(35 ILCS 635/5)
Sec. 5.
Legislative intent.
(a) The General Assembly imposed a tax on
invested capital of utilities to partially replace the personal property tax
that was abolished by the Illinois Constitution of 1970. Since that tax was
imposed, telecommunications retailers have evolved from utility status into an
increasingly competitive industry serving the public.
(b) This Act is intended to
abolish the invested capital tax on telecommunications retailers (that is,
persons engaged in the business of transmitting messages and acting as a
retailer of telecommunications as defined in Section 2 of the
Telecommunications Excise Tax Act). Cellular telecommunications retailers have
already been excluded from application
of the invested capital tax by earlier legislative action.
(c) For the period prior to the effective date of this amendatory Act of
the 92nd General Assembly, this Act is also intended to
abolish municipal franchise fees with
respect to telecommunications retailers,
create a uniform system for the collection and
distribution of fees associated with the privilege of use of the public right
of way for telecommunications activity, and provide municipalities
with
a comprehensive method of compensation for telecommunications activity
including
the recovery of reasonable costs of regulating the use of the public
rights-of-way for telecommunications activity.
(d) For the period from the effective date of this amendatory Act of the
92nd General Assembly through December 31, 2002, it is the
intent of the General Assembly
that the municipal infrastructure maintenance fee and its rate are subject only
to the limits prescribed in Section 20, and that the fee and the rate of the
fee do not relate to use of the public rights-of-way or the costs associated
with maintaining and regulating the use of the public rights-of-way. It is
also the intent of the General Assembly that proceeds of the municipal
infrastructure maintenance fee may be used for any lawful corporate purpose.
It is not the intent of the General Assembly that the municipal infrastructure
maintenance fee is in any way compensation for use of the public rights-of-way.
It is the intent of the General Assembly that the fee be paid by all
telecommunications retailers, regardless of whether they have equipment in the
public rights-of-way.
(e) This amendatory Act of the 92nd
General Assembly is intended to repeal the municipal
infrastructure maintenance fee and the optional infrastructure
maintenance fee effective January 1, 2003.
(Source: P.A. 91-533, eff. 8-13-99; 92-526, eff. 2-8-02.)
|