They can’t wait for that state distribution check to show up…then they complain that the railroads don’t pay taxes, not knowing where the check came from because they don’t tax the railroad directly.
The railroad tax rate is set by mile(s) of main track, miles of side tracks, property outside the normal R/W, physical improvement (building sq ft) and certain other chattel. The states (with federal oversight) set the rate, not the counties. Railroad data is reported to the feds, not the states. States get data from the feds. New York is the highest in the tax rate dept, almost double some midwestern states.
It’s all about track mileage, not number of switches. A switch is divided into two tracks by footage. Current system has been in place since 1914.(See ICC Act of 1913)
Actually there can be a few relatively minor costs involved. Sparks from locomotive exhausts, brake shoes, or maintenance activities have been known to cause fires beside the tracks, so the local volunteer fire department will get called out to help. And presumably some of the tax money gets used for the county’s share of grade crossing warning system maintenance. But yes, in general the railroad in general is often the most significant taxpayer, and the cheapest to service.
If switches cause an increase in property taxes then there should be no taxes for all switches that are added on the freight RRs for commuter & AMTRAK fluidity. The RRs could then add at their own expenses extra cross overs that they could easily justify to the property tax people ?
Or maybe AMTRAK could technically own the switches but " contract " with RRs to maintain them ?
Where Amtrak runs trains perhaps we could explore the idea of transferring ownership of all tracks to Amtrak with the provision that there is no change in the obligation of freight railroads to maintain the tracks and no change in the right of freight railroads to used those tracks. Since no state or local entity can levy a tax on the Federal Government there would be no more property taxes on any part of the tracks. Since the freight railroad is maintaining the tracks Amtrak would continue the same payments to them it now makes.
Depending on the circumstances, the Federal government will make payments in lieu of taxes. As an example, payments are made to the North Chicago school districts by the United States Navy to cover the costs of educating dependent children of sailors based at Great Lakes NTC.
We are talking about property owned by private railroad companies. Would the Federal government make any kind of payment to satisfy property taxes in that kind of case?
USDA-Forest Service also pays part of the proceeds from timber sales on National Forests to the county in which the timber is located, because that land is not on the local tax digest (at least, they did years ago). DoD may or may not do the same thing with part of the timber sales on military reservations, I don’t have any idea.