Springville Herald | 1948-03-04 | Page 4 | Geneva Steel must Pay Tax State Orders

GENEVA STEEL MUST PAY TAX STATE ORDERS The state tax commission Wednesday Wed-nesday ordered a "deficiency assessment" as-sessment" in excess of $400,000 against Geneva Steel Co. for use taxes allegedly due on purchase ot the $47,000,000 steel plant from the federal government in June, 1946. In issuing the assessment, Grant A. Brown, commission chairman, said he would "welcome" a court test of legality of the state's claim. The tax charge is an outgrowth of an opinion from Attorney General Gen-eral Grover A. Giles in which he advised the commission to levy a use tax against the sale. In the same opinion, he said the matter should be decided by the courts after the assessment was made. Although the exact amount of the assessment is "privileged" and cannot be made public by the commission, com-mission, commissioners said the deficiency charged was based upon findings contained in the attorney general's opinion. The steel company, which maintains main-tains the sale was exempted by its nature from Utah use tax statutes, has 10 days in which to protest the commission's action. Utah's sales and use tax laws levy a charge of 2 against all tangible personal property transferred trans-ferred in the state. Exempted from its provisions are transfers of real estate, "occasional and isolated iso-lated sales," and materials that become an integral part of a manufactured article. The attorney general held the transaction involved the sale not only of real estate but of tangible personal property. The portion of the $47,000,000 purchase price paid for the personal property is subject, sub-ject, he ruled, to Utah's 2 use tax.