Wisconsin Statutes & Annotations
Chapter 76 - Taxation of public utilities and insurers.
76.025 - Miscellaneous provisions.

76.025 Miscellaneous provisions.
(1) The property taxable under s. 76.13 shall include all franchises, and all real and personal property of the company used or employed in the operation of its business, excluding property that is exempt from the property tax under s. 70.11 (39) and (39m), such motor vehicles as are exempt under s. 70.112 (5) and treatment plant and pollution abatement equipment exempt under s. 70.11 (21). The taxable property shall include all title and interest of the company referred to in such property as owner, lessee or otherwise, and in case any portion of the property is jointly used by 2 or more companies, the unit assessment shall include and cover a proportionate share of that portion of the property jointly used so that the assessments of the property of all companies having any rights, title or interest of any kind or nature whatsoever in any such property jointly used shall, in the aggregate, include only one total full value of such property.
(2) If the property of any company defined in s. 76.28 (1), except a qualified wholesale electric company as defined in s. 76.28 (1) (gm), is located entirely within a single town, village or city, it shall be subject to local assessment and taxation.
(3) Any air carrier company engaged solely in intrastate transportation and using the facilities of only one airport within this state is exempt from taxation under this subchapter and is subject to local assessment and taxation.
(4) Nothing in this subchapter shall be construed to result in the levy, assessment or collection of taxes on property of a municipal water utility created under s. 198.22.
History: 1997 a. 35 ss. 267 to 269, 271, 272; 1999 a. 9; 2001 a. 16; 2007 a. 19.
The exemption for water and air pollution equipment in sub. (1) is allowed to a public utility for equipment purchased or constructed before the effective date for sub. (1). Wisconsin Electric Power Co. v. DOR, 59 Wis. 2d 106, 207 N.W.2d 841 (1973).
The federal Railroad Revitalization and Regulatory Reform Act of 1976, 49 USC 11501 (b) (4), restricts the ability of state and local governments to levy discriminatory taxes on rail carriers. The Act might be violated if a railroad is singled out for unfavorable treatment in the form of inability to benefit from property tax exemptions given to other taxpayers. In Wisconsin, manufacturing and commercial taxpayers generally qualify for the intangible personal property exemption under s. 70.112 (1), but railroad and utilities companies under sub. (1) do not. Therefore, the intangible personal property tax singles out railroads as part of a targeted and isolated group in violation of the Act. Union Pacific Railroad Co. v. DOR, 940 F.3d 336 (2019).

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