MINOR MEMOS: Brazil will eliminate two transfer taxes on coal and gas used to generate electricity starting March 1. The taxes are a .65% “PIS” tax and a 3% social security, or COFINS, tax. The taxes will be eliminated for all coal destined for use in power plants, but only for gas for use by power producers participating in a “priority program of thermoelectricity” . . . . The Labour government in Britain may propose a tax increase in its next budget in March, a senior Treasury minister warned in late January . . . . Several utilities lost a case in the Missouri courts over whether transformers, voltage regulators and other equipment used to distribute electricity qualifies for exemption from sales and use taxes under an exemption for equipment used “directly in manufacturing.” The state tax department agreed that the production of electricity is “manufacturing,” but said the electricity is already manufactured by the time it reaches this equipment. The utilities argued that the equipment is part of an integrated manufacturing process. The court disagreed. The case is Utilicorp United et al. v. Director of Revenue. It was decided on December 18.