045, Washing$1685, W. S., 1897.

ton Statutes, 1891;

§ 1689, W. S., 89.

The provision for the return of the rolling stock is also the same in $1049.W.S..1891: 1893; $33, Act 71, the three acts. It must be made in March yearly and must contain a detailed inventory of the rolling stock belonging to the company, distinctly setting forth the number of locomotives and cars of all classes. $1050.W.S., 1891: It must also show the number of miles of main track on which the rolling stock is used in Washington and the number of miles on which it is used elsewhere.

1891: $34, Act 124, 1893: $ 34, Act 71,

1897.

§ 35. Act 140, 1891: $36, Act 124,

1897.

$1690, W. S., 1997.

§ 1692, W.S., 1897.

The balance of the real and personal property is returned to the $1052.w.s. 1991; 1893: $36, Act 71, county assessor under the general provision that "The proper officer of each railroad shall return to the assessor of the county a copy of the schedule or list of the real estate and of the personal property pertaining to the railroad."

$36, Act 140, 1891.

assessors.

The reports to the state auditor1 are, however, different in the acts $1053,W.S., 1891. of 1891 and 1893. The acts of 1893 and 1897 are in this point the In all three cases it is provided that the returns shall be made

same.

1 The occasion for the return to the state auditor is merely to assist him in the equalization of assessment by local The State Board of Equalization adjusts and settles questions of unequal or too high assessment between counties, or as between what the county would claim and what the railroad corporation would object to. If for local purposes one county assesses or claims more miles of railroad than such railroad corporation agrees to, then the corporation may take the matter into the courts of the state, and thus obtain a judicial determination of the number of miles to be taxed. This right of going into court in matters of county local taxes usually acts as a preventive of

overassessment.

1021, Washington Statutes, 1891.

$1693, W.S., 1897.

1054, W. S., 1891: § 1694, W. S., 1897.

1046, W. S., 1891: §1686, W.S., 1897.

§ 1048, W. S., 1891; §1688, W. S., 1897.

at the same time as the lists and schedules are returned to the county assessors. There is no provision as to who shall make the returns (in § 1052, 1897, below, it is provided returns of real and personal property shall be made by the "proper officer"), but in all cases they must be sworn." It is provided that wherever the word "swear" is used in this act it may mean "affirm," and wherever the word "oath" is used it may mean "affirmation." It is in the matter of contents of the return that the difference indicated appears. The returns in all cases were required to exhibit length and character of the road, the rolling stock, the capital stock, indebtedness, and some minor items. But the act of 1891, among other things, required detailed statements concerning the track, e. g., ballasting of the road, number of ties in track per mile, etc., such provisions not being found $37. Act 124, in the acts of 1893 and 1897. On the other hand, the acts of 1893 and 1893; § 37, Act 71, 1897. 1897 required a statement of gross earnings, gross earnings in state, cost of operation, net income, and dividends declared, etc., items not found in the act of 1891. (For these and all other differences, see Return Chart.)

37. Act 140, 1891; $38, Act 124,

1897.

All three acts contain the same provisions concerning procedure and 1893; § 38, Act 71, penalty in case of failure of return. In case of failure to return to the county assessors, as required, it is provided that "the property so to be returned and assessed by the assessor shall be listed and assessed as other property." And in case of failure to return to the state auditor, it is provided that "the state auditor, with the assistance of the county assessors, when he shall require such assistance, shall ascertain the necessary facts and lay the same before the state board of equalization." The penalty in case of failure to make either return is "not less than ten thousand dollars for each offense, to be recovered in any proper form of action in the name of the state of Washington, and paid into the state treasury."

§ 29, Act 140, 1891: 530, Act 124, 1893.

$30, Act 71, 1897.

$ 31, Act 140, 1891; §32, Act124, 1893; 32, Act 71,

1897.

As will be seen from the following quotations the assessment is by the county assessors of the counties in which the property is located. The three acts are in general the same. With regard to the right of way, it is provided that "All lands occupied and claimed exclusively as the right of way for railroads by railroad companies or corporations, with all the tracks and all the substructures and superstructures which support the same, must be assessed as a whole and as real estate, without separating the same into lands and improvements, at a certain sum per mile, which sum, like other lands, shall be full cash value thereof, and all such real estate situated in the state, occupied and claimed by any railroad company as such right of way, shall be deemed to be the property of such company for purposes of taxation." Act 71, 1897, is the same as the above, except that it adds the following proviso: "Provided, all lands leased to private individuals for warehouse and commercial purposes and all lands used by railroads for commercial purposes shall be assessed as adjoining property is assessed and not as right of way."

With regard to the railroad track it is provided that "the value of the railroad track' shall be listed and taxed in the several counties in the proportion that the length of the main track in such county bears to the whole length of the road in the state, except the value of the side or second track, and all turn-outs, and all station houses, depots, machine shops, or other buildings belonging to the road, which shall be taxed in the county in which the same are located.”