HB6680 95TH GENERAL ASSEMBLY

LRB095 21867 HLH 52121 b

95TH GENERAL ASSEMBLY
State of Illinois
2007 and 2008
HB6680

Introduced , by Rep. Paul D. Froehlich

SYNOPSIS AS INTRODUCED:

55 ILCS 5/5-1006	from Ch. 34, par. 5-1006
55 ILCS 5/5-1007	from Ch. 34, par. 5-1007

Amends the Counties Code. Provides that the voters of a county that imposes a home rule county retailers' occupation tax and a home rule county service occupation tax may file a petition with the county board not more than 180 days after the effective date of the amendatory Act requesting that the question of whether the rate of those taxes should be reduced to 0.75% be submitted to the voters at the next general election. Provides that any increase in the rate of those taxes is subject to a back-door referendum. Preempts home rule powers. Effective immediately.

FISCAL NOTE ACT MAY APPLY

HOME RULE NOTE ACT MAY APPLY

STATE MANDATES ACT MAY REQUIRE REIMBURSEMENT

A BILL FOR

AN ACT concerning revenue.

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

Section 5. The Counties Code is amended by changing Sections 5-1006 and 5-1007 as follows:

(55 ILCS 5/5-1006) (from Ch. 34, par. 5-1006)

Sec. 5-1006. Home Rule County Retailers' Occupation Tax Law. Any county that is a home rule unit may impose a tax upon all persons engaged in the business of selling tangible personal property, other than an item of tangible personal property titled or registered with an agency of this State's government, at retail in the county on the gross receipts from such sales made in the course of their business. If imposed, this tax shall only be imposed in 1/4% increments. On and after September 1, 1991, this additional tax may not be imposed on the sales of food for human consumption which is to be consumed off the premises where it is sold (other than alcoholic beverages, soft drinks and food which has been prepared for immediate consumption) and prescription and nonprescription medicines, drugs, medical appliances and insulin, urine testing materials, syringes and needles used by diabetics. The tax imposed by a home rule county pursuant to this Section and all civil penalties that may be assessed as an incident thereof shall be collected and enforced by the State 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 pursuant to this Section without registering separately with the Department under such ordinance or resolution or under this Section. The Department shall have full power to administer and enforce this Section; to collect all taxes and penalties due hereunder; to dispose of taxes and penalties so collected in the manner hereinafter provided; and to determine all rights to credit memoranda arising on account of the erroneous payment of tax or penalty hereunder. In the administration of, and compliance with, this Section, the Department and persons who are subject to this Section shall have the same rights, remedies, privileges, immunities, powers and duties, and be subject to the same conditions, restrictions, limitations, penalties and definitions of terms, and employ the same modes of procedure, as are prescribed 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 herein.

If the rate of a retailers' occupation tax imposed under this Section exceeds 0.75% on the effective date of this amendatory Act of the 95th General Assembly, then the voters of the county may file a petition with the county board not more than 180 days after the effective date of this amendatory Act of the 95th General Assembly requesting that the question of whether to reduce the rate of the tax to 0.75% be submitted to the voters of the county at the next general election. The petition must be signed by a number of voters equal to at least 8% of the votes cast in the county during the last gubernatorial election. If such a petition is presented to the county board not more than 180 days after the effective date of this amendatory Act of the 95th General Assembly, then the board must certify the question to the proper election officials, who must submit the question at the next general election in accordance with the Election Code. The question must be in substantially the following form:

"Shall the rate of a retailers' occupation tax imposed by (county) be reduced to 0.75%?"

Votes shall be recorded as "Yes" or "No". If a majority of votes cast on the proposition are in favor of the reduction, then the tax rate shall be reduced to 0.75% beginning on the first day of the first month to occur not less than 30 calendar days after the question is submitted to the voters.

Any subsequent increase in the rate of a tax imposed under this Section shall take effect unless a petition is filed with the county board not more than 180 days after the ordinance or resolution increasing the tax is adopted. The petition must be signed by a number of voters equal to at least 8% of the votes cast in the county during the last gubernatorial election. If a petition is not presented to the county board within 180 days after the ordinance or resolution is adopted, then the increase shall take effect on the first day of the first month to occur not less than 30 calendar days after the 180-day time period has expired or at a later date if a later date is provided in the ordinance or resolution imposing the tax. If a petition is presented to the county board within 180 days after the effective date of this amendatory Act of the 95th General Assembly, then the board must certify the question to the proper election officials, who must submit the question at the next general election in accordance with the Election Code. The question must be in substantially the following form:

"Shall the rate of a retailers' occupation tax imposed by (county) be increased to (percent)?"

Votes shall be recorded as "Yes" or "No". If a majority of votes cast on the proposition are in favor of the increase, then the increase shall take effect on the first day of the first month to occur not less than 30 calendar days after the question is submitted to the voters.

A home rule unit may not impose retailers' occupation taxes in a manner that is inconsistent with this Section. This Section is a limitation of home rule powers and functions under subsection (g) of Section 6 of Article VII of the Illinois Constitution.

No tax may be imposed by a home rule county pursuant to this Section unless the county also imposes a tax at the same rate pursuant to Section 5-1007.

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

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 out of the home rule county retailers' occupation tax fund.

The Department shall forthwith pay over to the State Treasurer, ex officio, as trustee, all taxes and penalties collected hereunder. On or before the 25th day of each calendar month, the Department shall 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 hereunder to the Department during the second preceding calendar month. The amount to be paid to each county shall be the amount (not including credit memoranda) collected hereunder 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 such county, and not including any amount which the Department determines is necessary to offset any amounts which were payable to a different taxing body but were erroneously paid to the county. Within 10 days after receipt, by the Comptroller, of the disbursement certification to the counties provided for in this Section to be given to the Comptroller by the Department, the Comptroller shall cause the orders to be drawn for the respective amounts in accordance with the directions contained in the certification.

In addition to the disbursement required by the preceding paragraph, an allocation shall be made in March of each year to each county that received more than $500,000 in disbursements under the preceding paragraph in the preceding calendar year. The allocation shall be in an amount equal to the average monthly distribution made to each such county under the preceding paragraph during the preceding calendar year (excluding the 2 months of highest receipts). The distribution made in March of each year subsequent to the year in which an allocation was made pursuant to this paragraph and the preceding paragraph shall be reduced by the amount allocated and disbursed under this paragraph in the preceding calendar year. The Department shall prepare and certify to the Comptroller for disbursement the allocations made in accordance with this paragraph.

For the purpose of determining the local governmental unit whose tax is applicable, a retail sale by a producer of coal or other mineral mined in Illinois is a sale at retail at the place where the coal or other mineral mined in Illinois is extracted from the earth. This paragraph does not apply to coal or other mineral when it is delivered or shipped by the seller to the purchaser at a point outside Illinois so that the sale is exempt under the United States Constitution as a sale in interstate or foreign commerce.

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

An ordinance or resolution imposing or discontinuing a tax hereunder or effecting a change in the rate thereof shall be adopted and a certified copy thereof filed with the Department on or before the first day of June, whereupon the Department shall proceed to administer and enforce this Section as of the first day of September next following such adoption and filing. Beginning January 1, 1992, an ordinance or resolution imposing or discontinuing the tax hereunder or effecting a change in the rate thereof shall be adopted and a certified copy thereof filed with the Department on or before the first day of July, whereupon the Department shall proceed to administer and enforce this Section as of the first day of October next following such adoption and filing. Beginning January 1, 1993, an ordinance or resolution imposing or discontinuing the tax hereunder or effecting a change in the rate thereof shall be adopted and a certified copy thereof filed with the Department on or before the first day of October, whereupon the Department shall proceed to administer and enforce this Section as of the first day of January next following such adoption and filing. Beginning April 1, 1998, an ordinance or resolution imposing or discontinuing the tax hereunder or effecting a change in the rate thereof shall either (i) be adopted and a certified copy thereof filed with the Department on or before the first day of April, whereupon the Department shall proceed to administer and enforce this Section as of the first day of July next following the adoption and filing; or (ii) be adopted and a certified copy thereof filed with the Department on or before the first day of October, whereupon the Department shall proceed to administer and enforce this Section as of the first day of January next following the adoption and filing.

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

This Section shall be known and may be cited as the Home Rule County Retailers' Occupation Tax Law.

(Source: P.A. 90-689, eff. 7-31-98; 91-51, eff. 6-30-99.)

(55 ILCS 5/5-1007) (from Ch. 34, par. 5-1007)

Sec. 5-1007. Home Rule County Service Occupation Tax Law. The corporate authorities of a home rule county may impose a tax upon all persons engaged, in such county, in the business of making sales of service at the same rate of tax imposed pursuant to Section 5-1006 of the selling price of all tangible personal property transferred by such servicemen either in the form of tangible personal property or in the form of real estate as an incident to a sale of service. If imposed, such tax shall only be imposed in 1/4% increments. On and after September 1, 1991, this additional tax may not be imposed on the sales of food for human consumption which is to be consumed off the premises where it is sold (other than alcoholic beverages, soft drinks and food which has been prepared for immediate consumption) and prescription and nonprescription medicines, drugs, medical appliances and insulin, urine testing materials, syringes and needles used by diabetics. The tax imposed by a home rule county pursuant to this Section and all civil penalties that may be assessed as an incident thereof shall be collected and enforced by the State Department of Revenue. The certificate of registration which is issued by the Department to a retailer under the Retailers' Occupation Tax Act or under the Service Occupation Tax Act shall permit such registrant to engage in a business which is taxable under any ordinance or resolution enacted pursuant to this Section without registering separately with the Department under such ordinance or resolution or under this Section. The Department shall have full power to administer and enforce this Section; to collect all taxes and penalties due hereunder; to dispose of taxes and penalties so collected in the manner hereinafter provided; and to determine all rights to credit memoranda arising on account of the erroneous payment of tax or penalty hereunder. In the administration of, and compliance with, this Section the Department and persons who are subject to this Section shall have the same rights, remedies, privileges, immunities, powers and duties, and be subject to the same conditions, restrictions, limitations, penalties and definitions of terms, and employ the same modes of procedure, as are prescribed in Sections 1a-1, 2, 2a, 3 through 3-50 (in respect to all provisions therein other than the State rate of tax), 4 (except that the reference to the State shall be to the taxing county), 5, 7, 8 (except that the jurisdiction to which the tax shall be a debt to the extent indicated in that Section 8 shall be the taxing county), 9 (except as to the disposition of taxes and penalties collected, and except that the returned merchandise credit for this county tax may not be taken against any State tax), 10, 11, 12 (except the reference therein to Section 2b of the Retailers' Occupation Tax Act), 13 (except that any reference to the State shall mean the taxing county), the first paragraph of Section 15, 16, 17, 18, 19 and 20 of the Service Occupation Tax Act and Section 3-7 of the Uniform Penalty and Interest Act, as fully as if those provisions were set forth herein.

If the rate of a service occupation tax imposed under this Section exceeds 0.75% on the effective date of this amendatory Act of the 95th General Assembly, then the voters of the county may file a petition with the county board not more than 180 days after the effective date of this amendatory Act of the 95th General Assembly requesting that the question of whether to reduce the rate of the tax to 0.75% be submitted to the voters of the county at the next general election. The petition must be signed by a number of voters equal to at least 8% of the votes cast in the county during the last gubernatorial election. If such a petition is presented to the county board not more than 180 days after the effective date of this amendatory Act of the 95th General Assembly, then the board must certify the question to the proper election officials, who must submit the question at the next general election in accordance with the Election Code. The question must be in substantially the following form:

"Shall the rate of a service occupation tax imposed by (county) be reduced to 0.75%?"

Votes shall be recorded as "Yes" or "No". If a majority of votes cast on the proposition are in favor of the reduction, then the tax rate shall be reduced to 0.75% on the first day of the first month to occur not less than 30 calendar days after the question is submitted to the voters.

Any subsequent increase in the rate of a tax imposed under this Section shall take effect unless a petition is filed with the county board not more than 180 days after the ordinance or resolution increasing the tax is adopted. The petition must be signed by a number of voters equal to at least 8% of the votes cast in the county during the last gubernatorial election. If a petition is not presented to the county board within 180 days after the ordinance or resolution is adopted, then the increase shall take effect on the first day of the first month to occur not less than 30 calendar days after the 180-day time period has expired or at a later date if a later date is provided in the ordinance or resolution imposing the tax. If a petition is presented to the county board within 180 days after the effective date of this amendatory Act of the 95th General Assembly, then the board must certify the question to the proper election officials, who must submit the question at the next general election in accordance with the Election Code. The question must be in substantially the following form:

"Shall the rate of a service occupation tax imposed by (county) be increased to (percent)?"

Votes shall be recorded as "Yes" or "No". If a majority of votes cast on the proposition are in favor of the increase, then the increase shall take effect on the first day of the first month to occur not less than 30 calendar days after the question is submitted to the voters.

A home rule unit may not impose service occupation taxes in a manner that is inconsistent with this Section. This Section is a limitation of home rule powers and functions under subsection (g) of Section 6 of Article VII of the Illinois Constitution.

No tax may be imposed by a home rule county pursuant to this Section unless such county also imposes a tax at the same rate pursuant to Section 5-1006.

Persons subject to any tax imposed pursuant to the authority granted in this Section may reimburse themselves for their serviceman's tax liability hereunder by separately stating such tax as an additional charge, which charge may be stated in combination, in a single amount, with State tax which servicemen are authorized to collect under the Service Use Tax Act, pursuant to such bracket schedules as the Department may prescribe.

Whenever the Department determines that a refund should be made under this Section to a claimant instead of issuing 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 such notification from the Department. Such refund shall be paid by the State Treasurer out of the home rule county retailers' occupation tax fund.

The Department shall forthwith pay over to the State Treasurer, ex-officio, as trustee, all taxes and penalties collected hereunder. On or before the 25th day of each calendar month, the Department shall prepare and certify to the Comptroller the disbursement of stated sums of money to named counties, the counties to be those from which suppliers and servicemen have paid taxes or penalties hereunder to the Department during the second preceding calendar month. The amount to be paid to each county shall be the amount (not including credit memoranda) collected hereunder during the second preceding calendar month by the Department, and not including an amount equal to the amount of refunds made during the second preceding calendar month by the Department on behalf of such county. Within 10 days after receipt, by the Comptroller, of the disbursement certification to the counties provided for in this Section to be given to the Comptroller by the Department, the Comptroller shall cause the orders to be drawn for the respective amounts in accordance with the directions contained in such certification.

In addition to the disbursement required by the preceding paragraph, an allocation shall be made in each year to each county which received more than $500,000 in disbursements under the preceding paragraph in the preceding calendar year. The allocation shall be in an amount equal to the average monthly distribution made to each such county under the preceding paragraph during the preceding calendar year (excluding the 2 months of highest receipts). The distribution made in March of each year subsequent to the year in which an allocation was made pursuant to this paragraph and the preceding paragraph shall be reduced by the amount allocated and disbursed under this paragraph in the preceding calendar year. The Department shall prepare and certify to the Comptroller for disbursement the allocations made in accordance with this paragraph.

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

An ordinance or resolution imposing or discontinuing a tax hereunder or effecting a change in the rate thereof shall be adopted and a certified copy thereof filed with the Department on or before the first day of June, whereupon the Department shall proceed to administer and enforce this Section as of the first day of September next following such adoption and filing. Beginning January 1, 1992, an ordinance or resolution imposing or discontinuing the tax hereunder or effecting a change in the rate thereof shall be adopted and a certified copy thereof filed with the Department on or before the first day of July, whereupon the Department shall proceed to administer and enforce this Section as of the first day of October next following such adoption and filing. Beginning January 1, 1993, an ordinance or resolution imposing or discontinuing the tax hereunder or effecting a change in the rate thereof shall be adopted and a certified copy thereof filed with the Department on or before the first day of October, whereupon the Department shall proceed to administer and enforce this Section as of the first day of January next following such adoption and filing. Beginning April 1, 1998, an ordinance or resolution imposing or discontinuing the tax hereunder or effecting a change in the rate thereof shall either (i) be adopted and a certified copy thereof filed with the Department on or before the first day of April, whereupon the Department shall proceed to administer and enforce this Section as of the first day of July next following the adoption and filing; or (ii) be adopted and a certified copy thereof filed with the Department on or before the first day of October, whereupon the Department shall proceed to administer and enforce this Section as of the first day of January next following the adoption and filing.

This Section shall be known and may be cited as the Home Rule County Service Occupation Tax Law.

(Source: P.A. 90-689, eff. 7-31-98; 91-51, eff. 6-30-99.)

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