N.Y. Real Property Tax Law § 489-aa: Legislative declaration

§ 489-aa. Legislative declaration. It is hereby found and declared

that continued operation of the interstate railroads in the state and

improvement of their service and facilities are essential to the

commerce, defense, and general welfare of the people of the state; that

in the year nineteen hundred fifty-nine at a time when the financial

condition of railroads in the state had deteriorated to the extent that

the continuation of vital operations was threatened, a partial exemption

from taxation was granted railroad property in a manner which gave

increasingly greater exemptions as the rate of earnings of a railroad

system declined; that since that time major interstate railroads

operating in New York state have become bankrupt and the earnings of

non-bankrupt railroads have also declined substantially; that rail

services heretofore operated by the insolvent railroads will continue to

be operated by new rail systems of railroad companies created under or

in compliance with federal statutes; that federal law requires that the

property in the new systems be taxed in a non-discriminatory manner;

that in order for the new systems to be viable the railroad property

which will constitute such new systems should be eligible for a partial

exemption which reflects lack of earnings; that railroad ceilings cannot

be established for the new systems under existing formulas without the

expenditure of large sums of money to obtain cost data on system

railroad property located outside the state; that railroad ceilings

established on the basis of the ratio of the operating revenues and

expenses of a railroad system will accomplish the same policy; and,

therefore, that various provisions of the railroad partial tax exemption

law applicable to interstate railroads must be changed in order to

extend the partial exemption to the new rail systems.