Northern Central Railway Co. v. Mayor of Baltimore

Pattison, J., delivered the opinion of the Court. The Northern Central Railway Company, of which the Pennsylvania Railroad Company is lessee, is the owner of a number of lotsi or parcels of land in the City of Baltimore, lying and being in Jones Falls valley. In the year 1916 these parcels of land were assessed by the Appeal Tax Court of Baltimore City, for municipal taxation, at amounts largely in excess of the assessment upon which the taxes had been previously paid. The Northern Central Railway Company and its lessee, being dissatisfied with the assessment, appealed to' the State Tax Commission.

The Tax Commission heard testimony, offered by each of the parties to the proceedings, as to the value of the real estate mentioned, and the City, as well as the railroad company, submitted to the Commission propositions of law by which they respectively contended the taxing authorities should be governed in their valuation and assessment of the properties for the purpose of taxation. The only proposition submitted by the railroad company was that “the tax authorities of the City of Baltimore were and are required to assess the real property of the appellant railroad company in the same manner as of like property of individuals.” This submission, being in the form of a prayer, was granted by the Commission. Several propositions of law were submitted by the City, but the only one we think necessary to discuss, in view of the real contention of the parties, is the instruction asked for and granted by the Commission “that the utility of the property in this appeal for railroad purposes is a proper element of value to be considered in arriving at the value of said property for the purpose of taxation for the year 1917. ⁴⁹⁹ The Tax Oommission affirmed the action of the Appeal Tax Court in the assessment made by it, and the railroad company appealed therefrom to the Baltimore City Court. That Court, to which the case was submitted for trial, without the intervention of a jury, upon the evidence produced before the Tax Oommission, affirmed the assessment, and this appeal is from the action of the Court in affirming the rulings of the Oommission upon the propositions of law submitted to it.

The sole question before us upon this appeal is whether the taxing authorities-, in making the assessment complained of, followed the provisions of the statute, Section 193 of Article 81, and Section 313 of Article 23 of the Code of Public General Laws of 1912. The language of these sections, having relation to the questions before us-, is the same, and is as follows: “The property, real and personal, of each and every railroad company in this State, working their roads by steam, shall be assessed and taxed for county and municipal purposes in the same manner as the property of individuals is now assessed and taxed; and the authorities of the several counties and the City of Baltimore áre hereby authorized and directed to proceed to assess and collect taxes on said property in the same manner as upon like property of individuals now assessed and taxed or liable to assessment and taxation by the laws of this State.” The requirement of the statute is, that the aforesaid property of the appellant shall be assessed and taxed for municipal purposes in the same manner as the property of individuals is now assessed and taxed, and that the city is authorized and directed to proceed to assess and coiled