Jasper County Democrat, Volume 3, Number 45, Rensselaer, Jasper County, 16 February 1901 — FRANCHISE TAX HELD LEGAL. [ARTICLE]

FRANCHISE TAX HELD LEGAL.

Michigan Supreme Court Rnlea that Assessment la Valid. The franchises of corporations, where they are associated inseparably with tangible property, are taxable under the laws of Michigan. This is the decision of the Michigan Supreme Court, and it has created a sensation in the larger cities of the State, where the application of the principle laid down will make great changes in the assessment of street railway and similar corporate property. The court holds that franchises are property, hut that they must not Is- assessed specifically and independent of other property. The decision was rendered in the case of the Detroit Citizens' Street Railway Company, the property of which was assessed under the direction of the State tax commission so as to take into consideration the value of its franchises? The company claimed that after the board of assessors had determined the value of its tangible property it added thereto about S2,OOO,(MA> on aceonut of its franchises, aud the street railway company applied for a mandamus to comi>el the city of Detroit to strike this assessment from the rolls. The Circuit Court refused to grant the writ, and the Supreme Court affirms this decision in every detail. Tincase involves such extensive interests that the Federal Supreme Court will be called upon to pass upon the'findings.