P.R. Laws tit. 22, § 270a
Notwithstanding the provisions of § 269 of this title, on and after July 1, 1967 and for the fiscal year 1967-68 and subsequent fiscal years, the Secretary of the Treasury, after computing the assessment as stated in the said § 269, shall apply to the amount of the irrigation tax to be paid, deducting therefrom as a subsidy, the amount of money that may be necessary to exempt the lands included in the Additional Irrigation District from the payment of the tax levied to defray the annual cost of the electricity and fuel which may be consumed in the operation of the pumps which may be installed for lifting the waters to the lands of the said additional district, including in said exemption the payment of the additional amount of five (5) cents for each acre of land and for each foot of elevation that the waters shall have to be pumped above the limit of one hundred (100) feet of lift, as provided by § 269 of this title.
The tax receipts issued by the Secretary of the Treasury for all and each one of the tracts included in the additional district shall state the tax reduction that as a subsidy, the Commonwealth Government hereby grants; Provided, That commencing with fiscal year 1967 the Electric Power Authority is hereby empowered to withhold from the five percent (5%) of its gross receipts that the Electric Power Authority annually sets aside according to § 212(b)(1) of this title, such amounts as may be necessary to refund to and cover into the South Coast Irrigation Fund any decrease in the receipts of the Irrigation Service that may result by reason of the reduction of the tax of the additional irrigation district herein granted.
The withholdings herein authorized shall be in addition to, and shall enjoy the same priority as the withholdings of funds authorized by this § 1 of Act No. 46 of June 4, 1960, with regards to the rural electrification projects and for those purposes previously provided through laws of the Legislative Assembly.
If the amount which is annually set aside by the Electric Power Authority by virtue of the provisions of § 212(b)(1) of this title, is not sufficient in any fiscal year to permit that the amounts to which this section refers be withheld, the Secretary of the Treasury shall settle the difference with any funds available in the Treasury for which purposes the said funds are hereby appropriated.
History —May 12, 1934, No. 44, p. 344, added as § 19-A on June 14, 1967, No. 133, p. 422.