HB2592 94TH GENERAL ASSEMBLY

LRB094 09300 AJO 39539 b

94TH GENERAL ASSEMBLY
State of Illinois
2005 and 2006
HB2592

Introduced 2/18/2005, by Rep. Bob Biggins

SYNOPSIS AS INTRODUCED:

65 ILCS 5/8-11-2

from Ch. 24, par. 8-11-2

Amends the Illinois Municipal Code. Provides that a municipality may tax a public utility on the electricity it uses for its administrative offices, technical or engineering facilities, or other locations outside the transmission and distribution system.

FISCAL NOTE ACT MAY APPLY

A BILL FOR

AN ACT concerning local government.

Be it enacted by the People of the State of Illinois, represented in the General Assembly:

Section 5. The Illinois Municipal Code is amended by changing Section 8-11-2 as follows:

(65 ILCS 5/8-11-2) (from Ch. 24, par. 8-11-2)

Sec. 8-11-2. The corporate authorities of any municipality may tax any or all of the following occupations or privileges:

1. (Blank).

2. Persons engaged in the business of distributing, supplying, furnishing, or selling gas for use or consumption within the corporate limits of a municipality of 500,000 or fewer population, and not for resale, at a rate not to exceed 5% of the gross receipts therefrom.

2a. Persons engaged in the business of distributing, supplying, furnishing, or selling gas for use or consumption within the corporate limits of a municipality of over 500,000 population, and not for resale, at a rate not to exceed 8% of the gross receipts therefrom. If imposed, this tax shall be paid in monthly payments.

3. The privilege of using or consuming electricity acquired in a purchase at retail and used or consumed within the corporate limits of the municipality at rates not to exceed the following maximum rates, calculated on a monthly basis for each purchaser:

(i) For the first 2,000 kilowatt-hours used or consumed in a month; 0.61 cents per kilowatt-hour;

(ii) For the next 48,000 kilowatt-hours used or consumed in a month; 0.40 cents per kilowatt-hour;

(iii) For the next 50,000 kilowatt-hours used or consumed in a month; 0.36 cents per kilowatt-hour;

(iv) For the next 400,000 kilowatt-hours used or consumed in a month; 0.35 cents per kilowatt-hour;

(v) For the next 500,000 kilowatt-hours used or consumed in a month; 0.34 cents per kilowatt-hour;

(vi) For the next 2,000,000 kilowatt-hours used or consumed in a month; 0.32 cents per kilowatt-hour;

(vii) For the next 2,000,000 kilowatt-hours used or consumed in a month; 0.315 cents per kilowatt-hour;

(viii) For the next 5,000,000 kilowatt-hours used or consumed in a month; 0.31 cents per kilowatt-hour;

(ix) For the next 10,000,000 kilowatt-hours used or consumed in a month; 0.305 cents per kilowatt-hour; and

(x) For all electricity used or consumed in excess of 20,000,000 kilowatt-hours in a month, 0.30 cents per kilowatt-hour.

If a municipality imposes a tax at rates lower than either the maximum rates specified in this Section or the alternative maximum rates promulgated by the Illinois Commerce Commission, as provided below, the tax rates shall be imposed upon the kilowatt hour categories set forth above with the same proportional relationship as that which exists among such maximum rates. Notwithstanding the foregoing, until December 31, 2008, no municipality shall establish rates that are in excess of rates reasonably calculated to produce revenues that equal the maximum total revenues such municipality could have received under the tax authorized by this subparagraph in the last full calendar year prior to the effective date of Section 65 of this amendatory Act of 1997; provided that this shall not be a limitation on the amount of tax revenues actually collected by such municipality.

Upon the request of the corporate authorities of a municipality, the Illinois Commerce Commission shall, within 90 days after receipt of such request, promulgate alternative rates for each of these kilowatt-hour categories that will reflect, as closely as reasonably practical for that municipality, the distribution of the tax among classes of purchasers as if the tax were based on a uniform percentage of the purchase price of electricity. A municipality that has adopted an ordinance imposing a tax pursuant to subparagraph 3 as it existed prior to the effective date of Section 65 of this amendatory Act of 1997 may, rather than imposing the tax permitted by this amendatory Act of 1997, continue to impose the tax pursuant to that ordinance with respect to gross receipts received from residential customers through July 31, 1999, and with respect to gross receipts from any non-residential customer until the first bill issued to such customer for delivery services in accordance with Section 16-104 of the Public Utilities Act but in no case later than the last bill issued to such customer before December 31, 2000. No ordinance imposing the tax permitted by this amendatory Act of 1997 shall be applicable to any non-residential customer until the first bill issued to such customer for delivery services in accordance with Section 16-104 of the Public Utilities Act but in no case later than the last bill issued to such non-residential customer before December 31, 2000.

4. Persons engaged in the business of distributing, supplying, furnishing, or selling water for use or consumption within the corporate limits of the municipality, and not for resale, at a rate not to exceed 5% of the gross receipts therefrom.

None of the taxes authorized by this Section may be imposed with respect to any transaction in interstate commerce or otherwise to the extent to which the business or privilege may not, under the constitution and statutes of the United States, be made the subject of taxation by this State or any political sub-division thereof; nor shall any persons engaged in the business of distributing, supplying, furnishing, selling or transmitting gas, water, or electricity, or using or consuming electricity acquired in a purchase at retail, be subject to taxation under the provisions of this Section for those transactions that are or may become subject to taxation under the provisions of the "Municipal Retailers' Occupation Tax Act" authorized by Section 8-11-1; nor shall any tax authorized by this Section be imposed upon any person engaged in a business or on any privilege unless the tax is imposed in like manner and at the same rate upon all persons engaged in businesses of the same class in the municipality, whether privately or municipally owned or operated, or exercising the same privilege within the municipality.

Any of the taxes enumerated in this Section may be in addition to the payment of money, or value of products or services furnished to the municipality by the taxpayer as compensation for the use of its streets, alleys, or other public places, or installation and maintenance therein, thereon or thereunder of poles, wires, pipes or other equipment used in the operation of the taxpayer's business.

(a) If the corporate authorities of any home rule municipality have adopted an ordinance that imposed a tax on public utility customers, between July 1, 1971, and October 1, 1981, on the good faith belief that they were exercising authority pursuant to Section 6 of Article VII of the 1970 Illinois Constitution, that action of the corporate authorities shall be declared legal and valid, notwithstanding a later decision of a judicial tribunal declaring the ordinance invalid. No municipality shall be required to rebate, refund, or issue credits for any taxes described in this paragraph, and those taxes shall be deemed to have been levied and collected in accordance with the Constitution and laws of this State.

(b) In any case in which (i) prior to October 19, 1979, the corporate authorities of any municipality have adopted an ordinance imposing a tax authorized by this Section (or by the predecessor provision of the "Revised Cities and Villages Act") and have explicitly or in practice interpreted gross receipts to include either charges added to customers' bills pursuant to the provision of paragraph (a) of Section 36 of the Public Utilities Act or charges added to customers' bills by taxpayers who are not subject to rate regulation by the Illinois Commerce Commission for the purpose of recovering any of the tax liabilities or other amounts specified in such paragraph (a) of Section 36 of that Act, and (ii) on or after October 19, 1979, a judicial tribunal has construed gross receipts to exclude all or part of those charges, then neither those municipality nor any taxpayer who paid the tax shall be required to rebate, refund, or issue credits for any tax imposed or charge collected from customers pursuant to the municipality's interpretation prior to October 19, 1979. This paragraph reflects a legislative finding that it would be contrary to the public interest to require a municipality or its taxpayers to refund taxes or charges attributable to the municipality's more inclusive interpretation of gross receipts prior to October 19, 1979, and is not intended to prescribe or limit judicial construction of this Section. The legislative finding set forth in this subsection does not apply to taxes imposed after the effective date of this amendatory Act of 1995.

(c) The tax authorized by subparagraph 3 shall be collected from the purchaser by the person maintaining a place of business in this State who delivers the electricity to the purchaser. This tax shall constitute a debt of the purchaser to the person who delivers the electricity to the purchaser and if unpaid, is recoverable in the same manner as the original charge for delivering the electricity. Any tax required to be collected pursuant to an ordinance authorized by subparagraph 3 and any such tax collected by a person delivering electricity shall constitute a debt owed to the municipality by such person delivering the electricity, provided, that the person delivering electricity shall be allowed credit for such tax related to deliveries of electricity the charges for which are written off as uncollectible, and provided further, that if such charges are thereafter collected, the delivering supplier shall be obligated to remit such tax. For purposes of this subsection (c), any partial payment not specifically identified by the purchaser shall be deemed to be for the delivery of electricity. Persons delivering electricity shall collect the tax from the purchaser by adding such tax to the gross charge for delivering the electricity, in the manner prescribed by the municipality. Persons delivering electricity shall also be authorized to add to such gross charge an amount equal to 3% of the tax to reimburse the person delivering electricity for the expenses incurred in keeping records, billing customers, preparing and filing returns, remitting the tax and supplying data to the municipality upon request. If the person delivering electricity fails to collect the tax from the purchaser, then the purchaser shall be required to pay the tax directly to the municipality in the manner prescribed by the municipality. Persons delivering electricity who file returns pursuant to this paragraph (c) shall, at the time of filing such return, pay the municipality the amount of the tax collected pursuant to subparagraph 3.

(d) For the purpose of the taxes enumerated in this Section:

"Gross receipts" means the consideration received for distributing, supplying, furnishing or selling gas for use or consumption and not for resale, and the consideration received for distributing, supplying, furnishing or selling water for use or consumption and not for resale, and for all services rendered in connection therewith valued in money, whether received in money or otherwise, including cash, credit, services and property of every kind and material and for all services rendered therewith, and shall be determined without any deduction on account of the cost of the service, product or commodity supplied, the cost of materials used, labor or service cost, or any other expenses whatsoever. "Gross receipts" shall not include that portion of the consideration received for distributing, supplying, furnishing, or selling gas or water to business enterprises described in paragraph (e) of this Section to the extent and during the period in which the exemption authorized by paragraph (e) is in effect or for school districts or units of local government described in paragraph (f) during the period in which the exemption authorized in paragraph (f) is in effect.

For utility bills issued on or after May 1, 1996, but before May 1, 1997, and for receipts from those utility bills, "gross receipts" does not include one-third of (i) amounts added to customers' bills under Section 9-222 of the Public Utilities Act, or (ii) amounts added to customers' bills by taxpayers who are not subject to rate regulation by the Illinois Commerce Commission for the purpose of recovering any of the tax liabilities described in Section 9-222 of the Public Utilities Act. For utility bills issued on or after May 1, 1997, but before May 1, 1998, and for receipts from those utility bills, "gross receipts" does not include two-thirds of (i) amounts added to customers' bills under Section 9-222 of the Public Utilities Act, or (ii) amount added to customers' bills by taxpayers who are not subject to rate regulation by the Illinois Commerce Commission for the purpose of recovering any of the tax liabilities described in Section 9-222 of the Public Utilities Act. For utility bills issued on or after May 1, 1998, and for receipts from those utility bills, "gross receipts" does not include (i) amounts added to customers' bills under Section 9-222 of the Public Utilities Act, or (ii) amounts added to customers' bills by taxpayers who are not subject to rate regulation by the Illinois Commerce Commission for the purpose of recovering any of the tax liabilities described in Section 9-222 of the Public Utilities Act.

For purposes of this Section "gross receipts" shall not include amounts added to customers' bills under Section 9-221 of the Public Utilities Act. This paragraph is not intended to nor does it make any change in the meaning of "gross receipts" for the purposes of this Section, but is intended to remove possible ambiguities, thereby confirming the existing meaning of "gross receipts" prior to the effective date of this amendatory Act of 1995.

"Person" as used in this Section means any natural individual, firm, trust, estate, partnership, association, joint stock company, joint adventure, corporation, limited liability company, municipal corporation, the State or any of its political subdivisions, any State university created by statute, or a receiver, trustee, guardian or other representative appointed by order of any court.

"Person maintaining a place of business in this State" shall mean any person having or maintaining within this State, directly or by a subsidiary or other affiliate, an office, generation facility, distribution facility, transmission facility, sales office or other place of business, or any employee, agent, or other representative operating within this State under the authority of the person or its subsidiary or other affiliate, irrespective of whether such place of business or agent or other representative is located in this State permanently or temporarily, or whether such person, subsidiary or other affiliate is licensed or qualified to do business in this State.

"Public utility" shall have the meaning ascribed to it in Section 3-105 of the Public Utilities Act and shall include alternative retail electric suppliers as defined in Section 16-102 of that Act.

"Purchase at retail" shall mean any acquisition of electricity by a purchaser for purposes of use or consumption, and not for resale, but shall not include the use of electricity by a public utility directly in the generation, production, transmission, delivery or sale of electricity; except that the use or consumption of electricity by a public utility for its administrative offices, technical or engineering facilities, or other locations outside the transmission and distribution system of an electricity delivery supplier shall be considered a "purchase at retail" .

"Purchaser" shall mean any person who uses or consumes, within the corporate limits of the municipality, electricity acquired in a purchase at retail.

(e) Any municipality that imposes taxes upon public utilities or upon the privilege of using or consuming electricity pursuant to this Section whose territory includes any part of an enterprise zone or federally designated Foreign Trade Zone or Sub-Zone may, by a majority vote of its corporate authorities, exempt from those taxes for a period not exceeding 20 years any specified percentage of gross receipts of public utilities received from, or electricity used or consumed by, business enterprises that:

(1) either (i) make investments that cause the creation of a minimum of 200 full-time equivalent jobs in Illinois, (ii) make investments of at least $175,000,000 that cause the creation of a minimum of 150 full-time equivalent jobs in Illinois, or (iii) make investments that cause the retention of a minimum of 1,000 full-time jobs in Illinois; and

(2) are either (i) located in an Enterprise Zone established pursuant to the Illinois Enterprise Zone Act or (ii) Department of Commerce and Economic Opportunity Community Affairs designated High Impact Businesses located in a federally designated Foreign Trade Zone or Sub-Zone; and

(3) are certified by the Department of Commerce and Economic Opportunity Community Affairs as complying with the requirements specified in clauses (1) and (2) of this paragraph (e).

Upon adoption of the ordinance authorizing the exemption, the municipal clerk shall transmit a copy of that ordinance to the Department of Commerce and Economic Opportunity Community Affairs. The Department of Commerce and Economic Opportunity Community Affairs shall determine whether the business enterprises located in the municipality meet the criteria prescribed in this paragraph. If the Department of Commerce and Economic Opportunity Community Affairs determines that the business enterprises meet the criteria, it shall grant certification. The Department of Commerce and Economic Opportunity Community Affairs shall act upon certification requests within 30 days after receipt of the ordinance.

Upon certification of the business enterprise by the Department of Commerce and Economic Opportunity Community Affairs, the Department of Commerce and Economic Opportunity Community Affairs shall notify the Department of Revenue of the certification. The Department of Revenue shall notify the public utilities of the exemption status of the gross receipts received from, and the electricity used or consumed by, the certified business enterprises. Such exemption status shall be effective within 3 months after certification.

(f) A municipality that imposes taxes upon public utilities or upon the privilege of using or consuming electricity under this Section and whose territory includes part of another unit of local government or a school district may by ordinance exempt the other unit of local government or school district from those taxes.

(g) The amendment of this Section by Public Act 84-127 shall take precedence over any other amendment of this Section by any other amendatory Act passed by the 84th General Assembly before the effective date of Public Act 84-127.

(h) In any case in which, before July 1, 1992, a person engaged in the business of transmitting messages through the use of mobile equipment, such as cellular phones and paging systems, has determined the municipality within which the gross receipts from the business originated by reference to the location of its transmitting or switching equipment, then (i) neither the municipality to which tax was paid on that basis nor the taxpayer that paid tax on that basis shall be required to rebate, refund, or issue credits for any such tax or charge collected from customers to reimburse the taxpayer for the tax and (ii) no municipality to which tax would have been paid with respect to those gross receipts if the provisions of this amendatory Act of 1991 had been in effect before July 1, 1992, shall have any claim against the taxpayer for any amount of the tax.

(Source: P.A. 91-870, eff. 6-22-00; 92-474, eff. 8-1-02; 92-526, eff. 1-1-03; revised 12-6-03.)