RAILWAY TAXES IN THE UNITED STATES.

While no synopsis of the state laws for the taxation of corporations will be here attempted, a general view of the methods employed is obtained from the tables contained in the statistics prepared from the reports of the railways of the country under the supervision of Dr. Henry C. Adams, Statistician of the Interstate Commerce Commission for the year ending June 30, 1901.

The explanations with the valuable tables will give a clearer and more comprehensive view of the actual conditions existing in the United States in railway taxation than to take up seriatim the laws in the states and make extended explanation of their various provisions.

As introductory to the tables mentioned, the following extract from page 92, Vol. 14, 1901, of the report of the Statistician of the Interstate Commerce Commission is given:

"On page 87 of this report it is shown that the aggregate amount of taxes paid by the railways reporting to this Commission, including $4,236,537 paid by operated or subsidiary lines, for the year covered by this report, was $50,944,372. This figure, which is subjected to an analysis, is that embraced in the consolidated condensed income account on page 69, which compiles the reports of both operating and subsidiary lines.

In the first of the summaries which follow, the aggregate of taxes is assigned to States and Territories; in the second summary, taxes are classified on the basis of payments according to the various laws under which railways are taxed. Neither of these summaries includes the taxes paid by the Canadian roads to the Canadian government, which in their reports to this commission are made a charge against earnings within the United States. This second summary includes only such taxes as are paid in accordance with the laws of the federal government and of the several states of the United States."

Summary Showing Taxes and Assessments of the Railways in the United States by States and Territories, for the year ending June 30, 1901.

The above summary includes several small amounts unclassified; ex

cludes $1,182,883 U. S. internal revenue taxes and $35,483 reported paid to the Dominion of Canada.

"Without undertaking any extended comment, attention is called to the fact that three states received from the railways in excess of four millions of dollars as taxes. In Illinois, railroad taxes amount to $4,655,749; in New York, to $4,493,509, and in Pennsylvania, to $4,026,221. Massachusetts received from this source, $2,856,683; Ohio, $2,828,710; Indiana, $2,538,272, and Kansas, $2,190,762.

"Of more significance are the sums paid in the several states per mile of line. These vary from $11.26 per mile of line in Indian Territory, to $1,366.32 in Massachusetts. Connecticut also shows taxes per mile in excess of $1,000. The roads of Pennsylvania, on the other hand, pay but $397.95; those of Iowa, but $164.14, and those of Michigan, but $167.60. These great differences are in part explained by the different laws of taxation in the various states, but to this result should doubtless be added the fact that such tax laws as exist are not administered with the same efficiency in all the states.

The task of classifying taxes according to the laws of the several states is a most difficult one. The result of this effort is presented in the next summary."