CHAPTER 11
Assessment of the Legal Infrastructure
By 1866, the U.S. railroads had grown and extended their reach throughout the country as far as the Pacific. The large railroad businesses were the modern technology businesses of their time. In order to protect their railbeds, the railroads often lined their tracks with fences that spanned hundreds of miles. The state of California, looking for additional sources of revenue, began assessing taxes on property owned by the railroads including placing taxes on these fences that were assessed on a per mile basis. The taxes quickly became a tremendous burden on the railroads. It seems that placing large taxes on businesses is a well-established legacy in California!
These taxes were assessed on the ...
Get Operations Due Diligence: An M&A Guide for Investors and Business now with the O’Reilly learning platform.
O’Reilly members experience books, live events, courses curated by job role, and more from O’Reilly and nearly 200 top publishers.
