(The Associated Press issued the following on December 4.)
WASHINGTON, D.C. — The Supreme Court ruled unanimously Tuesday that railroads may challenge state methods for determining the value of their property, a decision that could lower some railroad tax bills.
The court sided with CSX Transportation Inc. in a case from Georgia in which the railroad argued that the state improperly instituted a new way of calculating its property tax that resulted in a nearly 50 percent increase in its tax bill from one year to the next.
The court reversed a ruling from the 11th U.S. Circuit Court of Appeals that prohibited the railroad, a subsidiary of CSX Corp., from challenging the method the state used to determine the value of the railroad’s property.
A federal law bars states from discriminating against railroads by taxing their property more heavily than other commercial property. Chief Justice John Roberts said the law allows a railroad to go to court to try to show that the state’s way of calculating market value is unfair.
The case is CSX Transportation Inc. v. Georgia State Board of Equalization, 06-1287.