upr000269 172

\2, %lter E. Brackent <00 » Mr, Omaha & June t>, If b . K* H u ls ir e r Frank Stron g) ? O f f » c 6 MSR' in0> JUN 8 u.P-R of B©fc R. CO-msfonSP'* ®’c«ut. Y ear l a t t e r May S la t is which yen e sk ^ i * * . * • > concerning Mr* Adame* l a t t e r oaf May XI th to fir* HuXsiser re sp e c t to e a t ie lp s ie d in crease in %MM$ So’ s taxes* X Mara review ed Mr* Adam#* l e t t e r w ith M r. H u ls lt o r y*yt w h ile we d e p lo re the s it u a t io n th at confront® ue# we a r e* n s e s rth e le a s , o f the view th e t no should W inform s^ t i e s M e l s the demadssXCR d e s ir e s , not bsp eeer to tw * ip®^p o f a gre e in g in the p r in c ip le s which the C o h e s i o n advocates s s a b a s is f o r ou r ttax assessm ents. fee thoughts occur tie. me which jfp here m m bearisg on the m etier **•>* F i r s t , the demmisslen seetas to take the p o s itio n th at t a le s payable on the p o rtio n o f the f e e iX lt i e s w o o d by the r a i lr o a d be not taken In to con sid ers tlo n in the determ ination o f the net re s a l t o f the Issnd is®*! Meter Company* fhe only theory, i t seejas to me, which weald Justify this position would be that the Cesjaiesilon would expect the railroad to pay the seas eaeuat o f taxes that it now fttfft even i f a ll of the water fa c ilitie s were owned by the b p d aoQ, Water Oosipany. In other words, the demmissieii seemingly would expect that i f the fa c ilitie s were owned by the £*HP both the Mater Company end the f ilm e d would be ? paying taxes on them* I doubt i f this is a sound basis upon which the Commission emild rely in forming its eonclieions. Second, the Commission seem® to think th at the d ep re c ia tio n r a t e on w ater p ip e lin e s should be reduced from i j t e f h i s e ig h t be i f i t were d e f in it e ly known th a t the la n d end M ater Company would con tin ue to,.use the f a e i l i t l e s p r o fit a b ly f o r f i f t y y e a rs , b a t there I s no assurance as to M s . On the o th e r hand, th ere hare been s e v e ra l p erio d s d urin g which th ere % * a g it a t io n f o r w ater system, end- In the fa c e o f such p o s s i b i l i t i e s which would fen d er i t s f a e i l i t l e s o b s o le te , the band end w ater Sospany i s f u l l y J u s t ifie d In s e ttin g up d e p re c iatio n a t a r a t e o f a t le a s t dp* O f course we a l l know th at the S tate mast o b tain revenue K ith which to op erate from sources which have i t , end i t i s sy p erso n a l slew as a fundamental p r in c ip le th at - 1 - W.H:J. JUN 8 1943