Preliminary Report of the Commission on Revenue and Taxation of the State of California; August, 1906 (Paperback)

This historic book may have numerous typos and missing text. Purchasers can download a free scanned copy of the original book (without typos) from the publisher. Not indexed. Not illustrated. 1906 Excerpt: ...tax. But these have fallen into disuse. The Virginia railroads were formerly taxed on their net earnings, the tax being a part of the general income tax of that State. This has been abandoned recently in favor of the grass earnings tax. Delaware has a net earnings tax on the statute books, but does not appear to derive any revenues therefrom. To sum up: 4 States use the gross earnings tax as the chief tax on railroads. / 5 States use the gross earnings tax to supplement other taxes. 2 States have recently abandoned the gross earnings tax. 1 State has recently adopted the gross earnings tax. 1 State uses the gross earnings tax for one railroad. 13 States use or have used a gross earnings tax on railroads. The opinion is often expressed in tax commission reports and elsewhere that a tax on the gross earnings of railroads, in so far as those earnings are derived from interstate commerce, is of doubtful validity under provisions of the Federal Constitution. The constitutionality of a tax on the gross receipts of corporations engaged in interstate commerce. This Commission made a most exhaustive study of the question of the constitutionality of a gross earnings tax. The abstract of the decisions covers 14 closely-written pages of the final report. The final conclusion is: It appears, then, that a State tax on the property, or on the franchise, measured by the gross receipts is valid, and is not a "regulation of interstate commerce," in the sense in which the right to regulate commerce is prohibited to the States by the Constitution. The gross earnings tax as the principal tax. Maine. Maine has had a gross earnings tax since 1880. The tax is designated "an excise tax," and the gross receipts upon which it is levied are defined as the average r...