| Show tax is refused refined by postoffice Post office fice ACTION ON MAIL 7 ON bavy ja M ra TO SALT LAKE CITY august 9 11 II B N crockett Croe kett seere secretary tary et 0 state through charles helmer chief deputy pawed passed the buck the sea 80 in 1 this case was harvey 11 II claw attorney general oc of utah the goat oc at masculine gender Is i ft a clala claim against tee the united state department for or 2 ceata cents a gallea gallon oa an gasoline used by uncle sam gain in 1 delivering small between price and ad points la in the basla basin mr clue claw some ago rendered rea dered an that the gasoline gas ollae aa aalee tax la in utah aa an adopted by the last legislature Is not a tax ea en the eoa aea aumer sumer but blat on art tee the producer or distributor tri butor hence he argued that uncle barn sam aa an a consumer coni umer at 0 gasoline caa ollae would bot not bo be taxed in 1 this he w raa apparently supported by some wahington attorneys attora eya la in the government service 1 by brea the air teall small service rlee after at arst attempting to persuade 11 its dealer to omit 2 ceata cents a gallon on gasoline charged to it decided that toa the distributor hould should pay it and withdrew objections however the star route mall mail service between price aad and basla points takes a different view witness the following letter from H R nichol acting fourth assistant ata taHt postmaster general to mr crockett Cree kett ot at recent date this office is la in receipt of a communication muni uni cation catlon dated july 13 addressed by you to the united states post office price utah stating that aa an excise tax Is to due duo the state of at utah of 2 cents per gallon for gasoline purchased during the months of march and may 1923 2923 aad and ateo also 91 1 license fee for each quarter in reply you are informed that th tho 0 gasoline referred to was purchased for use in conducting the gov operated star route service emanating from price utah which la Is performed with government owned equipment and postal employees employs based on numerous decisions la in cases eases of thia this character the pos toRice department la in not liable to the state of utah for the taxes referred to mr crockett and mr heiner OB on receipt of this letter were not asta lous ious to try to enter suit against the united states government they bad had recollections of something in tho the law or constitution which renders such an attempt f futile utile therefore they invited mr cluff to puzzle his bead head over the question in the following letter 1 I beg to refer you to our letter of ju july y 11 relative to interstate shipments of gasoline imported and sold without tax together with the attached correspondence also to your reply of july 12 in which you suggest that we present the postoffice poat post office of price the dennett bennett gas oil company the agricultural college and the denver rio grande western railroad company and salt lake city with a bill for the amount of gasoline they had purchased la in original packages for their own consumption 1 I am enclosing herewith a copy of at our letter of july 13 to the this post office at price which was referred to the poat office department at washington D C together with their reply of july 26 in accordance with section 8 3 ot at the gasoline ga solino tax law of at the state ot of utah this mater is hereby referred to you for collection or such other action as you see fit |
