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i Los A ngeles, January 26, 1933 780 Mr* F. H* Knickerbocker* r rin g t o Mr* Bracken’ s l e t t e r o f January 25th, regarding LVL&W assessed v a lu a tion s at I t I s Improbable th at reduced ta r ra te s and assessed v a lu a tion s can both be secured, and in any event th e la r g e r b e n e fit t o the R ailroad Company and th e Water Company as w e ll, l i e s in seem in g low ered r a te s and ta x le v ie s * reduced sin ce such red u ction would r e s u lt in no advantage t o th e Company* By m aintaining th e p resen t v a lu a tion s over the e n tir e County and redu cin g th e r a te s , a very co n sid e ra b le re­d u ction would be had in our taxes* A red u ction o f on ly one m ill in the County tax le v y w il l reduce our ta xes by about $5,700, which amount cannot p o s s ib ly be saved by any red u ction in assessed v a lu a tion o f our p rop erty w ith in th e ju r is d ic t io n o f th e l o c a l a sse sso r. S tate 'Tax Commission, w h erefore, assuming we cou ld not secure any red u ction from the Tax Commission, any red u ction s in v a lu a tio n made by th e l o c a l a sse sso r on ly serv es to throw a la r g e r p a rt o f th e ta x burden on th e Company. r a te s can be secured and i t i s my thought our e f f o r t should be d ir e c te d t o th at end and not toward a low erin g o f v a lu a tio n s, which would on ly tend t o c o n fe s s th e is s u e and would n o t, even i f s u c c e s s fu l, accom plish any r e s u lts which would b e o f b e n e fit t o the Company* 1 would say th e Commission w i l l be very lo a th to make any re­d u ction in r a ilr o a d assessment u nless the pending ta x s u its a re d ecid ed a d v ersely to the S tate »? should the S ta te su ccess­f u l l y defend the s u it s , r a ilr o a d assessm ents w il l then be ra ise d and the r e s u lt would b e, assuming general pro twenty in the C ity o r County had not a ls o been r a is e d , th at we would b e ca rry in g a la r g e r share o f th e loa d than we now carry* This co n d itio n would b e aggravated by any general red u ction o f v a lu a tion s by th e l o c a l assessor* . I am not in fa v or o f having the v a lu a tion s g en era lly P r a c t ic a lly a l l o f our assessment i s fix e d by th e Regarding the S tate Tax Commission’ s assessm ents. cc-llr. W. R. Bracken y/ Charle