Senate Bill No. 395
(By Senators Wiedebusch and Buckalew)
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[Introduced March 20, 1997; referred to the
Committee on Finance.]
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A BILL to amend and reenact section five-a, article thirteen,
chapter eight of the code of West Virginia, one thousand
nine hundred thirty-one, as amended, relating to public
utilities tax imposed by municipalities and the exceptions
or exemptions thereto.
Be it enacted by the Legislature of West Virginia:
That section five-a, article thirteen, chapter eight of the
code of West Virginia, one thousand nine hundred thirty-one, as
amended, be amended and reenacted to read as follows:
ARTICLE 13. TAXATION AND FINANCE.
Part 1. Powers of Taxation.
§8-13-5a. Public utilities tax.
Every municipality shall have plenary power and authority to
levy and collect an excise tax on the privilege of purchasing, using or consuming, within the corporate limits of
such the
municipality, public utility services and tangible personal
property from public utilities subject to the jurisdiction of the
public service commission of West Virginia.
Such The tax shall
be computed on the basis of an amount not to exceed two percent
of the gross amount of each periodic statement rendered
such
purchasers or consumers by
such public utilities:
Provided,
however, That sales of tangible personal property such as
appliances or the like, as distinguished from the public service
supplied, shall not be included in the gross amount subject to
the measure of this tax:
Provided, however, That this tax shall
not apply to sales of telecommunications services to another
telecommunications provider for the purposes of access,
interconnection or resale to consumers. Charges or fees for
items on the periodic statement that are not public utility
services, including surcharges for telecommunications relay
services for the hearing impaired and fees for enhanced emergency
telephone systems, shall not be included in the gross amount
subject to the measure of this tax. Such The purchasers or
consumers shall pay to
such the public utilities the amount of
the tax levied pursuant to this section which shall be added to
and constitute a part of the cost of the service or property so
purchased or consumed and shall be collectible as such by
said the public utilities who shall account to the municipality
levying same for all tax paid by such purchasers or consumers
pursuant to the provisions of any ordinance imposing
such the
tax.
Any ordinance imposing
such the tax shall require the
collection thereof uniformly from all purchasers and consumers of
all such services and property within the corporate limits of
such the municipality and contain reasonable rules
and
regulations governing the collection thereof by the utilities and
the method of its payment and accounting to the municipality:
Provided, That
such the tax shall not be effective until the
municipality gives sixty days written notice by certified mail to
any utility doing business therein of the effective date of the
ordinance. Any required separation of gross income shall occur
in
said the ordinance whenever necessary to comply with state or
federal law:
Provided, however, That the tax authorized by this
section shall not be levied upon charges for telephone services
which are paid by the insertion of coins into coin-operated
telephones, and specific charges for telephone calls to points
outside the taxing municipality:
Provided further, That specific
charges for telephone calls to points outside the taxing
municipality shall be construed to mean separately itemized or
bulk-billed charges for long distance telecommunications service to points outside the local exchange service area. The charges
subject to the tax authorized by this section shall include local
usage charges applicable to telephone calls originating within
the corporate limits of the municipality which imposes the tax,
regardless of where the calls terminate, and shall also include
the federal subscriber line charge.
Notwithstanding any other provisions of the law to the
contrary contained in the code of West Virginia, one thousand
nine hundred thirty-one, as amended, the provisions of this
section are in addition to all other taxing authority heretofore
granted municipalities.
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(NOTE: The purpose of this bill is to clarify the meaning of
certain language that applies to telecommunications service with
respect to the municipal utilities tax.
Strike-throughs indicate language that would be stricken
from the present law, and underscoring indicates new language
that would be added.)
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FINANCE COMMITTEE AMENDMENTS
On page _____, section five-a, line _____, by striking out
the words "shall have" and inserting in lieu thereof the words
"has the";
On page _____, section five-a, lines _____, by striking out
the words "shall be" and inserting in lieu thereof the word "is";
On page _____, section five-a, line _____, by striking out
the words "shall not be" and inserting in lieu thereof the words
"are not";
On page _____, section five-a, line _____, by striking out
the word "shall" and inserting in lieu thereof the word "does";
On page _____, section five-a, line _____, by striking out
the words "shall not be" and inserting in lieu thereof the words
"are not";
On page _____, section five-a, line _____, by striking out
the word "shall" and inserting the lieu the word "may";
On page _____, section five-a, line _____, by striking out
the words "shall be" and inserting in lieu thereof the word "is";
On page _____, section five-a, line _____, by striking out
the word "constitute" and inserting in lieu thereof the word
"constitutes";
On page _____, section five-a, line _____, by striking out
the words "shall be" and inserting in lieu of the word "is";
On page _____, section five-a, line _____, by striking out
the word "such" and inserting in lieu thereof the word "the";
On page _____, section five-a, line _____, by striking out
the word "shall" and inserting in lieu thereof the word "may";
On page _____, section five-a, line _____, by striking out
the word "such" and inserting in lieu thereof the word "the";
On page _____, section five-a, line _____, by striking out
the words "shall not be" and inserting in lieu thereof the words
"is not";
On page _____, section five-a, line _____, by striking out
the word "shall" and inserting in lieu thereof the word "may";
On page _____, section five-a, line _____, by striking out
the words "shall be" and inserting in lieu thereof the word "is";
On page _____, section five-a, line _____, by striking out
the words "shall include" and inserting in lieu thereof the word
"includes";
And,
On page _____, section five-a, line _____, by striking out
the words "shall also include" and inserting in lieu thereof the
words "also includes".