SEC. 51. State aid to individuals and corporations forbidden. ART. X.-Railroads. SECS. 1, 2. Same as section 21, Article XIV, Alabama, except applying to railroads only, and also giving legislative power to correct abuses, prevent discriminations, and fix penalties. SEC. 4. Rolling stock and other movable property subject to execution and sale. SEC. 5. Consolidation with or office holding in competing or parallel lines forbidden. SEC. 8. Benefit of future legislation withheld until constitution subscribed to. SEC. 9. No railroads hereafter constructed to pass within 3 miles of a county seat without passing through same, and establish a depot, "unless prevented by natural obstacles, such as streams, hills, or mountains;" provided city (or town) grants right of way and land enough for depot purposes. ART. XIV.—Public lands and land office. SEC. 3. No public lands to be granted to railroads, and never more than 16 sections per mile. And no land granted until 10 miles of road in operation. UTAH. ART. VI.-Legislative department. SEC. 26. Special legislation forbidden. SEC. 31. Lending of State credit or that of counties and municipalities forbidden. ART. XII.—Corporations. SEC. 1. Corporations to be formed under general laws, and all such laws may be changed or repealed. SEC. 2. Existing corporations to accept constitution. SEC. 3. Legislature shall not extend or validate any franchise. SEC. 10. Corporations limited to authorized objects. SEC. 12. All railroads common carriers, and to carry freight and passengers without discrimination. SEC. 13. Competing roads not to be consolidated. SEC. 14. Rolling stock, etc., considered personal property. SEC. 15. Legislature to prescribe maximum rates. SEC. 17. Employee of a corporation can not hold municipal office in the municipality which granted the franchise. SEC. 20. Trusts and combinations forbidden. VIRGINIA. ART. X.-Taxation and finance. SEC. 12. State credit can not be granted. SEC. 14. State can not become a stockholder. SEC. 15. State can not become a party to internal improvements. WASHINGTON. ART. I. SEC. 8. No law granting irrevocably any privilege, franchise, or immunity shall be passed by the legislature. SEC. 28. Special legislation forbidden. Public officers" forbidden to use passes, etc. ART. VII. SEC. 5. State credit not to be loaned. ART. XII. SEC. 1. Creation of corporations by special laws forbidden and all such laws may be altered or repealed. SEC. 2. Charters or franchises not to be extended or forfeiture remitted. SEC. 9. State can not be a stockholder. SEC. 10. Right of eminent domain to apply. SEC. 13. Almost identical with section 21, Article XIV, Alabama. SEC. 14. Pooling of earnings forbidden with any common carrier. SEC. 15. Discrimination in rates forbidden. SEC. 16. Consolidation of competing lines forbidden. SEC. 17. Rolling stock, etc., personal property. SEC. 18. Legislature to pass laws for regulation of fares and freights. SEC. 20. Free passes to members of legislature and public officers forbidden. SEC. 21. No discrimination against express companies. SEC. 22. Trusts and monopolies forbidden. WEST VIRGINIA. ART. XI.—Corporations. SEC. 1. Corporations to be organized under general laws. SEC. 8. Rolling stock, etc., considered personal property. SEC. 9. Railroads declared public highways. Legislature to make laws establishing reasonable maximum rates and the preventing of abuses and discriminations. SEC. 10. Legislature to require railroads running within one-half mile of a town or village to establish a depot. SEC. 11. Consolidation with parallel or competing lines forbidden. SEC. 12. Right of eminent domain to apply to property and franchises of railroads. NOTE.-About half a dozen other constitutions contain provisions of a similar nature. Usually 3 miles is the distance taken, and the county seat the point concerned. They are to pass through latter in one instance "if no natural obstacle intervenes. (See sec. 9, Art. X, Texas.) OKLAHOMA. Organic act, section 6. * * * "This further provided that the legislature shall not authorize the issuing of any bond, scrip, or evidence of debt by the Territory, or any town, city, or county therein, for the construction of any raiiroad." NOTE.-The organic codes of New Mexico and Arizona contain no mention of railroads. WISCONSIN. ART. XI.-Corporations. SEC. 1. Corporate powers not to be granted by special act, and all general laws changed or repealed at will of legislature. ART. IV. SEC. 31. Special legislation forbidden for granting corporate powers, except to cities. ART. VIII. SEC. 3. State credit withheld. WYOMING. ART. I. Declaration of rights. SEC. 30. Monopolies and perpetuities.-Perpetuities and monoplies are contrary to the genius of a free state, and shall not be allowed. Corporations being creatures of the State, endowed for the public good with a portion of its sovereign powers, must be subject to its control. ART. III.—Legislative department. SEC. 27. Special and local laws prohibited. The legislature shall not pass local or special laws in any of the following enumerated cases: A long list of subjects is here enumerated, including "the right to lay down railroad tracks, or any special privilege, immunity, or franchise whatever, or amending existing charter for such purpose.' In all other cases where a general law can be made applicable no special law shall be enacted. SEC. 39. Political units prohibited from aiding railway construction, or loaning credit or otherwise contracting an indebtedness. ART. X.-Corporations. SEC. 1. Corporations organized under general law. SEC. 2. All franchises subject to control of legislature. SEC. 3. All previously granted special charters, not yet in actual operation, declared void. SEC. 4. Laws, contracts, and agreements limiting liability, illegal. SEC. 5. Full acceptance of constitution before business can be transacted. SEC. 6. Corporations engage in only one line of business specified in charter. SEC. 7. Agencies of transportation and communication declared to be common carriers. SEC. 8. Combinations to prevent competition or influence prices prohibited. SEC. 9. Right of eminent domain and public use to apply to corporate property. In addition the constitution of Wyoming contains nine sections specially devoted to railways, as follows: SEC. 1. Grants power to construct, operate, intersect, connect, etc., without discrimination. SEC. 2. Railways and telegraphs declared common carriers, "and as such must be made by law to extend the same equality and impartiality to all who use them, excepting employees and their families and ministers of the Gospel, whether individuals or corporations." SEC. 3. Shall make annual report to auditor of the State. SEC. 4. May exercise right of eminent domain, but legislature reserves power to subject franchise and property to public use. SEC. 5. All political units enjoined from aiding by donations, loans, credit, etc. SEC. 9. Depots to be established when railways run within four miles of a town. "No railroad company shall deviate from the most direct practicable line in constructing a railroad for the purpose of avoiding the provisions of this section." I.-Development of the taxation of transportation companies. A. First period-Public aid and tax exemption B. Second period-Increasing and more uniform taxation. A. Double taxation by the same jurisdiction. B. Double taxation by competing jurisdictions C. Double taxation of corporation and security holder. CHAP. IV.-Summary of existing legislation. E. Sleeping, parlor, and dining car companies CHAP. V.-Constitutional and statute provisions, by States-Continued. Page. 1060 1060 1061 1062 1063 1064 1064 1065 1066 1066 1067 1067 1068 1068 1069 1070 1070 1071 1071 1072 1072 Tables showing methods of taxing transportation companies in each State. 1084 CHAPTER I. DEVELOPMENT OF THE TAXATION OF TRANSPORTATION COM PANIES. In its report, issued in 1880, the railway tax committee1 asserted that "there is no method of taxation possible to be devised which is not at this time applied to railroad property in some part of this country." When this statement was made the States were passing through a middle experimental stage in their taxation of transportation companies; and though twenty years have since elapsed, another period of more definite experiment has only just begun. A chaos of tax systems almost, if not quite, equal to that which confronted the committee still prevails. But confused and confusing as railway tax laws have been and still are, both legislation and judicial decision give evidence of progress toward a better state of things. Even prior to 1879, the year of the activity of the committee, clearer comprehension of tax problems to be solved had already set on foot a movement for reform; and the past two decades have witnessed changes still more notably in the same direction. It is the general trend of these changes which this chapter attempts to describe. In the developing of its transportation facilities the United States has acted as a group of communities at widely different stages of industrial development. After the East had in a measure settled the question of an adequate transporta 1 The report of this committee was entitled Taxation of Railroads and Railroad Securities. The committee, the members of which were C. F. Adams, jr., W. B. Williams, and J. H. Oberly, was appointed at a convention of State railroad commissioners to report methods of taxation respecting railroads and railroad securities. |