HB0224eng 95TH GENERAL ASSEMBLY

HB0224 Engrossed LRB095 03843 BDD 23874 b

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 changing Section 5-1035.1 as follows:

(55 ILCS 5/5-1035.1) (from Ch. 34, par. 5-1035.1)

Sec. 5-1035.1. County Motor Fuel Tax Law.

(a) The county board of the counties of DuPage, Kane and McHenry may, by an ordinance or resolution adopted by an affirmative vote of a majority of the members elected or appointed to the county board, impose a tax upon all persons engaged in the county in the business of selling motor fuel, as now or hereafter defined in the Motor Fuel Tax Law, at retail for the operation of motor vehicles upon public highways or for the operation of recreational watercraft upon waterways. Kane County may exempt diesel fuel from the tax imposed pursuant to this Section. The tax may be imposed, in half-cent increments, at a rate not exceeding 4 cents per gallon of motor fuel sold at retail within the county for the purpose of use or consumption and not for the purpose of resale.

(b) The county boards of the counties of Will, Kendall, Boone, Lake, DeKalb, and Grundy may impose a tax upon all persons engaged in the county in the business of selling motor fuel, as defined in subsection (a), at retail for the operation of motor vehicles upon public highways or for the operation of recreational watercraft upon waterways. A county imposing the tax under this subsection (b) may exempt diesel fuel from the tax. The tax may be imposed, in half-cent increments, at a rate not exceeding 4 cents per gallon of motor fuel sold at retail within the county for the purpose of use or consumption and not for the purpose of resale.

The tax under this subsection (b) may not be imposed until the question of imposing the tax has been submitted to the electors of the county at a regular election and approved by a majority of the electors voting on the question. The county board must certify the question to the proper election authority, which must submit the question at an election in accordance with the Election Code.

The election authority must submit the question in substantially the following form:

Shall the county board of (name of county) be authorized to impose a tax upon all persons engaged in the county in the business of selling motor fuel at retail for the operation of motor vehicles upon public highways or for the operation of recreational watercraft upon waterways at a rate of (number of cents) cents per gallon of motor fuel sold? The election authority must record the votes as "Yes" or "No".

If a majority of the electors voting on the question vote in the affirmative, then the county may, thereafter, impose the tax by an ordinance or resolution adopted by an affirmative vote of a majority of the members elected or appointed to the county board.

(c) The proceeds from the tax imposed under this Section shall be used by the county solely for the purpose of operating, constructing, and improving public highways and waterways, and acquiring real property and rights-of-way right-of-ways for public highways and waterways within the county imposing the tax.

(d) A tax imposed pursuant to this Section, and all civil penalties that may be assessed as an incident thereof, shall be administered, collected and enforced by the Illinois Department of Revenue in the same manner as the tax imposed under the Retailers' Occupation Tax Act, as now or hereafter amended, insofar as may be practicable; except that in the event of a conflict with the provisions of this Section, this Section shall control. The Department of Revenue 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.

Whenever the Department determines that a refund shall 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 County Option Motor Fuel Tax Fund.

The Department shall forthwith pay over to the State Treasurer, ex-officio, as trustee, all taxes and penalties collected hereunder, which shall be deposited into the County Option Motor Fuel Tax Fund, a special fund in the State Treasury which is hereby created. On or before the 25th day of each calendar month, the Department shall prepare and certify to the State Comptroller the disbursement of stated sums of money to named counties for which taxpayers 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 from retailers within the county during the second preceding calendar month by the Department, but 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; less the amount expended during the second preceding month by the Department pursuant to appropriation from the County Option Motor Fuel Tax Fund for the administration and enforcement of this Section, which appropriation shall not exceed $200,000 for fiscal year 1990 and, for each year thereafter, shall not exceed 2% of the amount deposited into the County Option Motor Fuel Tax Fund during the preceding fiscal year.

(e) 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.

(f) An ordinance or resolution imposing a tax hereunder or effecting a change in the rate thereof shall be 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 of Revenue, 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 hereunder, or upon the discontinuance of the tax, the county board of the county shall, on or 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 of Revenue a certified copy of the ordinance or resolution effecting the change or discontinuance.

(g) This Section shall be known and may be cited as the County Motor Fuel Tax Law.

(Source: P.A. 86-1028; 87-289.)