729.01 Definitions.
729.02 Imposition of tax; amount of tax.
729.03 Collection; time of payment; accounting; effective date; proration.
729.04 Records; inspection thereof.
729.05 Exemptions.
729.06 Nonliability of utility; duty of Municipality; refunds; rules and regulations.
729.07 Enforcement provisions; penalties.
729.08 Notice to utilities.
CROSS REFERENCES
Authority to levy - see W. Va. Code 8-13-5(a)
Business and occupation tax on utilities - see BUS. & TAX. 721.06
The following words and phrases when used in this article shall for the purposes of this article have the following respective meanings:
(a) “Person” includes individuals, firms, partnerships, associations, corporations and combinations thereof, of whatever form or character.
(b) “Public utility service” means all services and tangible personal property purchased within this Municipality from a seller, as hereinafter in this section defined, namely, telephone service, electric service, gas service, including bottled or liquid gas, if the seller thereof is classified as a public utility subject to the jurisdiction of the Public Service Commission of West Virginia; water service and sanitary sewer service; if purchased, used or consumed within the corporate limits of this Municipality.
(c) “Purchaser” includes every person who purchases, uses or consumes a public utility service;
(d) “Seller” includes every person, whether a public service corporation, a municipality or private corporation, classified as a public utility and subject to the jurisdiction of the Public Service Commission of West Virginia, who sells, furnishes or supplies a public utility service; and
(e) “User” means the owner or tenant of private residential property or the owner or tenant of property used for commercial or industrial purposes, and every combination thereof, of every kind or description.
(Ord. 72-1. Passed 7-1-72.)
There is hereby imposed and levied upon each and every purchaser of a public utility service an excise tax upon the privilege of purchasing, using or consuming, within the corporate limits of this Municipality, such public utility service. Such tax shall be in the amount of two percent (2%) of the charge (exclusive of any Federal or State tax thereon imposed upon the purchaser) made by the seller against the purchaser with respect to each public utility service, which tax in every case shall be collected by the seller and paid by the purchaser upon the amount of each periodic statement rendered such purchaser by the seller, and shall be paid by the purchaser to the seller at the time the purchase price or such charge shall become due and payable under the agreement between the purchaser and the seller. The tax imposed and levied by this article is in addition to all other taxes imposed and levied by this Municipality. In the event the amount of the charge for any single public utility service exceeds the sum of twenty thousand dollars ($20,000) in any given calendar year, to any single purchaser, no tax shall be imposed for such additional purchase, use or consumption in excess of said amount of twenty thousand dollars ($20,000). In the event more than one public utility shall furnish the identical public utility service to the same purchaser, said purchaser shall be entitled to group the same as a single public utility service in calculating the amount of the charges in any calendar month for such public utility service.
(Ord. 72-1. Passed 7-1-72.)
It shall be the duty of every seller in acting as the tax collecting medium or agency for this Municipality to collect from each purchaser for the use of this Municipality the tax hereby imposed and levied at the time of collecting the purchase price charged for its public utility service, and the amount of tax actually collected during each calendar month shall be reported by each seller to this Municipality and each seller shall remit the amount of tax shown by said report to have been collected to this Municipality on or before the last day of the second calendar month following the month in which collected, together with the name and address of any purchaser who has failed or refused to pay the tax so imposed and levied. The tax imposed and levied by this article shall apply to periodic statements rendered after July 1, 1971, for public utility service rendered subsequent to July 1, 1971, and when any such periodic statement covers public utility service rendered both before and after said date, only that portion of the charge for public utility service rendered after said date shall be subject to such tax, and the portion subject to such tax shall be such portion of the total charge as the number of days after June 30, 1971, within the period covered by such periodic statement, bear to the total number of days covered by such periodic statement. The required reports shall be in the form prescribed by the official of this Municipality charged with the responsibility of collecting taxes due this Municipality.
(Ord. 72-1. Passsed 7-1-72.)
Each and every seller shall keep and maintain complete records showing all purchases of public utility service within the corporate limits of this Municipality, which records shall show the charge made against each purchaser, the dates such public utility service was furnished, the date of payment therefor, and the amount of tax imposed hereunder, and such records shall be kept open for inspection by the duly authorized agents of this Municipality at reasonable times, and the duly authorized agents of this Municipality shall have the right, power and authority to make at the expense of this Municipality such transcripts thereof during such times as they may desire. (Ord. 72-1. Passed 7-1-72.)
The tax hereby imposed and levied shall not apply to the following transactions, which transactions are hereby exempted from such tax:
(a) Purchases of public utility service for resale;
(b) Purchases of public utility service by the United States of America, the State of West Virginia, and the political subdivisions, municipalities, boards, commissions, authorities and public corporations thereof;
(c) Purchases of tangible personal property such as appliances or the like, as distinguished from the public serivce supplied;
(d) Charges for telephone services which are paid by the insertion of coins into coin- operated telephones, and specific charges or tolls for telephone calls to points outside the corporate limits of this Municipality; and
(e) Nonrecurring or one-time charges incidental to the furnishing of public utility service.
(Ord. 72-1. Passed 7-1-72.)
(Ord. 72-1. Passed 7-1-72.)
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