Ohio & Mississippi Railroad v. Weber

Citations

• 96 Ill. 443
• 1880 Ill. LEXIS 57

Syllabus

<p>1. Taxation—of property in this State, of a railroad company, formed by consolidation, when one of the constituent companies was of this State, and others of other Stales. When a corporation is formed under our laws by the consolidation of other corporations, one of which was incorporated under the laws of this State, and the others in other States, the new, or consolidated company, is to be considered as “ incorporated under the laws of this State,” within the meaning of the last clause of the first section of the Revenue act of March 30, 1872, and the capital stock of such corporation in this State is subject to taxation here.</p> <p>2. Same—mode of finding value of capital stock and rolling stock of a railroad company, operating its road in this and other States. The State Board of Equalization found the value of the capital stock and rolling stock of a railroad corporation, operating its road and franchise in this and other States by a continuous line, by taking the value of the entire capital stock, and all the rolling stock of the corporation everywhere, and set apart so much of the entire value of each, for taxation in this State, as the proportion of the length of its main line, in this State, bore to the length of the entire line of the road owned and operated by it. It did not appear whether this was done from their own knowledge, or from information from other sources, and there was nothing to show fraud or illegality in their action: Held, in the absence of proof to the contrary, that the mode adopted by them, and the conclusion they reached, was fair and reasonable, and that this was not an assessment of any part of its property in the other States.</p> <p>3. Same—definition of classes of railroad property subject to taxation. Under the statute, the property of railroad companies is thus classified and defined for the purposes of taxation: the “capital stock” means all the property and rights of the corporation, of every kind and nature, wherever loc