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The county council for Montgomery County is empowered and authorized to levy and impose by resolution, ordinance or public local law a special revenue tax on every trailer coach park owned by a person licensed to operate and conduct a trailer coach park in Montgomery County, under existing laws and regulations pertaining thereto; and the same person shall pay a monthly tax to be computed at the rate of not more than six dollars ($6.00) per month, as determined by the council, multiplied by the number of spaces which, on the first day of each month, in each licensed trailer coach park are in actual use and operation for occupancy by any trailer coach designed for dwelling and sleeping purposes.
Any person liable for the taxes imposed under the authority of this section who: (a) willfully fails to pay such taxes; or (b) willfully fails to file any return required; or (c) willfully makes any false statement or misleading omission in any return filed as required; or (d) violates the provisions of any resolution, or ordinance or law adopted under the authority of this section shall be subject to punishment for a class A violation as set forth in section 1-19 of chapter 1 of the County Code. (Mont. Co. Code 1965, § 2-128; 1961, ch. 488, § 1; 1983 L.M.C., ch. 22, § 56.)
(a) Authority to impose tax; purpose. The county council is empowered and authorized to levy and impose by resolution a revenue tax on all assessable property in the county to create a special fund to be used to plan, develop, finance and cause to be operated improved transit facilities located in the county, necessary or useful in rendering transit service between points in the county, by means of rail, bus, water or air and any other mode of travel, including without limitation, tracks, rights-of-way, bridges, tunnels, subways, rolling stock for rail, motor vehicles, marine and air transportation, stations, terminals and ports, areas for parking and all equipment, fixtures, buildings and structures and services incidental to, or required in connection with the performance of transit services.
(b) Rate of tax. The rate or amount of tax shall be no less than three cents ($0.03) per one hundred dollars ($100.00) of assessed value of all assessable property within the county.
(c) Payment of proceeds into special fund; disbursements. The director of finance shall pay into a special fund in the treasury all taxes, penalties and interest collected and received by him pursuant to this section. Such proceeds shall be disbursed upon the warrant of the director only for the purposes set out in subsection (a) above or for any of the purposes set forth in chapter 870 of the Laws of Maryland 1965, as amended, including the county's obligation to the Washington Suburban Transit District under any contract or agreement between such district and the Washington Metropolitan Area Transit Authority but excluding any appropriations required to meet the administrative expenses of the district pursuant to section 15 of Chapter 870, Laws of Maryland 1965. (1967 L.M.C., Ex. Sess., ch. 4, § 1.)
Cross reference-Transit facilities, ch. 54A.
State law reference-Washington Metropolitan Area Transit Authority generally, Ann. Code of Md., Transportation article, §§ 10-202 to 10-204.
(a) (1) A tax is levied and imposed on every person transmitting, distributing, manufacturing, producing, or supplying electricity, gas, steam, coal, fuel oil, or liquefied petroleum gas in the County.
(2) The County Council must set the rates for various forms of fuel and energy by a resolution adopted under Section 52-17(c). The Council may, from time to time, revise, amend, increase, or decrease the rates, including setting different rates for fuel or energy delivered for different categories of final consumption, such as residential or agricultural use. Each rate must be based on a weight or other unit of measure regularly used in the conduct of business. The rate for each form of fuel or energy should impose an equal or substantially equal tax on the equivalent energy content of each form of fuel or energy for a particular category of use.
(3) The tax does not apply to the transmission or distribution of electricity, gas, steam, coal, fuel oil, or liquefied petroleum gas in interstate commerce through the County if the tax would exceed the taxing power of the County under the United States Constitution. The tax does not apply to fuel or energy converted to another form of energy that will be subject to a tax under this Section. The tax must not be imposed at more than one point in the transmission, distribution, manufacture, production, or supply system. The rates of tax apply to the quantities measured at the point of delivery for final consumption in the County. For an electric company (as defined in state law), the rates of tax apply to the net consumption that is used to calculate each consumer bill.
(4) The tax does not apply to energy that is generated from a renewable source located:
(A) in the County and either used on the site where it is generated or subject to a net energy metering agreement (as defined in state law) with a public utility; or
(B) in the same electric service territory in Maryland as the subscriber using the energy and subject to a virtual net energy metering agreement (as defined in state law) with a public utility.
Renewable source means a “Tier 1 renewable source” as defined in Section 7-701(l) of the Public Utilities Article of the Maryland Code or any successor provision.
(b)
Person
as used in this Section means any individual or legal entity, and includes any corporation, company, association, firm, partnership, group of individuals acting as a unit, trustee, receiver, assignee or personal representative. Director in this Section means the Director of Finance or the Director’s designee.
(c) Every person who transmits, distributes, manufactures, produces, or supplies fuel or energy in the County must pay the tax and report any information required by the Director for each calendar month on or before the last day of the following month. With the written permission of the Director, a person who regularly owes taxes under this Section may pay the tax and make reports on a quarterly basis, on or before the 15th day of April, July, October, and January in each year for the preceding 3 months.
(d) If any person does not pay the tax due under this Section or file a proper return to the Director by the time and in the amount required, that person is liable for interest on the amount of tax due at the rate of ½ of one percent per month on the amount of the tax for each month or part of a month after the tax is due, and a penalty of 10 percent of the amount of the tax. Any interest and penalty due may be collected as a part of the tax.
(e) If any person does not timely file any report and pay the tax required under this Section, the Director may use any available information to estimate the tax due. As soon as the Director obtains available information on which to base the calculation of any tax payable by any person who has not timely filed any report and paid the tax, the Director may assess against that person any tax, interest, and penalties due and must notify that person of the total amount due by regular mail sent to the person’s last known address. The total amount assessed is due and payable within 10 days after the notice is sent.
(f) Every person liable for any tax under this Section must preserve, for 2 years, any records necessary to calculate the amount of tax due, which the Director may inspect at any reasonable time.
(g) If any person required to pay a tax under this Section stops doing business or otherwise transfers ownership or control of the business, any tax payable under this Section is immediately due, and the person must immediately file a report and pay any tax due.
(h) The Director may adopt a regulation, by Method 2, to assess, collect, audit, and otherwise administer the tax imposed by this Section. If the Council by resolution establishes different rates for different categories of fuel-energy use, the regulations may specify how the Director will determine whether a taxpayer qualifies under the resolution for any rate that is less than the maximum rate.
(i) Any violation of this Section is a class A violation. Each violation is a separate offense. Any conviction does not relieve any person from paying any tax due.
(j) The Council must appropriate 10% of the revenue received by the County from the fuel-energy tax each year to the nonprofit corporation designated as the Montgomery County Green Bank under Section 18A-46.
(k) Any funds which under this section are given to the nonprofit corporation designated as the Montgomery County Green Bank under Section 18A-46 must only be used to promote the investment in clean energy technologies and to provide financing for clean energy technologies, including renewable energy and energy efficiency projects and must not be used for resiliency activities.
(1971 L.M.C., ch. 52, § 1; Res. No. 8-238; 1983 L.M.C., ch. 22, § 56; 2003 L.M.C., ch. 28, § 1; Res. No. 15-412; 2014 L.M.C., ch. 1, § 1; 2014 L.M.C., ch. 24, § 1; 2017 L.M.C., ch. 15, §1; 2022 L.M.C., ch. 2, §1; 2023 L.M.C., ch. 27, § 1.)
Editor’s note—2022 L.M.C., ch. 2, §2, states: Sec. 2. Effective date; report. The amendments in Section 1 take effect on July 1, 2022. The Director of the Department of Environmental Protection must submit a report to the Council and the Executive on or before May 1, 2023 estimating the cost of converting fossil fuel mechanical energy equipment to electric power.
2014 L.M.C., ch. 24, § 2, states in part: (b) This Act applies to energy delivered before or after this Act takes effect.
(a) (1) A person who owns a telephone line for the reception, transmission or communication of messages by telephone, or leases, licenses, or sells telephonic communication in the County must pay a tax on the following services furnished to customers with a billing address or fixed service address in the County:
(A) each residence, business, or PBX local exchange access line or trunk line (except telephone lifeline service customers);
(B) each wireless telephone line; and
(C) each Centrex local exchange access line or trunk line.
(2) The Council must by resolution adopted after advertisement and public hearing in accordance with Section 52-17(c) set the monthly tax rate for each type of line listed in paragraph (1). A person subject to the tax imposed under this section must pay a tax equal to the sum of each line multiplied by the tax rate for that line.
(b) In this section:
(1) Line means a connection to the local telephone exchange through a unique telephone number.
(2) Person means any individual, corporation, company, association, firm, or co- partnership, or any group of individuals acting as a unit, and includes any trustee, receiver, assignee or personal representative.
(3) Wireless telephone means any equipment or instrument that transmits:
(A) cellular telephone service;
(B) personal communication service; or
(C) any other commercial mobile radio service as defined by the Federal Communications Commission.
(c) Every person liable for the tax must pay the tax and must report upon such forms and set forth such information as the director of finance may prescribe. The report and payment of the tax must be made on or before the fifteenth day of each month, covering the immediate preceding calendar month. Any person liable for the tax may, upon written application to and with the consent of the Director of Finance, make reports and remittances on a quarterly basis instead of the monthly basis. Quarterly reports and remittance must be made on or before the fifteenth day of April, July, October and January in each year, and must cover the three (3) immediately preceding months.
(d) If any person fails or refuses to remit the tax required to be paid or to make a proper return to the director of finance, within the time and in the amount specified, that person is liable for:
(1) Interest on the amount of tax due at the rate of one (1) percent per month for each month or part of a month after the date upon which the tax is due; and
(2) A penalty of five (5) percent of the amount of the tax per month or part of a month, not to exceed a total of twenty-five (25) percent of the tax. The interest and penalty is collected as a part of the tax.
(e) If any person fails or refuses to make any report and remittance required within the time provided, the Director of Finance must obtain information on which to base the Director's estimate of the tax due. As soon as the Director obtains sufficient information upon which to base the assessment of any tax due, the Director must assess against the person the tax and penalties. The Director must notify the person by mail sent to the person's last-known place of address of the total amount of the tax, interest and penalties. The total amount is payable within ten (10) days after the date of the notice.
(f) Every person liable for the payment of any tax must keep and preserve, for two (2) years, suitable records necessary to determine the amount of the tax as that person may have been liable for to the County. The Director of Finance may inspect the records at all reasonable times.
(g) Whenever any person subject to tax stops doing business or otherwise disposes of the business, any tax payable to the County is immediately due and payable and the person must immediately make a report and pay any tax due.
(h) A person is entitled to a refund, under procedures in State law, of the tax paid on any wireless telephone line billed to an address in the County for wireless telephone service that is not available in the County.
(i) Any violation or failure to comply with this section is a class A violation. Each violation is a separate offense. A conviction does not relieve any person from the payment, collection or remittance of the tax. (1971 L.M.C., ch. 51, §§ 1, 2; Res. No. 8-239; 1983 L.M.C., ch. 22, § 56; 1989 L.M.C., ch. 18, § 1; Res. No. 12-193; 1996 L.M.C., ch. 17, § 2.)
Editor's note-Section 1 of 1989 L.M.C., ch. 18, amended § 52-15 in its entirety. Section 2 of the act reads as follows: Sec. 2. Rate of Tax. The rate of the tax levied under section 52-15 from January 1, 1984 until the effective date of this act [January 23, 1989] is 62 cents per month on each residence, business or PBX local exchange access line or trunk line furnished to customers within the County, and 6.2 cents per month on each Centrex local exchange access line or trunk line furnished to customers within the County.
Resolution No. 12-193, adopted May 8, 1991, effective May 1, 1991, amended the rates of the telephone tax levied under Section 52-15 as follows: $1.25 per month on each residence, business or PBX local exchange access line or trunk line furnished to customers (except telephone lifeline services customers) in the County; and 12.5 cents per month on each Centrex local exchange access line or trunk line furnished to customers in the County. This resolution expired on June 30, 1995.
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