P.R. Laws tit. 22, § 272
The tax to be levied on each tract of land receiving water from the irrigation system, but which under the law in force does not contribute towards defraying the cost of such system, shall be classified as follows: The Secretary of the Treasury of Puerto Rico shall have charge of fixing the total number of acres receiving water from the irrigation system which includes:
(1) Tracts of land subject to taxation pursuant to the provisions of §§ 251—259 of this title, for the purpose of reimbursing the cost of the irrigation works.
(2) Tracts of land to which the Irrigation Commission acknowledged the right to the use of water or to which such right was acknowledged by the courts in cases of appeal, as rights acquired under the law for the use of water under prior concessions.
(3) Tracts of land irrigated with water delivered in accordance with required rights or concessions which have not been assigned, which said water, pursuant to the terms of the contracts entered into with the Commissioner of the Interior or because of decisions of the Irrigation Commission, is delivered in whole or in part and is measured at the canals of the Irrigation Service system, and such tracts shall be determined by dividing the value of the said concessions in acre-feet per year, as the same may be or shall have been fixed by the Commissioner of the Interior, by the Irrigation Commission or by decision of the courts, by four—that is to say, by the number of acre-feet per year established by §§ 251—259 of this title, as a normal rate for delivery per acre for the formation of the irrigation district.
(4) Parcels of land irrigated by water supplied because of acquired rights or concessions which have not been assigned, which said water, pursuant to the terms of the contracts entered into with the Commissioner of the Interior or under decisions of the Irrigation Commission, is taken and measured in the rivers at the points of intake indicated in the said concessions; and such tracts shall be determined by dividing the value of the said concessions in acre-feet per year, as the same may be or as shall have been fixed by the Commissioner of the Interior, by the Irrigation Commission or by decision of the courts in cases of appeal, by five. The Secretary of the Treasury of Puerto Rico shall then take amount estimated or certified to as estimated by the Puerto Rico Electric Power Authority for defraying the cost of operations and maintenance of the irrigation system during the following fiscal year (as provided under § 260 of this title), and shall add thereto or subtract therefrom, as the case may be, any resulting deficit between or surplus over, the amount expended and certified to as expended by the Authority for expenses of operation and maintenance of the irrigation system during the preceding fiscal year, and the amount estimated or certified to as estimated by the Authority for defraying the cost of operation and maintenance of the irrigation system during the aforesaid preceding fiscal year. The Secretary of the Treasury shall then divide the amount so determined by the total number of acres computed as hereinbefore provided, and the result shall be and shall constitute the tax per acre which shall be levied during said subsequent fiscal year on all tracts supplied with water from the southern coast public irrigation system, and which in no other manner are subject to the payment of a tax to meet the cost of the said irrigation system.
This tax shall be levied and collected by the Secretary of the Treasury of Puerto Rico at the same time as any other tax imposed by §§ 251—259 of this title, and the moneys collected shall be covered into the Commonwealth Treasury to the credit of a special trust fund known as the “Irrigation Fund”, to be invested in the same manner and for the same purposes provided by said sections.
History —July 8, 1921, No. 49, p. 366, § 2.