nally upon public ways and places of such city or town and upon private land bears to the total length of tracks operated by it. The percentages shall be based upon the annual gross receipts for each mile of track as follows and computed upon the aggregate of said annual gross receipts: four thousand dollars or less, one per cent; more than four thousand dollars and less than seven thousand, two per cent; more than seven thousand dollars and less than fourteen thousand, two and one-quarter per cent; more than fourteen thousand dollars and less than twenty-one thousand, two and one-half per cent; more than twenty-one thousand dollars and less than twenty-eight thousand, two and three-quarters per cent; twenty-eight thousand dollars or more, three per cent. The excise tax provided by this section shall be in addition to the taxes otherwise provided by law. SECTION 24. The aldermen of a city, the selectmen of a town or an electric railroad company operating in such city or town may petition the board of railroad commissioners for a revision of the amount of the excise tax to be paid by a company under the provisions of the preceding section. Said board shall, upon such petition, after public notice and a hearing at which said aldermen or selectmen and said company may submit evidence, determine the average annual cost to said city or town of the work done by it during the preceding three years under the provisions of chapter of the acts of the year nineteen hundred and six, which a street railway company was not by law required to do prior to the first day of October in the year eighteen hundred and ninety-eight, and also the average annual payments made by said company to said city or town under and pursuant to the provisions of the preceding section during said three years; and having determined said average annual cost and average annual payments, said board shall fix and determine the proportion of a percentage of the gross receipts which shall be paid as an excise tax under the provisions of said section by the company to said city or town annually thereafter, said percentage to be fixed at such a rate as will be necessary to yield to said city or town annually thereafter an amount equal to the average annual cost to said city or town determined as aforesaid; and the percentage so fixed shall not be again changed for the period of three years and only in the manner herein provided. Said board may at any time upon petition therefor by a city or town entitled to a part of the excise tax paid by an electric railroad company, after such notice as the board may order to all other cities and towns entitled to share in the excise tax paid by said company, and after a hearing, determine as to the distribution thereof among the several cities and towns in which such company operated any part of its railroad, and fix the proportions thereof to which they shall respectively be entitled, which shall thereafter be the proportions of said excise tax to be assessed upon said company, instead of the proportion based upon length of tracks as herein before provided. SECTION 25. Prior to the fifteenth day of November in each year the assessors of every city and town shall notify the collector of taxes thereof of the amount of excise tax assessed therein under the provisions of section twentythree, and the collector shall forthwith notify the treasurer of every electric railroad company of the amount of excise tax so assessed upon it, which shall become due and payable within thirty days after the receipt of such notice. The provisions of chapter thirteen of the Revised Laws, so far as appropriate, shall apply to the collection of such excise tax. E. Application of Taxes. SECTION 26. All taxes which are collected from an electric railroad company and paid to cities and towns under the provisions of the preceding section and of section twenty-one shall be applied toward the construction, repair and maintenance of the public ways and places in which the tracks of such company are located, and removal of snow from such public ways and places within such cities and towns. OF INVESTMENTS BY RAILROAD CORPORA- SECTIONS 1-6.- [These sections should be drawn so as to be an amendment of the railroad corporation act, and should follow section sixty-two thereof.] stock of company. SECTION 1. A railroad corporation operating a railroad Purchase of in this commonwealth may purchase, acquire or hold stock street railway in a street railway company having a location in any city or town in this commonwealth in which such railroad corporation or any railroad corporation owned or leased by it has a location: provided, however, that the facilities for travel on the railroad of the railroad corporation and the railway of the street railway company shall not be thereby diminished or the fares, tolls or charges upon passengers and property transported thereon be thereby increased. Such purchase, acquisition or holding shall not be valid, unless the board of railroad commissioners, after a public hearing, notice of which shall be given by publication in a newspaper, if any, published in each of the cities and towns. in which the street railway company has a location at least once in each of three successive weeks, shall certify that, in its opinion, such purchase, acquisition or holding, and the price and other terms thereof, are consistent with the public interests. and bonds corporation. SECTION 2. A railroad corporation may meet the ex- Issue of stock penditures incurred or to be incurred on account of the by railroad purchase of stock in a street railway company by the issue from time to time of stock or bonds, subject to the provisions of sections thirty and thirty-one of chapter one hundred and nine of the Revised Laws, and of such other general laws as may be applicable thereto. Taxation. Lease of franchise and street railway company. SECTION 3. In determining the value of the corporate franchise and property of a railroad corporation for taxation, the tax commissioner may make an equitable allowance for the value of such of its shares of stock as have been lawfully issued under the provisions of the preceding section provided, however, that such allowance shall be made only while the shares of the street railway company remain in the treasury of the railroad corporation, and while a tax is assessed and actually paid upon the corporate franchise of such street railway company. SECTION 4. A railroad corporation operating a railroad property of a in this commonwealth may lease the franchise and property of a street railway company having a location in any city or town in this commonwealth in which such railroad corporation or any railroad corporation owned or leased by it has a location upon such terms as the directors agree to and as a majority in interest of the stockholders of both corporations at meetings called for the purpose approve: provided, however, that no such lease shall be valid or binding until the terms thereof shall, after a public hearing, notice of which shall be given by publication in a newspaper, if any, published in each of the cities and towns in which the street railway company has a location, at least once in each of three successive weeks, have been approved by the board of railroad commissioners, and a certificate signed by said board setting forth the vote of approval shall have been filed in the office of the secretary of the commonwealth. Associate in formation of company. SECTION 5. A railroad corporation operating a railroad street railway in this commonwealth may become an associate under the provisions of chapter of the acts of the year nineteen hundred and six in the formation of a company for the purpose of constructing, maintaining and operating a street railway having for one of its termini a city or town in which the railroad corporation or any railroad corporation owned or leased by it has a location. SECTION 6. This act shall take effect upon its passage. |