Senate Bill No. 240
(By Senator Harrison)
____________
[Introduced January 23, 2006; referred to the Committee
on Finance.]
____________
A BILL to amend and reenact §11-14C-5 of the Code of West Virginia,
1931, as amended; and to amend and reenact §11-15-3a of said
code, all relating to reducing certain taxes; reducing the
flat rate of the excise tax on all gasoline and special fuel
sold in this state before the tax is scheduled to be reduced
from the current twenty and one-half cents to fifteen and
one-half cents; providing for the elimination of consumers
sales and service tax on food; and naming this legislation the
"Make West Virginia Competitive Tax Relief Act".
Be it enacted by the Legislature of West Virginia:
That §11-14C-5 of the Code of West Virginia, 1931, as amended,
be amended and reenacted; and that §11-15-3a of said code be
amended and reenacted, all to read as follows:
ARTICLE 14C. MOTOR FUEL EXCISE TAX.
PART 2. MOTOR FUEL TAX; LIABILITY.
§11-14C-5. Taxes levied; rate.
(a) There is
hereby levied on all motor fuel an excise tax
composed of a flat rate equal to twenty and one-half cents per
invoiced gallon plus a variable component comprised of either the
tax imposed by section eighteen-b, article fifteen of this chapter
or the tax imposed under section thirteen-a, article fifteen-a of
this chapter, as applicable:
Provided, That the motor fuel excise
tax shall take effect the first day of January, two thousand four:
Provided, however, That
on and after the first day of August, two
thousand seven, the tax levied by this article is fifteen and
one-half cents per gallon and Provided, however, That the following
reduction shall be made in order to reduce the tax levied by this
article: On and after the first day of August, two thousand six,
the tax levied by this article shall be reduced to eighteen and
one-half cents per gallon; and on and after the first day of
August, two thousand seven, the flat rate portion of the motor fuel
excise tax shall be fifteen and one-half cents per gallon.
Provided further, That The amendments made to this section and to
section nine, article fifteen of this chapter during the regular
session of the Legislature in two thousand six, shall be known as
the "Make West Virginia Competitive Tax Relief Act." The variable
component shall be equal to five percent of the average wholesale
price of the motor fuel.
And provided further, That The average
wholesale price shall be no less than ninety-seven cents per invoiced gallon and is computed as
hereinafter prescribed in this
section.
(b)
Determination of average wholesale price. --
(1) To simplify determining the average wholesale price of all
motor fuel, the Tax Commissioner shall, effective with the period
beginning the first day of the month of the effective date of this
section and each first day of January
thereafter after that,
determine the average wholesale price of motor fuel for each annual
period on the basis of sales data gathered for the preceding period
of the first day of July through the thirty-first day of October.
Notification of the average wholesale price of motor fuel shall be
given by the Tax Commissioner at least thirty days in advance of
each first day of January by filing notice of the average wholesale
price in the state register, and by any other means as the Tax
Commissioner considers reasonable:
Provided, That notice of the
average wholesale price of motor fuel for the first period shall be
timely given if filed in the state register on the effective date
of this section.
(2) The "average wholesale price" means the single, statewide
average per gallon wholesale price, rounded to the third decimal
(thousandth of a cent), exclusive of state and federal excise taxes
on each gallon of motor fuel, as determined by the Tax Commissioner
from information furnished by suppliers, importers and distributors
of motor fuel in this state, or other information regarding wholesale selling prices as the Tax Commissioner may gather, or a
combination of information:
Provided, That in no event shall the
average wholesale price be determined to be less than ninety-seven
cents per gallon of motor fuel.
(3) All actions of the Tax Commissioner in acquiring data
necessary to establish and determine the average wholesale price of
motor fuel, in providing notification of his or her determination
prior to the effective date of any change in rate, and in
establishing and determining the average wholesale price of motor
fuel, may be made by the Tax Commissioner without compliance with
the provisions of article three, chapter twenty-nine-a of this
code.
(4) In any administrative or court proceeding brought to
challenge the average wholesale price of motor fuel as determined
by the Tax Commissioner, his or her determination is presumed to be
correct and
shall may not be set aside unless it is clearly
erroneous.
(c) There is hereby levied a floorstocks tax on motor fuel
held in storage outside the bulk transfer/terminal system as of the
close of the business day preceding the first day of January, two
thousand four, and upon which the tax levied by this section has
not been paid. For the purposes of this section, "close of the
business day" means the time at which the last transaction has
occurred for that day. The floorstocks tax is payable by the person in possession of the motor fuel on the first day of January,
two thousand four. The amount of the floorstocks tax on motor fuel
is equal to the sum of the tax rate specified in subsection (a) of
this section multiplied by the gallons in storage as of the close
of the business day preceding the first day of January, two
thousand four.
(1) Persons in possession of taxable motor fuel in storage
outside the bulk transfer/terminal system as of the close of the
business day preceding the first day of January, two thousand four,
shall:
(A) Take an inventory at the close of the business day
preceding the first day of January, two thousand four, to determine
the gallons in storage for purposes of determining the floorstocks
tax;
(B) Report no later than the thirty-first day of January, two
thousand four, the gallons on forms provided by the commissioner;
and
(C) Remit the tax levied under this section no later than the
first day of June, two thousand four.
(2) In the event the tax due is paid to the commissioner on or
before the thirty-first day of January, two thousand four, the
person remitting the tax may deduct from their remittance five
percent of the tax liability due.
(3) In the event the tax due is paid to the commissioner after the first day of June, two thousand four, the person remitting the
tax shall pay, in addition to the tax, a penalty in the amount of
five percent of the tax liability due.
(4) In determining the amount of floorstocks tax due under
this section, the amount of motor fuel in dead storage may be
excluded. There are two methods for calculating the amount of
motor fuel in dead storage:
(A) If the tank has a capacity of less than ten thousand
gallons, the amount of motor fuel in dead storage is two hundred
gallons and if the tank has a capacity of ten thousand gallons or
more, the amount of motor fuel in dead storage is four hundred
gallons; or
(B) Use the manufacturer's conversion table for the tank after
measuring the number of inches between the bottom of the tank and
the bottom of the mouth of the drainpipe:
Provided, That the
distance between the bottom of the tank and the bottom of the mouth
of the draw pipe is presumed to be six inches.
(C) Every licensee who, on the effective date of any rate
change, has in inventory any motor fuel upon which the tax or any
portion thereof has been previously paid shall take a physical
inventory and file a report thereof with the commissioner, in the
format as required by the commissioner, within thirty days after
the effective date of the rate change, and shall pay to the
commissioner at the time of filing the report any additional tax due under the increased rate.
ARTICLE 15. CONSUMERS SALES AND SERVICE TAX.
§11-15-3a. Rate of tax on food and food ingredients intended for
human consumption; reduction of tax; elimination of
tax; exceptions; legislative, emergency and other
rules.
(a)
Rate of tax on food and food ingredients.--
Notwithstanding any provision of this article or article
fifteen-a of this chapter to the contrary, the rate of tax on
sales, purchases and uses of food and food ingredients intended for
human consumption:
(1) After the thirty-first day of December, two thousand five,
shall be is five percent of its sales price, as defined in section
two, article fifteen-b of this chapter;
and
(2) On and after the first day of January, two thousand seven,
the tax on sales, purchases and uses of food and food ingredients
intended for human consumption is eliminated.
(b)
Calculation of tax on fractional parts of a dollar. -- The
tax computation under this section shall be carried to the third
decimal place, and the tax rounded up to the next whole cent
whenever the third decimal place is greater than four and rounded
down to the lower whole cent whenever the third decimal place is
four or less. The seller may elect to compute the tax due on a
transaction on a per item basis or on an invoice basis provided the method used is consistently used during the reporting period.
(c)
Exceptions. -- The reduced rate of tax provided in this
section
shall and the elimination of the tax does not apply to
sales, purchases and uses by consumers of "Prepared food," as
defined in article fifteen-b of this chapter, which shall remain
taxable at the general rate of tax specified in section three of
this article and section two, article fifteen-a of this chapter.
(d)
Federal Food Stamp and Women, Infants and Children
Programs, other exemptions. -- Nothing in this section
shall affect
affects application of the exemption from tax provided in section
nine of this article for food purchased by an eligible person using
food stamps, electronic benefits transfer cards or vouchers issued
by or pursuant to authorization of the United States Department of
Agriculture to individuals participating in the Federal Food Stamp
Program, by whatever name called, or the Women, Infants and
Children (WIC) Program, or application of any other exemption from
tax set forth in this article or article fifteen-a of this chapter.
(e)
Legislative rules; emergency rules. -- The Tax
Commissioner may promulgate legislative rules and emergency rules
explaining and implementing this section, which rules shall be
promulgated in accordance with the provisions of article three,
chapter twenty-nine-a of this code. The authority to promulgate
rules includes authority to amend or repeal those rules. If
proposed legislative rules for this section are filed in the State Register before the fifteenth day of December, two thousand five,
those rules may be promulgated as emergency legislative rules, as
provided in article three of said chapter twenty-nine-a.
NOTE: The purpose of this bill is to
establish the Make West
Virginia Competitive Tax Relief Act and to eliminate the consumer
sales tax on food and food products sold for human consumption off
the premises where sold and reduce the flat rate tax on gasoline by
two cents a gallon before it is scheduled, under current law, to be
reduced to 15 and ½ cents per gallon. Currently, the applicable tax
is 20 and ½ cents per gallon.
Strike-throughs indicate language that would be stricken from
the present law, and underscoring indicates new language that would
be added.
Email
Webmaster | © 2024 West Virginia Legislature **
