624 



NEW JEESEY. 



" The revenue of the State, from railroad and 

 canal taxes, under the legislation prior to the 

 act of April 10, 1884, amounted in 1884 to 

 $717,562.30. Under the last-named act the 

 revenue from these sources, 'assessed in the 

 year 1886, according to the return of the State 

 Board of Assessors, amounts to $964,901.75. 

 Under the act of April 18, 1884, taxing certain 

 miscellaneous corporations, the State Board as- 

 sessed the sum of $244,035.31. Of this amount 

 it will not be possible, however, to collect as 

 large a sum as the previous year, when the State 

 received $158,276.22. It is safe to assume that 

 the State will collect, of the taxes assessed 

 under both these acts in 1886, over $1,075,000 ; 

 an increase of State revenue from corporations 

 in 1886 over 1884 of more than $357,000. Not 

 only has the State received this direct benefit, 

 but taxes have been levied upon certain real 

 estate of railroad and canal companies, under 

 the act of April 10, 1884, for local purposes, 

 for the years 1884, 1885, and 1886, amounting 

 to $1,061,627.86. The entire local tax for 

 1886, and the uncollected taxes for local pur- 

 poses for 1884 and 1885, will, under recent 

 decisions, be speedily collected and paid to the 

 localities, subject only to the modifications re- 

 quired to conform the action of the State Board 

 to the ruling of the Supreme Court, or to such 

 further modifications as may be required after 

 an appeal to the Court of Errors and Appeals. 

 .The State has secured, during the past few 

 years, results that are of great advantage to 

 the people, but it has not yet obtained the full 

 measure of equal taxation. The act of April 

 10, 1884, contains a limitation upon the taxa- 

 tion of railroad and canal property for local 

 purposes, which excludes the ' main stem ' of 

 railroads, the ' water-way ' of canals, and the 

 tangible personal property and franchises of 

 these corporations, from any tax for local pur- 

 poses, and also limits the rate, on the property 

 remaining subject to local taxation, to one per 

 cent. If these exemptions and the limitation 

 as to the rate of taxation for local purposes 

 were stricken from the act, these companies 

 would substantially pay the same tax as indi- 

 viduals." 



Under the act of April 10, 1884, the State 

 Board of Assessors taxed 97 railroad and canal 

 companies for the year 1886 for State pur- 

 poses, the sum of $964,901.75, and for local pur- 

 poses, $372,364.18, making a total of $1,337,- 

 265.93, dividing it as follows : 



The total valuation of the property upon 

 which this tax was assessed is $192,980,343.28, 

 being an increase over the valuation of 1885 

 of $3,283,691.33. The total increase of tax for 

 the year 1886 over 1885 is $21,001.29, of which 

 $16,418.80 is assessed for State purposes and 

 $4,582.49 for local purposes. 



The mileage of the railroads in the State is 

 reported as follows: Length of line, 1,932 miles; 

 of this amount 517 is double track and 127 is 

 siding, making a total mileage of 3,478. The 

 total length of the canals and feeders is report- 

 ed to be 176 miles. 



A most important question, outside of the 

 general railroad-tax act of 1884, and one now 

 under investigation, is the claim of the State 

 for taxes against the Morris and Essex Railroad 

 Company, or its lessee the Delaware, Lackaw an- 

 na and Western Railroad Company. The State, 

 among other claims, contends that the returns 

 made annually since the lease of the Morris 

 and Essex Railroad Company to the Delaware, 

 Lackawanna, and Western Railroad Company, 

 are incorrect, and do not truly state the amount 

 of property of the Morris and Essex Railroad 

 Company liable to taxation. The State claims 

 that these companies are indebted to it in a 

 large sum, the amount of which will depend 

 upon the decision of the courts, when the ex- 

 act facts are ascertained in the pending inves- 

 tigation, or in the suit hereafter to be brought 

 under the act of June 10, 1886. 



The original act of incorporation of the Mor- 

 ris and Essex Railroad Company of Jan. 29, 

 1835, provided that as soon as the net proceeds 

 of said railroad amounted to 7 per cent: on its 

 costs, the corporation should pay to the Treas- 

 urer of the State a tax of one half of 1 per 

 cent, on the cost of said road, to be paid annu- 

 ally thereafter on the first Monday of January 

 of each year; provided, that no other tax or 

 impost should be levied or assessed upon the 

 corporation. Under the act of 1835, the road 

 never paid any tax until after the passage of 

 the supplement to its charter, approved March 

 23, 1865, authorizing the building of certain 

 branch roads therein described, and providing 

 that the tax of one half of 1 per cent., provided 

 for by the charter of 1835, should be paid by 

 the company to the State "at the expiration 

 of one year from the time when the road of 

 the said company shall be opened and in use to 

 Phillipsburg, and annually thereafter; which 

 tax shall be in lieu and satisfaction of all other 

 taxation or imposition whatsoever by or under 

 the authority of this State or any law thereof." 



The company's annual statement to the Leg- 

 islature was prepared under its own construc- 

 tion of the terms of its alleged contract as to 

 taxation. These returns have never been in- 

 vestigated by the State ; nor has the compa- 

 ny's contention as to the scope of its alleged 

 contract been passed upon by the courts. Un- 

 der its construction of the alleged contract, the 

 company claims immunity from taxation upon 

 its equipment, asserting that such investment 



