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91_SB1572
LRB9110278SMdv
1 AN ACT to amend the Illinois Municipal Code by changing
2 Section 8-11-2.
3 Be it enacted by the People of the State of Illinois,
4 represented in the General Assembly:
5 Section 5. The Illinois Municipal Code is amended by
6 changing Section 8-11-2 as follows:
7 (65 ILCS 5/8-11-2) (from Ch. 24, par. 8-11-2)
8 Sec. 8-11-2. The corporate authorities of any
9 municipality may tax any or all of the following occupations
10 or privileges:
11 1. Persons engaged in the business of transmitting
12 messages by means of electricity or radio magnetic waves,
13 or fiber optics, at a rate not to exceed 5% of the gross
14 receipts from that business originating within the
15 corporate limits of the municipality.
16 2. Persons engaged in the business of distributing,
17 supplying, furnishing, or selling gas for use or
18 consumption within the corporate limits of a municipality
19 of 500,000 or fewer population, and not for resale, at a
20 rate not to exceed 5% of the gross receipts therefrom.
21 2a. Persons engaged in the business of
22 distributing, supplying, furnishing, or selling gas for
23 use or consumption within the corporate limits of a
24 municipality of over 500,000 population, and not for
25 resale, at a rate not to exceed 8% of the gross receipts
26 therefrom. If imposed, this tax shall be paid in monthly
27 payments.
28 3. The privilege of using or consuming electricity
29 acquired in a purchase at retail and used or consumed
30 within the corporate limits of the municipality at rates
31 not to exceed the following maximum rates, calculated on
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1 a monthly basis for each purchaser:
2 (i) For the first 2,000 kilowatt-hours used or
3 consumed in a month; 0.61 cents per kilowatt-hour;
4 (ii) For the next 48,000 kilowatt-hours used or
5 consumed in a month; 0.40 cents per kilowatt-hour;
6 (iii) For the next 50,000 kilowatt-hours used or
7 consumed in a month; 0.36 cents per kilowatt-hour;
8 (iv) For the next 400,000 kilowatt-hours used or
9 consumed in a month; 0.35 cents per kilowatt-hour;
10 (v) For the next 500,000 kilowatt-hours used or
11 consumed in a month; 0.34 cents per kilowatt-hour;
12 (vi) For the next 2,000,000 kilowatt-hours used or
13 consumed in a month; 0.32 cents per kilowatt-hour;
14 (vii) For the next 2,000,000 kilowatt-hours used or
15 consumed in a month; 0.315 cents per kilowatt-hour;
16 (viii) For the next 5,000,000 kilowatt-hours used
17 or consumed in a month; 0.31 cents per kilowatt-hour;
18 (ix) For the next 10,000,000 kilowatt-hours used or
19 consumed in a month; 0.305 cents per kilowatt-hour; and
20 (x) For all electricity used or consumed in excess
21 of 20,000,000 kilowatt-hours in a month, 0.30 cents per
22 kilowatt-hour.
23 If a municipality imposes a tax at rates lower than
24 either the maximum rates specified in this Section or the
25 alternative maximum rates promulgated by the Illinois
26 Commerce Commission, as provided below, the tax rates
27 shall be imposed upon the kilowatt hour categories set
28 forth above with the same proportional relationship as
29 that which exists among such maximum rates.
30 Notwithstanding the foregoing, until December 31, 2008,
31 no municipality shall establish rates that are in excess
32 of rates reasonably calculated to produce revenues that
33 equal the maximum total revenues such municipality could
34 have received under the tax authorized by this
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1 subparagraph in the last full calendar year prior to the
2 effective date of Section 65 of this amendatory Act of
3 1997; provided that this shall not be a limitation on the
4 amount of tax revenues actually collected by such
5 municipality.
6 Upon the request of the corporate authorities of a
7 municipality, the Illinois Commerce Commission shall,
8 within 90 days after receipt of such request, promulgate
9 alternative rates for each of these kilowatt-hour
10 categories that will reflect, as closely as reasonably
11 practical for that municipality, the distribution of the
12 tax among classes of purchasers as if the tax were based
13 on a uniform percentage of the purchase price of
14 electricity. A municipality that has adopted an
15 ordinance imposing a tax pursuant to subparagraph 3 as it
16 existed prior to the effective date of Section 65 of this
17 amendatory Act of 1997 may, rather than imposing the tax
18 permitted by this amendatory Act of 1997, continue to
19 impose the tax pursuant to that ordinance with respect to
20 gross receipts received from residential customers
21 through July 31, 1999, and with respect to gross receipts
22 from any non-residential customer until the first bill
23 issued to such customer for delivery services in
24 accordance with Section 16-104 of the Public Utilities
25 Act but in no case later than the last bill issued to
26 such customer before December 31, 2000. No ordinance
27 imposing the tax permitted by this amendatory Act of 1997
28 shall be applicable to any non-residential customer until
29 the first bill issued to such customer for delivery
30 services in accordance with Section 16-104 of the Public
31 Utilities Act but in no case later than the last bill
32 issued to such non-residential customer before December
33 31, 2000.
34 The taxes imposed under this subparagraph 3 shall
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1 not be in addition to the tax authorized by subsection
2 (c-5), but rather shall be an alternative method to
3 impose the tax.
4 4. Persons engaged in the business of distributing,
5 supplying, furnishing, or selling water for use or
6 consumption within the corporate limits of the
7 municipality, and not for resale, at a rate not to exceed
8 5% of the gross receipts therefrom.
9 None of the taxes authorized by this Section may be
10 imposed with respect to any transaction in interstate
11 commerce or otherwise to the extent to which the business or
12 privilege may not, under the constitution and statutes of the
13 United States, be made the subject of taxation by this State
14 or any political sub-division thereof; nor shall any persons
15 engaged in the business of distributing, supplying,
16 furnishing, selling or transmitting gas, water, or
17 electricity, or engaged in the business of transmitting
18 messages, or using or consuming electricity acquired in a
19 purchase at retail, be subject to taxation under the
20 provisions of this Section for those transactions that are or
21 may become subject to taxation under the provisions of the
22 "Municipal Retailers' Occupation Tax Act" authorized by
23 Section 8-11-1; nor shall any tax authorized by this Section
24 be imposed upon any person engaged in a business or on any
25 privilege unless the tax is imposed in like manner and at the
26 same rate upon all persons engaged in businesses of the same
27 class in the municipality, whether privately or municipally
28 owned or operated, or exercising the same privilege within
29 the municipality.
30 Any of the taxes enumerated in this Section may be in
31 addition to the payment of money, or value of products or
32 services furnished to the municipality by the taxpayer as
33 compensation for the use of its streets, alleys, or other
34 public places, or installation and maintenance therein,
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1 thereon or thereunder of poles, wires, pipes or other
2 equipment used in the operation of the taxpayer's business.
3 (a) If the corporate authorities of any home rule
4 municipality have adopted an ordinance that imposed a tax on
5 public utility customers, between July 1, 1971, and October
6 1, 1981, on the good faith belief that they were exercising
7 authority pursuant to Section 6 of Article VII of the 1970
8 Illinois Constitution, that action of the corporate
9 authorities shall be declared legal and valid,
10 notwithstanding a later decision of a judicial tribunal
11 declaring the ordinance invalid. No municipality shall be
12 required to rebate, refund, or issue credits for any taxes
13 described in this paragraph, and those taxes shall be deemed
14 to have been levied and collected in accordance with the
15 Constitution and laws of this State.
16 (b) In any case in which (i) prior to October 19, 1979,
17 the corporate authorities of any municipality have adopted an
18 ordinance imposing a tax authorized by this Section (or by
19 the predecessor provision of the "Revised Cities and Villages
20 Act") and have explicitly or in practice interpreted gross
21 receipts to include either charges added to customers' bills
22 pursuant to the provision of paragraph (a) of Section 36 of
23 the Public Utilities Act or charges added to customers' bills
24 by taxpayers who are not subject to rate regulation by the
25 Illinois Commerce Commission for the purpose of recovering
26 any of the tax liabilities or other amounts specified in such
27 paragraph (a) of Section 36 of that Act, and (ii) on or after
28 October 19, 1979, a judicial tribunal has construed gross
29 receipts to exclude all or part of those charges, then
30 neither those municipality nor any taxpayer who paid the tax
31 shall be required to rebate, refund, or issue credits for any
32 tax imposed or charge collected from customers pursuant to
33 the municipality's interpretation prior to October 19, 1979.
34 This paragraph reflects a legislative finding that it would
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1 be contrary to the public interest to require a municipality
2 or its taxpayers to refund taxes or charges attributable to
3 the municipality's more inclusive interpretation of gross
4 receipts prior to October 19, 1979, and is not intended to
5 prescribe or limit judicial construction of this Section. The
6 legislative finding set forth in this subsection does not
7 apply to taxes imposed after the effective date of this
8 amendatory Act of 1995.
9 (c) The tax authorized by subparagraph 3 shall be
10 collected from the purchaser by the person maintaining a
11 place of business in this State who delivers the electricity
12 to the purchaser. This tax shall constitute a debt of the
13 purchaser to the person who delivers the electricity to the
14 purchaser and if unpaid, is recoverable in the same manner as
15 the original charge for delivering the electricity. Any tax
16 required to be collected pursuant to an ordinance authorized
17 by subparagraph 3 and any such tax collected by a person
18 delivering electricity shall constitute a debt owed to the
19 municipality by such person delivering the electricity,
20 provided, that the person delivering electricity shall be
21 allowed credit for such tax related to deliveries of
22 electricity the charges for which are written off as
23 uncollectible, and provided further, that if such charges are
24 thereafter collected, the delivering supplier shall be
25 obligated to remit such tax. For purposes of this subsection
26 (c), any partial payment not specifically identified by the
27 purchaser shall be deemed to be for the delivery of
28 electricity. Persons delivering electricity shall collect the
29 tax from the purchaser by adding such tax to the gross charge
30 for delivering the electricity, in the manner prescribed by
31 the municipality. Persons delivering electricity shall also
32 be authorized to add to such gross charge an amount equal to
33 3% of the tax to reimburse the person delivering electricity
34 for the expenses incurred in keeping records, billing
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1 customers, preparing and filing returns, remitting the tax
2 and supplying data to the municipality upon request. If the
3 person delivering electricity fails to collect the tax from
4 the purchaser, then the purchaser shall be required to pay
5 the tax directly to the municipality in the manner prescribed
6 by the municipality. Persons delivering electricity who file
7 returns pursuant to this paragraph (c) shall, at the time of
8 filing such return, pay the municipality the amount of the
9 tax collected pursuant to subparagraph 3.
10 (c-5) A municipality having a population of less than
11 500,000 may, by ordinance, allow a purchaser for
12 non-residential electrical use (i) to elect to register with
13 the municipality as a self-assessing purchaser in relation to
14 payment of the tax imposed by subparagraph 3, on the
15 privilege of using or consuming electricity, and (ii) to pay
16 the tax imposed by subparagraph 3 directly to the
17 municipality on the basis of the uniform percentage of the
18 gross purchase price of electricity purchased at retail and
19 used in the municipality rather than paying the tax to the
20 purchaser's delivering supplier. The maximum rate of tax for
21 a self-assessing purchaser may not exceed 5% and the minimum
22 rate of tax shall be no less than and, until December 31,
23 2008, the maximum rate of tax shall be no more than, the rate
24 the municipality applied in the last full calendar year prior
25 to the effective date of Section 65 of Public Act 90-561
26 (August 1, 1998) based on the purchase price of the
27 electricity purchased at retail and used in the community as
28 calculated on a monthly basis for each purchaser. The
29 municipality shall establish by ordinance the requirements
30 for (i) the voluntary election, registration, and termination
31 of a self-assessing purchaser, (ii) direct return and payment
32 of the taxes to the municipality by a self-assessing
33 purchaser, and (iii) the rate of tax applied, which shall be
34 the percent of the gross purchase price as provided in this
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1 subsection up to but not exceeding 5%. The taxes imposed
2 under this subsection (c-5) shall not be in addition to the
3 tax authorized by subparagraph 3, but rather shall be an
4 alternative method to impose the tax.
5 (d) For the purpose of the taxes enumerated in this
6 Section:
7 "Gross receipts" means the consideration received for the
8 transmission of messages, the consideration received for
9 distributing, supplying, furnishing or selling gas for use or
10 consumption and not for resale, and the consideration
11 received for distributing, supplying, furnishing or selling
12 water for use or consumption and not for resale, and for all
13 services rendered in connection therewith valued in money,
14 whether received in money or otherwise, including cash,
15 credit, services and property of every kind and material and
16 for all services rendered therewith, and shall be determined
17 without any deduction on account of the cost of transmitting
18 such messages, without any deduction on account of the cost
19 of the service, product or commodity supplied, the cost of
20 materials used, labor or service cost, or any other expenses
21 whatsoever. "Gross receipts" shall not include that portion
22 of the consideration received for distributing, supplying,
23 furnishing, or selling gas or water to, or for the
24 transmission of messages for, business enterprises described
25 in paragraph (e) of this Section to the extent and during the
26 period in which the exemption authorized by paragraph (e) is
27 in effect or for school districts or units of local
28 government described in paragraph (f) during the period in
29 which the exemption authorized in paragraph (f) is in effect.
30 "Gross receipts" shall not include amounts paid by
31 telecommunications retailers under the Telecommunications
32 Municipal Infrastructure Maintenance Fee Act.
33 For utility bills issued on or after May 1, 1996, but
34 before May 1, 1997, and for receipts from those utility
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1 bills, "gross receipts" does not include one-third of (i)
2 amounts added to customers' bills under Section 9-222 of the
3 Public Utilities Act, or (ii) amounts added to customers'
4 bills by taxpayers who are not subject to rate regulation by
5 the Illinois Commerce Commission for the purpose of
6 recovering any of the tax liabilities described in Section
7 9-222 of the Public Utilities Act. For utility bills issued
8 on or after May 1, 1997, but before May 1, 1998, and for
9 receipts from those utility bills, "gross receipts" does not
10 include two-thirds of (i) amounts added to customers' bills
11 under Section 9-222 of the Public Utilities Act, or (ii)
12 amount added to customers' bills by taxpayers who are not
13 subject to rate regulation by the Illinois Commerce
14 Commission for the purpose of recovering any of the tax
15 liabilities described in Section 9-222 of the Public
16 Utilities Act. For utility bills issued on or after May 1,
17 1998, and for receipts from those utility bills, "gross
18 receipts" does not include (i) amounts added to customers'
19 bills under Section 9-222 of the Public Utilities Act, or
20 (ii) amounts added to customers' bills by taxpayers who are
21 not subject to rate regulation by the Illinois Commerce
22 Commission for the purpose of recovering any of the tax
23 liabilities described in Section 9-222 of the Public
24 Utilities Act.
25 For purposes of this Section "gross receipts" shall not
26 include (i) amounts added to customers' bills under Section
27 9-221 of the Public Utilities Act, or (ii) charges added to
28 customers' bills to recover the surcharge imposed under the
29 Emergency Telephone System Act. This paragraph is not
30 intended to nor does it make any change in the meaning of
31 "gross receipts" for the purposes of this Section, but is
32 intended to remove possible ambiguities, thereby confirming
33 the existing meaning of "gross receipts" prior to the
34 effective date of this amendatory Act of 1995.
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1 The words "transmitting messages", in addition to the
2 usual and popular meaning of person to person communication,
3 shall include the furnishing, for a consideration, of
4 services or facilities (whether owned or leased), or both, to
5 persons in connection with the transmission of messages where
6 those persons do not, in turn, receive any consideration in
7 connection therewith, but shall not include such furnishing
8 of services or facilities to persons for the transmission of
9 messages to the extent that any such services or facilities
10 for the transmission of messages are furnished for a
11 consideration, by those persons to other persons, for the
12 transmission of messages.
13 "Person" as used in this Section means any natural
14 individual, firm, trust, estate, partnership, association,
15 joint stock company, joint adventure, corporation, limited
16 liability company, municipal corporation, the State or any of
17 its political subdivisions, any State university created by
18 statute, or a receiver, trustee, guardian or other
19 representative appointed by order of any court.
20 "Person maintaining a place of business in this State"
21 shall mean any person having or maintaining within this
22 State, directly or by a subsidiary or other affiliate, an
23 office, generation facility, distribution facility,
24 transmission facility, sales office or other place of
25 business, or any employee, agent, or other representative
26 operating within this State under the authority of the person
27 or its subsidiary or other affiliate, irrespective of whether
28 such place of business or agent or other representative is
29 located in this State permanently or temporarily, or whether
30 such person, subsidiary or other affiliate is licensed or
31 qualified to do business in this State.
32 "Public utility" shall have the meaning ascribed to it in
33 Section 3-105 of the Public Utilities Act and shall include
34 telecommunications carriers as defined in Section 13-202 of
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1 that Act and alternative retail electric suppliers as defined
2 in Section 16-102 of that Act.
3 "Purchase at retail" shall mean any acquisition of
4 electricity by a purchaser for purposes of use or
5 consumption, and not for resale, but shall not include the
6 use of electricity by a public utility directly in the
7 generation, production, transmission, delivery or sale of
8 electricity.
9 "Purchaser" shall mean any person who uses or consumes,
10 within the corporate limits of the municipality, electricity
11 acquired in a purchase at retail.
12 In the case of persons engaged in the business of
13 transmitting messages through the use of mobile equipment,
14 such as cellular phones and paging systems, the gross
15 receipts from the business shall be deemed to originate
16 within the corporate limits of a municipality only if the
17 address to which the bills for the service are sent is within
18 those corporate limits. If, however, that address is not
19 located within a municipality that imposes a tax under this
20 Section, then (i) if the party responsible for the bill is
21 not an individual, the gross receipts from the business shall
22 be deemed to originate within the corporate limits of the
23 municipality where that party's principal place of business
24 in Illinois is located, and (ii) if the party responsible for
25 the bill is an individual, the gross receipts from the
26 business shall be deemed to originate within the corporate
27 limits of the municipality where that party's principal
28 residence in Illinois is located.
29 (e) Any municipality that imposes taxes upon public
30 utilities or upon the privilege of using or consuming
31 electricity pursuant to this Section whose territory includes
32 any part of an enterprise zone or federally designated
33 Foreign Trade Zone or Sub-Zone may, by a majority vote of its
34 corporate authorities, exempt from those taxes for a period
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1 not exceeding 20 years any specified percentage of gross
2 receipts of public utilities received from, or electricity
3 used or consumed by, business enterprises that:
4 (1) either (i) make investments that cause the
5 creation of a minimum of 200 full-time equivalent jobs in
6 Illinois, (ii) make investments of at least $175,000,000
7 that cause the creation of a minimum of 150 full-time
8 equivalent jobs in Illinois, or (iii) make investments
9 that cause the retention of a minimum of 1,000 full-time
10 jobs in Illinois; and
11 (2) are either (i) located in an Enterprise Zone
12 established pursuant to the Illinois Enterprise Zone Act
13 or (ii) Department of Commerce and Community Affairs
14 designated High Impact Businesses located in a federally
15 designated Foreign Trade Zone or Sub-Zone; and
16 (3) are certified by the Department of Commerce and
17 Community Affairs as complying with the requirements
18 specified in clauses (1) and (2) of this paragraph (e).
19 Upon adoption of the ordinance authorizing the exemption,
20 the municipal clerk shall transmit a copy of that ordinance
21 to the Department of Commerce and Community Affairs. The
22 Department of Commerce and Community Affairs shall determine
23 whether the business enterprises located in the municipality
24 meet the criteria prescribed in this paragraph. If the
25 Department of Commerce and Community Affairs determines that
26 the business enterprises meet the criteria, it shall grant
27 certification. The Department of Commerce and Community
28 Affairs shall act upon certification requests within 30 days
29 after receipt of the ordinance.
30 Upon certification of the business enterprise by the
31 Department of Commerce and Community Affairs, the Department
32 of Commerce and Community Affairs shall notify the Department
33 of Revenue of the certification. The Department of Revenue
34 shall notify the public utilities of the exemption status of
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1 the gross receipts received from, and the electricity used or
2 consumed by, the certified business enterprises. Such
3 exemption status shall be effective within 3 months after
4 certification.
5 (f) A municipality that imposes taxes upon public
6 utilities or upon the privilege of using or consuming
7 electricity under this Section and whose territory includes
8 part of another unit of local government or a school district
9 may by ordinance exempt the other unit of local government or
10 school district from those taxes.
11 (g) The amendment of this Section by Public Act 84-127
12 shall take precedence over any other amendment of this
13 Section by any other amendatory Act passed by the 84th
14 General Assembly before the effective date of Public Act
15 84-127.
16 (h) In any case in which, before July 1, 1992, a person
17 engaged in the business of transmitting messages through the
18 use of mobile equipment, such as cellular phones and paging
19 systems, has determined the municipality within which the
20 gross receipts from the business originated by reference to
21 the location of its transmitting or switching equipment, then
22 (i) neither the municipality to which tax was paid on that
23 basis nor the taxpayer that paid tax on that basis shall be
24 required to rebate, refund, or issue credits for any such tax
25 or charge collected from customers to reimburse the taxpayer
26 for the tax and (ii) no municipality to which tax would have
27 been paid with respect to those gross receipts if the
28 provisions of this amendatory Act of 1991 had been in effect
29 before July 1, 1992, shall have any claim against the
30 taxpayer for any amount of the tax.
31 (Source: P.A. 89-325, eff. 1-1-96; 90-16, eff. 6-16-97;
32 90-561, eff. 8-1-98; 90-562, eff. 12-16-97; 90-655, eff.
33 7-30-98.)
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1 Section 99. Effective date. This Act takes effect upon
2 becoming law.