Louis Brandeis

“ A state may defray the cost of constructing a highway, in whole or in part, by means of a special assessment upon property specially benefited thereby. But it is not obliged to do so. Road building is a public purpose which may by effected by general taxation. The cost may be defrayed out of state funds, or a tax district may be created to meet the authorized outlay. The preliminary inquiry whether it is desirable to construct the road, is one in which all landowners within the district are interested. ”

“ The sole objection of the railroad was that the tax to defray the preliminary expense was distributed in proportion to the assessed value of the property, instead of in proportion to the amount of the benefit thereto which it was estimated would accrue if the improvement was made. It argued that the smaller sum would, under both the state and the federal Constitution, have been the limit of its assessment for the improvement if carried out; that it could not be taxed more for the preliminary expense of a projected improvement which had been abandoned ”

“ The Fourteenth Amendment does not require that taxes laid for this purpose shall be according to the benefits to be received by the person or thing taxed. Compare Kelly v. Pittsburg, 104 U.S. 78, 26 L. Ed. 658. The cost of making the investigation may be met by a fixed charge per acre, as in Houck v. ”