(f) Every railroad company using or leasing the cars of any freight line company shall, upon making payment to such freight line company for the use or lease, after June 30, 1943, of such cars withhold so much thereof as is designated in this section. On or before March first of each year such railroad company shall make and file with the Secretary of Revenue a statement showing the amount of such payment for the next preceding 12-month period ending December 31, and of the amounts so withheld by it, and shall remit to the Secretary of Revenue the amounts so withheld. If any railroad company shall fail to make such report or fail to remit the amount of tax herein levied, or shall fail to withhold the part of such payment hereby required to be withheld, such railroad company shall become liable for the amount of the tax herein levied and shall not be entitled to deduct from its gross earnings for purposes of taxation the amounts so paid by it to freight line companies. It is not the purpose of this subsection to impose an unreasonable burden of accounting on railroad companies operating in this State, and the Secretary of Revenue is hereby authorized, upon the application of any railroad company, to approve any method of accounting which he finds to be reasonably adequate for determining the amount of mileage earnings by any car line company whose equipment is operated within the State by or on the lines of such railroad company. Further, if in the opinion of the Secretary of Revenue the tax imposed by this section can be satisfactorily collected direct from the freight line companies, he is hereby authorized to fix rules and regulations for such direct collection, with the authority to return at any time to the method of collection at source above provided in this subsection.