upr000348 157

t { He: Sale of Las Vegas water system to the Las Vegas the Las Vegas_w a|er sy ste m to th e D is t r ic t req u ire s ns to In stru c t the' escrow'''‘agent as to the amount ©F docu­mentary stamps required under Sectio n 3482 of the In te rn a l Revenue Code to he a ffix e d to the conveyance documents. Since we hope to clo se the escrow on Ju ly 1 s t, the in stru c tio n s should be given prom ptly. but not to tra n sfe rs of personal p ro p erty. Under State law , i t is f a ir ly w e ll se ttle d th at those p ip e lin e s and s im ila r f a c ilit ie s upon lands owned In fee by the owner of the f a c ilit ie s are re a l p ro p erty, but th ere is a d iffe re n ce of opinion w ith resp ect to p ip e lin e s in s tre e ts and upon other rig h ts of way which are not permanent in ch a ra cte r. 73 C .J .S . 161, Notes 76-78. The In te rn a l Revenue Department has departed from it s former p ra c tic e of follow ing S tate law in a ssessin g stamp ta x e s. See General C ou n sel's Memorandum 23295 in CCH Tax S erv ice 42680.173 where re a l property is defined as embracing those In te re sts which endure fo r a p erio d , the term ination of which is not fixed or ascertain ed by a s p e c ific number of y e a rs. In Rudolph v s . PQttomac E le c t r ic Power Company, 24 F e d .(2) 882, I t was held th at p o le s, w ires and conduits upon p u b lic property were not taxab le as re a l e sta te . Valley Water District Los Angeles - June 17, 1954 80-11 AIR MAIL Mr. W. R. Rouse: R E C E I V E D LAND & TAX DEPT. U .P .R R C O . LQS ANGELES CALIF. The Escrow Instructions for the transfer of The tax applies to transfers of real property I discussed the stamp tax question in th is tra n s­actio n w ith a lo c a l rep resen tative of the E x cise D iv isio n of the Bureau of In te rn a l Revenue, and although he could