The Great Land Grant Tax Dodging Scheme
Railroad companies are holding onto millions of acres of public land without filing for patents to avoid taxes, placing the burden of government costs on local settlers.
The story, cleaned up
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Public attention was recently redirected to the method by which the great land grant railroads have been defrauding the States and Territories in which their grants are situate out of taxes justly due thereon. Companies to whom land grants have been made are avoiding patent applications for surveyed public lands to escape taxation, as government lands are not taxable by State or Territorial authority until the title passes. The Northern Pacific Railroad Company is pursuing this policy in Washington Territory, holding land by assumed legislative title without recording patents. While constantly bargaining away this land to incoming settlers, the company escapes all legal liability for taxes.
“This is only one of the many practices on the part of these corporate beneficiaries, for which an indignant people will eventually hold them to a strict accounting.”
This reflects the long-standing tension between corporate land ownership and the public tax base in Washington. Just as the Northern Pacific avoided taxes on millions of acres, modern debates continue regarding how large corporate landowners or real estate developers minimize civic contributions while benefiting from municipal infrastructure.
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