The Waterbury Democrat., 1946-01-24
By Drsw PsatsOA

assp.ns Of osrmsn ,roops M usE original sssl.
 a Ssss rom colonial troops nrllan aivays has kanb ono of lha smallest armies in hn world 6o oeFman roons ara now serving as q virtual nacsAlop m sne balanee-oi-pQFes game asaina' haas'A
 M ven want ae sec why lha steel companies essn9 loo worried about lne stliRe. lsko look as lhh lhx law conKreW 60 generously gave them. Ihonah lts hard Co understand an tho taxation iiu iltsu n win give you revealing picture aeke TOT
 Actually. nelhehonaA books ahow that it went Into the red ns soon as the war ended But tho real fact h that ieaA despite the tax legerdemaan. WIS the most prosperous year Bethlehem hos seen n
 Here ls what happened: During the third quarter of 1DlB Bethlehem earned a profit before taxes ol saas9sOoO, However, Bethlehem VIII pey 70 @xeS @ cn this sum because it will show paper loss Tor tne period which k legal and win build the three months actual profits to . cool tax-free S5g65eOoo.
 Ordinarily business Is permitted to depreointe property over the life of the property But back In iel0 when some businessmen were sAlng on starting war production Congress handed business lush inc cenlive which permitted t to amortze ats detenses plants over Swear period or less if the war ended sooner.
 However lush as 1t was. this wasn't juicy enough SO hR business tax lobbyists managed to wangle even more generous treatment in the Tax Adjustment Act of iess This law, passed last July, made it possible for businesses to be paid tentative refunds arising fnom recomputation of amortization of national de- fense facilities within % days
 Then on sept. ~, A0so, kLe2tuepb AnouSo an order ending the war emergency period TOT amortization Of defense facilities without proclaim ing the emergency over for other things. He did no terminate the war for the oIs serving under th draft or for businessmen working under governmen restrictions. He terminated the war only for tn purpose of recomputng the amortization period which, of course, was big tax help to war con tractors.
 Thus Bethlehem steel was able to charge the halance of its unamortzed holdings totalling ea4- 100000 as an expense during the third period oi ieaS. This meant payer loss of s212lSOo0 and brought Bethlehem into the theoretical red There fore it has to pay no taxes for 1895, even TOT the ueriod in which 1t earned S22076OOO.
 However this isn't all Good corporation lawyers make every penny they cen for their clients. betn- lehem lawyers figured out that their client had oper- ated during the third period of 04S at paper loss
 Thls set the stage for another lush nick at Uncle sams bankroll Bethlehem's lawyers and tax experts informed the Treasury that, since the corporation had lost money during iel5. it was entitled to re- bate on previously paid taxes under the caHTy-oaek
 So the Treasury actually is kicking back sS4.- sOOOO0 rebate to the corporation. This amount also is tax-free. ... .,. ,o
 Added to the previously mentioned sa2, ,67e.OOo profit for the third quarter, Bethlehem actually came out S57656OOO ahead for the third quarter oi las year. without any obligation to pay dime ot taxes while still showing a paper loss on operations
 1t sounds complicated, but it's very simple II you have A tax lawyer piece of paper and pencil And thanks to Chairman George of Georgia ana ms colleagues on the Senate Finance Committee It save your corporation a whale of lot of dough.