William O. Douglas

“ The question whether the Commission should be empowered to employ private contractors in performance of its functions or whether the Commission should itself be the entrepreneur was an issue of national policy much discussed and debated at the time the legislation was before the Congress. One measure, which had the backing of the War Department, would have authorized the Commission to lean heavily on private enterprise for performance of its functions. ”

“ The reports which the Commission is directed to submit to Congress pursuant to § 17 concern its 'activities.' Section 9 (b) authorizes the Commission to make payments to state and local governments in lieu of property taxes in those areas 'in which the activities of the Commission are carried on and in which the Commission has acquired property' previously subject to local taxation. In none of these sections do we find any suggestion that 'activities' is used in a narrow sense to describe less than all of the functions of the Commission. ”

“ Two of the respondents are private companies who are contractors for the Atomic Energy Commission and who paid use taxes; two are merchants who paid sales taxes on sales to those contractors and who passed the taxes on to them. The use taxes and the sales taxes were on articles used by the contractors in the performance of their contracts with the Commission. ”