(1) The Legislative Assembly finds and declares that:
(a) The alignment of taxes collected by public utilities from utility customers with taxes paid to units of government by utilities, or affiliated groups that include utilities, is of special interest to this state.
(b) Taxes are a unique utility cost because the tax liability is affected by the operations or tax attributes of the parent company or other affiliates of the utility.
(c) The Public Utility Commission permits a utility to include costs for taxes that assume the utility is not part of an affiliated group of corporations for tax purposes.
(d) The parent company of a utility may employ accounting methods, debt, consolidated tax return rules and other techniques in a way that results in a difference between the tax liability paid to units of government by the utility, or the affiliated group of corporations of which the utility is a member, and the amount of taxes collected, directly or indirectly, from customers.
(e) Tax uncertainty in the ratemaking process may result in collecting taxes from ratepayers that are not paid to units of government.
(f) Utility rates that include amounts for taxes should reflect the taxes that are paid to units of government to be considered fair, just and reasonable.
(g) Tax information of a business is commercially sensitive. Public disclosure of tax information could provide a commercial advantage to other businesses.
(2) The definitions in ORS 757.268 apply to this section. [2005 c.845 §2]
Section: Previous 757.250 757.255 757.259 757.260 757.262 757.265 757.266 757.267 757.268 757.270 757.271 757.272 757.273 757.276 757.279 NextLast modified: August 7, 2008