Public Act 095-0474
 
SB0345 Enrolled LRB095 07281 HLH 27419 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
5-1006.5 as follows:
 
    (55 ILCS 5/5-1006.5)
    Sec. 5-1006.5. Special County Retailers' Occupation Tax
For Public Safety or Transportation.
    (a) The county board of any county may impose a tax upon
all persons engaged in the business of selling tangible
personal property, other than personal property titled or
registered with an agency of this State's government, at retail
in the county on the gross receipts from the sales made in the
course of business to provide revenue to be used exclusively
for public safety or transportation purposes in that county, if
a proposition for the tax has been submitted to the electors of
that county and approved by a majority of those voting on the
question. If imposed, this tax shall be imposed only in
one-quarter percent increments. By resolution, the county
board may order the proposition to be submitted at any
election. If the tax is imposed for transportation purposes for
expenditures for public highways or as authorized under the
Illinois Highway Code, the county board must publish notice of
the existence of its long-range highway transportation plan as
required or described in Section 5-301 of the Illinois Highway
Code and must make the plan publicly available prior to
approval of the ordinance or resolution imposing the tax. If
the tax is imposed for transportation purposes for expenditures
for passenger rail transportation, the county board must
publish notice of the existence of its long-range passenger
rail transportation plan and must make the plan publicly
available prior to approval of the ordinance or resolution
imposing the tax. The county clerk shall certify the question
to the proper election authority, who shall submit the
proposition at an election in accordance with the general
election law.
        (1) The proposition for public safety purposes shall be
    in substantially the following form:
        "To pay for public safety purposes, shall (name of
    county) be authorized to impose an increase on its share of
    local sales taxes by (insert rate)?"
        As additional information on the ballot below the
    question shall appear the following:
        "This would mean that a consumer would pay an
    additional (insert amount) in sales tax for every $100 of
    tangible personal property bought at retail."
        The county board may also opt to establish a sunset
    provision at which time the additional sales tax would
    cease being collected, if not terminated earlier by a vote
    of the county board. If the county board votes to include a
    sunset provision, the proposition for public safety
    purposes shall be in substantially the following form:
        "To pay for public safety purposes, shall (name of
    county) be authorized to impose an increase on its share of
    local sales taxes by (insert rate) for a period not to
    exceed (insert number of years)?"
        As additional information on the ballot below the
    question shall appear the following:
        "This would mean that a consumer would pay an
    additional (insert amount) in sales tax for every $100 of
    tangible personal property bought at retail. If imposed,
    the additional tax would cease being collected at the end
    of (insert number of years), if not terminated earlier by a
    vote of the county board."
        "Shall (name of county) be authorized to impose a
    public safety tax at the rate of .... upon all persons
    engaged in the business of selling tangible personal
    property at retail in the county on gross receipts from the
    sales made in the course of their business?"
        For the purposes of the paragraph, "public safety
    purposes" means crime prevention, detention, fire
    fighting, police, medical, ambulance, or other emergency
    services.
        Votes shall be recorded as "Yes" or "No".
        (2) The proposition for transportation purposes shall
    be in substantially the following form:
        "To pay for improvements to roads and other
    transportation purposes, shall (name of county) be
    authorized to impose an increase on its share of local
    sales taxes by (insert rate)?"
        As additional information on the ballot below the
    question shall appear the following:
        "This would mean that a consumer would pay an
    additional (insert amount) in sales tax for every $100 of
    tangible personal property bought at retail."
        The county board may also opt to establish a sunset
    provision at which time the additional sales tax would
    cease being collected, if not terminated earlier by a vote
    of the county board. If the county board votes to include a
    sunset provision, the proposition for transportation
    purposes shall be in substantially the following form:
        "To pay for road improvements and other transportation
    purposes, shall (name of county) be authorized to impose an
    increase on its share of local sales taxes by (insert rate)
    for a period not to exceed (insert number of years)?"
        As additional information on the ballot below the
    question shall appear the following:
        "This would mean that a consumer would pay an
    additional (insert amount) in sales tax for every $100 of
    tangible personal property bought at retail. If imposed,
    the additional tax would cease being collected at the end
    of (insert number of years), if not terminated earlier by a
    vote of the county board."
        "Shall (name of county) be authorized to impose a tax
    at the rate of (insert rate) upon all persons engaged in
    the business of selling tangible personal property at
    retail in the county on gross receipts from the sales made
    in the course of their business to be used for
    transportation purposes?
        For the purposes of this paragraph, transportation
    purposes means construction, maintenance, operation, and
    improvement of public highways, any other purpose for which
    a county may expend funds under the Illinois Highway Code,
    and passenger rail transportation.
        The votes shall be recorded as "Yes" or "No".
    If a majority of the electors voting on the proposition
vote in favor of it, the county may impose the tax. A county
may not submit more than one proposition authorized by this
Section to the electors at any one time.
    This additional tax may not be imposed on the sales of food
for human consumption that is to be consumed off the premises
where it is sold (other than alcoholic beverages, soft drinks,
and food which has been prepared for immediate consumption) and
prescription and non-prescription medicines, drugs, medical
appliances and insulin, urine testing materials, syringes, and
needles used by diabetics. The tax imposed by a county under
this Section and all civil penalties that may be assessed as an
incident of the tax shall be collected and enforced by the
Illinois Department of Revenue and deposited into a special
fund created for that purpose. The certificate of registration
that is issued by the Department to a retailer under the
Retailers' Occupation Tax Act shall permit the retailer to
engage in a business that is taxable without registering
separately with the Department under an ordinance or resolution
under this Section. The Department has full power to administer
and enforce this Section, to collect all taxes and penalties
due under this Section, to dispose of taxes and penalties so
collected in the manner provided in this Section, and to
determine all rights to credit memoranda arising on account of
the erroneous payment of a tax or penalty under this Section.
In the administration of and compliance with this Section, the
Department and persons who are subject to this Section shall
(i) have the same rights, remedies, privileges, immunities,
powers, and duties, (ii) be subject to the same conditions,
restrictions, limitations, penalties, and definitions of
terms, and (iii) employ the same modes of procedure as are
prescribed in Sections 1, 1a, 1a-1, 1d, 1e, 1f, 1i, 1j, 1k, 1m,
1n, 2 through 2-70 (in respect to all provisions contained in
those Sections other than the State rate of tax), 2a, 2b, 2c, 3
(except provisions relating to transaction returns and quarter
monthly payments), 4, 5, 5a, 5b, 5c, 5d, 5e, 5f, 5g, 5h, 5i,
5j, 5k, 5l, 6, 6a, 6b, 6c, 7, 8, 9, 10, 11, 11a, 12, and 13 of
the Retailers' Occupation Tax Act and Section 3-7 of the
Uniform Penalty and Interest Act as if those provisions were
set forth in this Section.
    Persons subject to any tax imposed under the authority
granted in this Section may reimburse themselves for their
sellers' tax liability by separately stating the tax as an
additional charge, which charge may be stated in combination,
in a single amount, with State tax which sellers are required
to collect under the Use Tax Act, pursuant to such bracketed
schedules as the Department may prescribe.
    Whenever the Department determines that a refund should 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 Public Safety or Transportation
Retailers' Occupation Tax Fund.
    (b) If a tax has been imposed under subsection (a), a
service occupation tax shall also be imposed at the same rate
upon all persons engaged, in the county, in the business of
making sales of service, who, as an incident to making those
sales of service, transfer tangible personal property within
the county as an incident to a sale of service. This tax may
not be imposed on sales of food for human consumption that is
to be consumed off the premises where it is sold (other than
alcoholic beverages, soft drinks, and food prepared for
immediate consumption) and prescription and non-prescription
medicines, drugs, medical appliances and insulin, urine
testing materials, syringes, and needles used by diabetics. The
tax imposed under this subsection and all civil penalties that
may be assessed as an incident thereof shall be collected and
enforced by the Department of Revenue. The Department has full
power to administer and enforce this subsection; 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. In the
administration of, and compliance with this subsection, the
Department and persons who are subject to this paragraph shall
(i) have the same rights, remedies, privileges, immunities,
powers, and duties, (ii) be subject to the same conditions,
restrictions, limitations, penalties, exclusions, exemptions,
and definitions of terms, and (iii) employ the same modes of
procedure as are prescribed in Sections 2 (except that the
reference to State in the definition of supplier maintaining a
place of business in this State shall mean the county), 2a, 2b,
2c, 3 through 3-50 (in respect to all provisions therein other
than the State rate of tax), 4 (except that the reference to
the State shall be to the county), 5, 7, 8 (except that the
jurisdiction to which the tax shall be a debt to the extent
indicated in that Section 8 shall be the county), 9 (except as
to the disposition of taxes and penalties collected), 10, 11,
12 (except the reference therein to Section 2b of the
Retailers' Occupation Tax Act), 13 (except that any reference
to the State shall mean the county), Section 15, 16, 17, 18, 19
and 20 of the Service Occupation Tax Act and Section 3-7 of the
Uniform Penalty and Interest Act, as fully as if those
provisions were set forth herein.
    Persons subject to any tax imposed under the authority
granted in this subsection may reimburse themselves for their
serviceman's tax liability by separately stating the tax as an
additional charge, which charge may be stated in combination,
in a single amount, with State tax that servicemen are
authorized to collect under the Service Use Tax Act, in
accordance with such bracket schedules as the Department may
prescribe.
    Whenever the Department determines that a refund should be
made under this subsection to a claimant instead of issuing a
credit memorandum, the Department shall notify the State
Comptroller, who shall cause the warrant 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 Public Safety or Transportation
Retailers' Occupation Fund.
    Nothing in this subsection shall be construed to authorize
the 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 the State.
    (c) The Department shall immediately pay over to the State
Treasurer, ex officio, as trustee, all taxes and penalties
collected under this Section to be deposited into the County
Public Safety or Transportation Retailers' Occupation Tax
Fund, which shall be an unappropriated trust fund held outside
of the State treasury. On or before the 25th day of each
calendar month, the Department shall prepare and certify to the
Comptroller the disbursement of stated sums of money to the
counties from which retailers have paid taxes or penalties to
the Department during the second preceding calendar month. The
amount to be paid to each county, and deposited by the county
into its special fund created for the purposes of this Section,
shall be the amount (not including credit memoranda) collected
under this Section during the second preceding calendar month
by the Department plus an amount the Department determines is
necessary to offset any amounts that were erroneously paid to a
different taxing body, and not including (i) an amount equal to
the amount of refunds made during the second preceding calendar
month by the Department on behalf of the county and (ii) any
amount that the Department determines is necessary to offset
any amounts that were payable to a different taxing body but
were erroneously paid to the county. Within 10 days after
receipt by the Comptroller of the disbursement certification to
the counties provided for in this Section to be given to the
Comptroller by the Department, the Comptroller shall cause the
orders to be drawn for the respective amounts in accordance
with directions contained in the certification.
    In addition to the disbursement required by the preceding
paragraph, an allocation shall be made in March of each year to
each county that received more than $500,000 in disbursements
under the preceding paragraph in the preceding calendar year.
The allocation shall be in an amount equal to the average
monthly distribution made to each such county under the
preceding paragraph during the preceding calendar year
(excluding the 2 months of highest receipts). The distribution
made in March of each year subsequent to the year in which an
allocation was made pursuant to this paragraph and the
preceding paragraph shall be reduced by the amount allocated
and disbursed under this paragraph in the preceding calendar
year. The Department shall prepare and certify to the
Comptroller for disbursement the allocations made in
accordance with this paragraph.
    (d) For the purpose of determining the local governmental
unit whose tax is applicable, a retail sale by a producer of
coal or another mineral mined in Illinois is a sale at retail
at the place where the coal or other mineral mined in Illinois
is extracted from the earth. This paragraph does not apply to
coal or another mineral when it is delivered or shipped by the
seller to the purchaser at a point outside Illinois so that the
sale is exempt under the United States Constitution as a sale
in interstate or foreign commerce.
    (e) Nothing in this Section shall be construed to authorize
a county to impose a tax upon the privilege of engaging in any
business that under the Constitution of the United States may
not be made the subject of taxation by this State.
    (e-5) If a county imposes a tax under this Section, the
county board may, by ordinance, discontinue or lower the rate
of the tax. If the county board lowers the tax rate or
discontinues the tax, a referendum must be held in accordance
with subsection (a) of this Section in order to increase the
rate of the tax or to reimpose the discontinued tax.
    (f) Beginning April 1, 1998, the results of any election
authorizing a proposition to impose a tax under this Section or
effecting a change in the rate of tax, or any ordinance
lowering the rate or discontinuing the tax, shall be certified
by the county clerk and filed with the Illinois Department of
Revenue either (i) on or before the first day of April,
whereupon the Department shall proceed to administer and
enforce the tax as of the first day of July next following the
filing; or (ii) on or before the first day of October,
whereupon the Department shall proceed to administer and
enforce the tax as of the first day of January next following
the filing.
    (g) When certifying the amount of a monthly disbursement to
a county under this Section, the Department shall increase or
decrease the amounts by an amount necessary to offset any
miscalculation of previous disbursements. The offset amount
shall be the amount erroneously disbursed within the previous 6
months from the time a miscalculation is discovered.
    (h) This Section may be cited as the "Special County
Occupation Tax For Public Safety or Transportation Law".
    (i) For purposes of this Section, "public safety" includes,
but is not limited to, crime prevention, detention, fire
fighting, police, medical, ambulance, or other emergency
services. For the purposes of this Section, "transportation"
includes, but is not limited to, the construction, maintenance,
operation, and improvement of public highways, any other
purpose for which a county may expend funds under the Illinois
Highway Code, and passenger rail transportation.
(Source: P.A. 93-556, eff. 8-20-03; 94-781, eff. 5-19-06.)

Effective Date: 1/1/2008