ILLINOIS. 



realty, contain tho four years' taxes based 

 thereon, and bo the record of payments, judg- 

 ments, sales, forfeitures, and redemptions for 

 cucli of said years. 



In making assessments of personal property, 

 the act requires the "numbers, amounts, quan- 

 tity, and quality to be scheduled by tho tax- 

 payer under oath.'' The statute does not re- 

 quire the valuation of the property to bo 

 stated in tho schedule. This is left entirely to 

 the assessor, as in the old law. The same act 

 increases tho penalty for allowing forfeiture of 

 property for taxes to 25 per cent., and makes 

 all delinquent taxes bear interest at tho rate of 

 one per cent, per month after the first day of 

 May until paid or forfeited. 



The third change under this law consists in 

 making a judgment for tho sale of real estate 

 for delinquent taxes conclusive as to all objec- 

 tions which existed at or before the rendition 

 thereof, and which might have been presented 

 as a defense to the application for such judg- 

 ment. 



In amending one of the sections to conform 

 to the provision for increased penalties on for- 

 feitures, a clause of the old law is redacted 

 which has been passed upon adversely by the 

 courts repeatedly. The county clerk is au- 

 thorized to sell property after forfeiture to 

 any applicant who may offer to pay the tax, 

 penalty, and costs due thereon. Thus the sale 

 may be made without notice to the owner and 

 without public competition. 



The matter of the taxation of railroads was 

 one of the most important subjects of the ses- 

 sion. The present methods of assessment and 

 valuation show the following results : The net 

 earnings of all the roads in the State, as officially 

 reported to the Board of Warehouse Commis- 

 sioners for the year ending June 80, 1878, were 

 $ 17,368,502. If it be supposed that the net earn- 

 ings are 10 per cent, of the value of the roads, 

 then these earnings indicate a value of $173,- 

 685,020. Fifty per cent, on one half of this in- 

 dicated or cash value is $86,842,510. Now the 

 equalized valuation made by the State Board 

 of Equalization was $40,461,865. Thus it ap- 

 pears that, while one half of the indicated or 

 cash value, which is generally considered a fair 

 basis of taxation, was $86,842,510, the sum 

 of $40,461,865 was the valuation on which the 

 taxes were laid. Many of the shorter roads 

 were assessed within a small margin of their 

 net earnings, and the stronger roads paid pro- 

 portionally a much less tax. A call upon the 

 Auditor by the Legislature for the amount of 

 railroad taxes charged on his books of 1878 

 brought out the following : tax of 1878, $987,- 

 704; back tax, $1,112,276; total, $2,099,980. 



The State Constitution provides that "every 

 person and corporation shall pay a tax in pro- 

 portion to the value of his, her, or its prop- 

 erty." The revenue law also declares that the 

 State Board of Equalization, in assessing tho 

 capital stock of railroads, "shall adopt such 

 rules and principles for ascertaining the fair 

 VOL. xix, 31 A 



<-.v-!i value of such capital stock as to it may 

 Boom to bo equitable und just." Under these 

 provisions tho State Board of Equalization in 

 1873 proceeded to assess the capital stock of the 

 railroad*. Their total assessment of all the rail- 

 road property, including capital stock, amount- 

 ed to $183,520,633, of which tho capital stock 

 amounted to $64,611,071. In 1874 another 

 assessment was made, amounting in all to $81,- 

 707,594, of which $31,314,175 was capital 

 stock. In 1875 the total assessment of rail- 

 road property in the State was $60,480,843, of 

 which $22,649,222 was capital stock. In 1876 

 tho total valuation of railroad property for 

 taxation was $44,329,489, of which $10,106,- 

 258 was capital stock. In 1877 the total was 

 $41,637,243, and, on oath, the Board said the 

 whole capital stocks of the railroads of the 

 State were not worth one cent, and so repudi- 

 ated them and tho law altogether. In 1878 

 the Equalizing Board assessed for taxes the 

 whole railroad property of tho State at the 

 sum of $40,461,865, and again tho capital 

 stocks were without value, notwithstanding 

 more than $50,000,000 of stocks of the Illinois 

 railroad companies were selling every day 

 for more than par. For the last three years 

 the average net income of all the roads in the 

 State (excluding the Illinois Central, which 

 pays a constitutional tax of seven per cent, on 

 its gross earnings) has averaged about the sum 

 of $16,000,000 each year; which sum has 

 been paid out to bond- and shareholders or 

 invested in new forms connected with the va- 

 rious roads. In other words, the roads of tho 

 State have earned between 35 and 40 per c,ent 

 net on their taxed values. 



These facts excited the attention of the Le- 

 gislature, and an effort was made to correct 

 them, which, although not quite successful, 

 was too important to pass unnoticed. Its ob- 

 ject was to furnish the State Board with a rule 

 by which they should be compelled to honestly 

 value, for taxation, the capital stocks and fran- 

 chises of the railroads. A bill was introduced 

 into the Lower House proposing certain amend- 

 ments to the existing revenue law, as follows : 

 The substitution of the Governor, Secretary 

 of State, Auditor, and Attorney-General for 

 tho present State Board of Equalization. In 

 addition to the existing schedules of returns to 

 be made to the Auditor, sworn statements are 

 required, showing 



1. The total crrosa earnings or income of tho road 

 within tho Stuto of Illinois for the year ending on tho 

 81st day of December then next preceding ; 2. All tho 

 expenses incurred in operating and maintaininir the 

 road and the equipment thereof in the State of Illinois 

 durinir tho same tune, including amounts paid for sal- 

 aries of officers and agents, and wages or employees, 

 amounts paid for repairs and renewal of track, fences, 

 bri.L'cs and buildings, locomotives and cars, shop ma- 

 chinery and tools, office, shop, and train supplies, at- 

 torneys' fees, costs of suits, taxes, injuries to passen- 

 gers and oilier persons, damages to and losses of freight 

 and baggage, injuries to cattle and stock, injuries to 

 property by fire, and all other onoratiu,' oqn-nsos ne- 

 cessary to bo shown in order to determine the net 



