None of the taxes authorized by this Section may be imposed with respect
to any transaction in interstate commerce or otherwise to the extent to
which the business or privilege may not, under the constitution and statutes
of the United States, be made the subject of taxation by this State or any
political sub-division thereof; nor shall any persons engaged in the business
of distributing, supplying, furnishing, selling or transmitting gas, water,
or electricity, or using or consuming electricity acquired in a purchase at
retail, be subject to taxation under the provisions of this Section for those
transactions that are or may become subject to taxation under the provisions
of the Municipal Retailers' Occupation Tax Act authorized by Section 8-11-1;
nor shall any tax authorized by this Section be imposed upon any person engaged
in a business or on any privilege unless the tax is imposed in like manner and
at the same rate upon all persons engaged in businesses of the same class in
the municipality, whether privately or municipally owned or operated, or
exercising the same privilege within the municipality.
Any of the taxes enumerated in this Section may be in addition to the
payment of money, or value of products or services furnished to the
municipality by the taxpayer as compensation for the use of its streets,
alleys, or other public places, or installation and maintenance therein,
thereon or thereunder of poles, wires, pipes, or other equipment used in the
operation of the taxpayer's business.
(a) If the corporate authorities of any home rule municipality have adopted
an ordinance that imposed a tax on public utility customers, between July 1,
1971, and October 1, 1981, on the good faith belief that they were exercising
authority pursuant to Section 6 of Article VII of the 1970 Illinois
Constitution, that action of the corporate authorities shall be declared legal
and valid, notwithstanding a later decision of a judicial tribunal declaring
the ordinance invalid. No municipality shall be required to rebate, refund, or
issue credits for any taxes described in this paragraph, and those taxes shall
be deemed to have been levied and collected in accordance with the Constitution
and laws of this State.
(b) In any case in which (i) prior to October 19, 1979, the corporate
authorities of any municipality have adopted an ordinance imposing a tax
authorized by this Section (or by the predecessor provision of the Revised
Cities and Villages Act) and have explicitly or in practice interpreted gross
receipts to include either charges added to customers' bills pursuant to the
provision of paragraph (a) of Section 36 of the Public Utilities Act or charges
added to customers' bills by taxpayers who are not subject to rate regulation
by the Illinois Commerce Commission for the purpose of recovering any of the
tax liabilities or other amounts specified in such paragraph (a) of Section 36
of that Act, and (ii) on or after October 19, 1979, a judicial tribunal has
construed gross receipts to exclude all or part of those charges, then neither that
municipality nor any taxpayer who paid the tax shall be required to
rebate, refund, or issue credits for any tax imposed or charge collected from
customers pursuant to the municipality's interpretation prior to October 19,
1979. This paragraph reflects a legislative finding that it would be contrary
to the public interest to require a municipality or its taxpayers to refund
taxes or charges attributable to the municipality's more inclusive
interpretation of gross receipts prior to October 19, 1979, and is not
intended to prescribe or limit judicial construction of this Section. The
legislative finding set forth in this subsection does not apply to taxes
imposed after January 1, 1996 (the effective date of Public Act 89-325).
(c) The tax authorized by subparagraph 3 shall be
collected from the purchaser by the person maintaining a
place of business in this State who delivers the electricity
to the purchaser. This tax shall constitute a debt of the
purchaser to the person who delivers the electricity to the
purchaser and if unpaid, is recoverable in the same manner as
the original charge for delivering the electricity. Any tax
required to be collected pursuant to an ordinance authorized
by subparagraph 3 and any such tax collected by a person
delivering electricity shall constitute a debt owed to the
municipality by such person delivering the electricity, provided, that the
person delivering electricity shall be allowed credit for such tax related to
deliveries of electricity the charges for which are written off as
uncollectible, and provided further, that if such charges are thereafter
collected, the delivering supplier shall be obligated to remit such tax. For
purposes of this subsection (c), any partial payment not specifically
identified by the purchaser shall be deemed to be for the delivery of
electricity. Persons delivering electricity shall collect the tax from the
purchaser by adding such tax to the gross charge for
delivering the electricity, in the manner prescribed by the
municipality. Persons delivering electricity shall also be
authorized to add to such gross charge an amount equal to 3%
of the tax to reimburse the person delivering
electricity for the expenses incurred in keeping records,
billing customers, preparing and filing returns, remitting the
tax and supplying data to the municipality upon request. If
the person delivering electricity fails to collect the tax
from the purchaser, then the purchaser shall be required to
pay the tax directly to the municipality in the manner
prescribed by the municipality. Persons delivering
electricity who file returns pursuant to this paragraph (c)
shall, at the time of filing such return, pay the municipality
the amount of the tax collected pursuant to subparagraph 3.
(d) For the purpose of the taxes enumerated in this Section:
"Gross receipts" means the consideration received for distributing, supplying,
furnishing or selling gas for use or consumption and not for resale, and the
consideration received for distributing, supplying, furnishing or selling
water for use or consumption and not for resale, and for all services
rendered in connection therewith valued in money, whether received in money
or otherwise, including cash, credit, services and property of every kind
and material and for all services rendered therewith, and shall be
determined without any deduction on account of the cost of the service,
product or commodity supplied, the cost of materials used, labor or service
cost, or any other expenses whatsoever. "Gross receipts" shall not include
that portion of the consideration received for distributing, supplying,
furnishing, or selling gas or water to business enterprises described in
paragraph (e) of this Section to the extent and during the period in which the
exemption authorized by paragraph (e) is in effect or for school districts or
units of local government described in paragraph (f) during the period in which
the exemption authorized in paragraph (f) is in effect.
For utility bills issued on or after May 1, 1996, but before May 1, 1997,
and for receipts from those utility bills, "gross receipts" does not include
one-third of (i) amounts added to customers' bills under Section 9-222 of the
Public Utilities Act, or (ii) amounts added to customers' bills by taxpayers
who are not subject to rate regulation by the Illinois Commerce Commission for
the purpose of recovering any of the tax liabilities described in Section
9-222 of the Public Utilities Act. For utility bills issued on or after May 1,
1997, but before May 1, 1998, and for receipts from those utility bills, "gross
receipts" does not include two-thirds of (i) amounts added to customers' bills
under Section 9-222 of the Public Utilities Act, or (ii) amount added to
customers' bills by taxpayers who are not subject to rate regulation by the
Illinois Commerce Commission for the purpose of recovering any of the tax
liabilities described in Section 9-222 of the Public Utilities Act. For
utility bills issued on or after May 1, 1998, and for receipts from those
utility bills, "gross receipts" does not include (i) amounts added to
customers' bills under Section 9-222 of the Public Utilities Act, or (ii)
amounts added to customers' bills by taxpayers who are
not subject to rate regulation by the Illinois Commerce Commission for the
purpose of recovering any of the tax liabilities described in Section 9-222
of the Public Utilities Act.
For purposes of this Section "gross receipts" shall not include amounts
added to customers' bills under Section 9-221 of the Public Utilities Act.
This paragraph is not intended to nor does it make any change in the meaning
of "gross receipts" for the purposes of this Section, but is intended to
remove possible ambiguities, thereby confirming the existing meaning of
"gross receipts" prior to January 1, 1996 (the effective date of Public Act 89-325).
"Person" as used in this Section means any natural individual, firm,
trust, estate, partnership, association, joint stock company, joint
adventure, corporation, limited liability company, municipal corporation,
the State or any of its political subdivisions, any State university created
by statute, or a receiver, trustee, guardian or other representative appointed
by order of any court.
"Person maintaining a place of business in this State"
shall mean any person having or maintaining within this State,
directly or by a subsidiary or other affiliate, an office,
generation facility, distribution facility, transmission
facility, sales office or other place of business, or any
employee, agent, or other representative operating within this
State under the authority of the person or its subsidiary or
other affiliate, irrespective of whether such place of
business or agent or other representative is located in this
State permanently or temporarily, or whether such person,
subsidiary or other affiliate is licensed or qualified to do
business in this State.
"Public utility" shall have the meaning ascribed to it in Section 3-105
of the Public Utilities Act and shall include alternative retail
electric suppliers as defined in Section 16-102 of that Act.
"Purchase at retail" shall mean any acquisition of
electricity by a purchaser for purposes of use or consumption,
and not for resale, but shall not include the use of
electricity by a public utility directly in the generation,
production, transmission, delivery or sale of electricity.
"Purchaser" shall mean any person who uses or consumes,
within the corporate limits of the municipality, electricity
acquired in a purchase at retail.
(e) Any municipality that imposes taxes upon public utilities or upon the
privilege of using or consuming electricity pursuant to this Section whose
territory includes any part of an enterprise zone or federally designated
Foreign Trade Zone or Sub-Zone may, by a majority vote of its corporate
authorities, exempt from those taxes for a period not exceeding 20 years any
specified percentage of gross receipts of public utilities received from, or
electricity used or consumed by, business enterprises that:
(1) either (i) make investments that cause the
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