§ 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.