Alaska Northern Ry. Co. v. Municipality of Seward

The question in this case is whether that portion of the property of the plaintiff in error railway company that is situated within the limits of the municipality of Seward, territory of Alaska, and which is used and necessary for the purposes of the railway, is by statute of the United States exempted from taxation by the defendant in error. That such exemptions are not favored, and will not be allowed unless it is made clearly to appear that such was the statutory intent, is well settled; every reasonable doubt being resolved in favor of the taxing power.

It must be admitted that the property upon which the taxes in question were levied was exempt from taxation while in the hands of the predecessor in interest of the *355 plaintiff in error, viz. the Alaska Central Railway Company, since the fifth section of the act of Congress éntitled “An act to extend the time for the completion of the Alaska Central Railway Company, and for other purposes” (Act June 30, 1906, c. 3921, 34 Stat. 798 ) expressly declares: “Said company shall be exempt from license tax and tax on its railway and railway property during the period of construction and for five years thereafter: Provided, that the…