HB5329 94TH GENERAL ASSEMBLY

LRB094 17676 BDD 52974 b

94TH GENERAL ASSEMBLY
State of Illinois
2005 and 2006
HB5329

Introduced 01/26/06, by Rep. Eddie Washington

SYNOPSIS AS INTRODUCED:

55 ILCS 5/5-1008.7 new

Amends the Counties Code. Authorizes counties to impose impose a tax upon all persons engaged in the county in the business of selling cigarettes at retail on the gross receipts from the retail sales of cigarettes made in the course of business within the county. Provides that the tax may be imposed, in half-cent increments, at a rate not exceeding $0.05 per cigarette. Provides that the Department of Revenue shall collect and enforce the tax and any related penalties. Sets forth procedures for the administration and collection of the tax. Effective immediately.

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 Counties Code is amended by adding Section 5-1008.7 as follows:

(55 ILCS 5/5-1008.7 new)

Sec. 5-1008.7. County Cigarette Tax.

(a) The county board of any county may, by ordinance or resolution, impose a tax upon all persons engaged in the county in the business of selling cigarettes at retail on the gross receipts from the retail sales of cigarettes made in the course of business within the county. For purposes of this Section, "cigarette" has the meaning set forth under Section 1 of the Cigarette Tax Act.

(b) If imposed, the tax on cigarettes may be imposed, in half-cent increments, at a rate not exceeding $0.05 per cigarette sold at retail within the county.

(c) The tax imposed by a county under this Section and all civil penalties that may be assessed as an incident thereof shall be collected and enforced by the Department of Revenue. The certificate of registration that is issued by the Department to a retailer under the Retailers' Occupation Tax Act shall permit the retailer to engage in a business that is taxable under any ordinance or resolution enacted under this Section without registering separately with the Department under the ordinance or resolution imposing the tax or under this Section.

The Department has the full power to:

(1) administer and enforce this Section;

(2) collect all taxes and penalties due under this Section;

(3) dispose of taxes and penalties so collected in the manner provided in this Section; and

(4) determine all rights to credit memoranda arising on account of the erroneous payment of tax or penalty.

In the administration of, and compliance with, this Section, the Department and persons who are subject to this Section have the same rights, remedies, privileges, immunities, powers, and duties, and are subject to the same conditions, restrictions, limitations, penalties, and definitions of terms, and employ the same modes of procedure, as are set forth in Sections 1, 1a, 1a-1, 1d, 1e, 1f, 1i, 1j, 1k, 1m, 1n, 2 through 2-65 (in respect to all provisions therein other than the State rate of tax), 4, 5, 5a, 5b, 5c, 5d, 5e, 5f, 5g, 5h, 5i, 5j, 5k, 5l, 6, 6a, 6b, 6c, 7, 8, 9, 10, 11, 12 and 13 of the Retailers' Occupation Tax Act and Section 3-7 of the Uniform Penalty and Interest Act, as fully as if those provisions were set forth in this Section.

(d) Persons subject to any tax imposed under this Section may reimburse themselves for their seller's tax liability by separately stating the tax as an additional charge, which may be stated in combination, in a single amount, with State tax that sellers are required to collect under the Use Tax Act, pursuant to such bracket schedules as the Department may prescribe.

(e) Whenever the Department determines that a refund should be made under this Section to a claimant instead of issuing a credit memorandum, the Department shall notify the State Comptroller, who shall cause the order to be drawn for the amount specified, and to the person named in the notification from the Department. The refund shall be paid by the State Treasurer from the County Option Cigarette Tax Fund.

(f) The Department shall forthwith pay over to the State Treasurer, ex officio, as trustee, all taxes and penalties collected under this Section less the amount expended by the Department for the administration and enforcement of this Section, which may not exceed $200,000 for fiscal year 2006 and, for each year thereafter, may not exceed 2% of the amount deposited in the County Option Cigarette Tax Fund during the preceding fiscal year. The Treasurer must deposit the moneys paid over by the Department into the County Option Cigarette Tax Fund, an unappropriated trust fund held outside the State treasury.

On or before the 25th day of each calendar month, the Department must prepare and certify to the Comptroller the disbursement of stated sums of money to named counties, the counties to be those from which retailers have paid taxes or penalties under this Section to the Department during the second preceding calendar month. The amount to be paid to each county is the amount (not including credit memoranda) collected under this Section during the second preceding calendar month by the Department plus an amount the Department determines is necessary to offset any amounts that were erroneously paid to a different taxing body, and not including an amount equal to the amount of refunds made during the second preceding calendar month by the Department on behalf of the county, and not including any amount that the Department determines is necessary to offset any amounts that were payable to a different taxing body but were erroneously paid to the county.

When certifying the amount of a monthly disbursement to a county under this subsection, the Department shall increase or decrease amounts by an amount necessary to offset any miscalculation of previous disbursements. The offset amount is the amount erroneously disbursed within the previous 6 months from the time that the miscalculation is discovered.

Within 10 days after receipt of the disbursement certification under this subsection, the Comptroller shall cause the orders to be drawn for the respective amounts in accordance with the directions contained in the certification.

(g) Nothing in the Section may be construed to authorize a county to impose a tax upon the privilege of engaging in any business that, under the Constitution of the United States, may not be made the subject of taxation by this State.

(h) An ordinance or resolution imposing a tax under this Section or effecting a change in the rate thereof is effective on the first day of the second calendar month next following the month in which the ordinance or resolution is adopted and a certified copy thereof is filed with the Department, whereupon the Department of Revenue shall proceed to administer and enforce this Section on behalf of the county as of the effective date of the ordinance or resolution.

Upon a change in rate of a tax levied under this Section or upon the discontinuance of the tax, the county board of the county must, not later than 5 days after the effective date of the ordinance or resolution discontinuing the tax or effecting a change in rate, transmit to the Department a certified copy of the ordinance or resolution effecting the change or discontinuance.

Section 99. Effective date. This Act takes effect upon becoming law.