[Adopted 2-25-1986 by Bill No. 232]
In this article, the following words have the
meanings indicated:
Talbot County.
The County Council of Talbot County.
Any public or private hotel, inn, hostelry, tourist home
or house, motel, rooming house or other similar lodging place, offering
sleeping accommodations or space for one or more persons at any time,
and the owner and operator thereof, which, for compensation, holds
out to furnish or furnishes sleeping accommodations or space to any
transient.
Any individual, corporation, company, association, firm,
copartnership or any group of individuals acting as a unit, and which
includes any trustee, receiver, assignee or personal representative
thereof.
The total charge made by any hotel, motel or other similar
place for sleeping accommodations or space furnished to the transient.
If the charge includes any amount for services or accommodations in
addition to that of the use of sleeping space, the portion of the
total charge which represents only room or building rental shall be
distinctly set out and billed to the transient as a separate item.
Any person who, for any period of not more than four consecutive
months, obtains sleeping accommodations or space, either at his own
expense or at the expense of another, in any hotel, motel or other
similar place for which there is a room or building rental.
[Amended at time of adoption of Code (see Ch. 1, General
Provisions, Art. I)]
The County Council of Talbot County hereby imposes
a tax up to the amount allowed under Md. Code Ann., Local Government
Art., § 20-405, Subsection B(3), and set by the annual Budget
and Appropriation Ordinance, for room or building rental by or for
any transient at any hotel, motel or similar place providing sleeping
accommodations within Talbot County.
Every person receiving any payment for room
or building rental upon which this tax is levied pursuant to this
article shall collect the amount of tax imposed from the transient
or person on whom it is levied or from the person paying for the room
or building rental at the time payment is made. The taxes required
to be collected hereunder shall be deemed held in trust by the person
required to collect them until remitted as hereinafter required.
The person collecting the tax shall make out
a report upon forms setting forth information that the County Council
prescribes and requires, showing the amount of room or building rental
charges that have been collected and the tax required to be collected.
The person collecting the tax shall sign and deliver the report to
the County Council, with a remittance of the tax required hereunder.
The reports and remittances shall be made monthly, on or before the
20th day of each month, covering the sales and the amount of tax collected
during the preceding calendar month.
If any person fails or refuses to remit to the
County Council the tax required to be collected and paid under this
article, within the time and in the amount specified in this article,
there shall be added to such person's tax, by the County Council,
interest at the rate of 1% per month on the amount of the tax for
each month or portion thereof from the date upon which the tax is
due, as provided in this article; and if the tax remains delinquent
and unpaid for a period of 120 days from the date it is due and payable,
there shall be added thereto by the County Council a penalty of 10%
of the amount of the tax. The County Council may proceed to collect
delinquent and unpaid taxes by suit or distraint, and until such taxes
are collected, they shall become a lien upon the real and personal
property of the person, firm or corporation from whom they are due
and shall be collectible in the same manner as real estate taxes assessed
against any such property.
From the total proceeds collected from the tax
by the County Council, the County Council shall deduct a reasonable
sum or percentage for the cost of imposing, collecting and disbursing
the tax and credit their deduction to the general funds of the County,
which percentage for administrative costs shall not exceed 5% of the
total proceeds collected.
That portion of the remainder of the total proceeds
which came from payments made by a hotel, motel or similar place located
in whole or in part within the corporation limits of a municipal corporation
in the County or located within a one-mile radius of the corporate
limits of a municipal corporation in the County shall be paid over
to the governing body of the municipal corporation to be used to alleviate
costs associated with tourism.[1]
The net proceeds of the tax available to the
County government, after payment of the portion due a municipality
under the preceding section, shall be appropriated in the annual budget
so as to promote or support the travel and tourism industry and/or
economic development (activities) in Talbot County.
The County Council shall obtain, from the Sales
Tax Division of the Comptroller's office, information in aid of verification
of liability for the tax. Expenses incurred in connection with the
obtaining of this information shall be paid by the County Council
and treated as a part of the costs of collecting the tax.
This article may be amended from time to time
when deemed necessary to provide for an orderly, systematic and thorough
collection and distribution of the tax imposed herein and in order
to comply with the laws and the rules and regulations in effect as
to the retail sales tax and the state use tax in Maryland.[1]
[1]
Editor's Note: Former Section 10A-11, Increase
in surety bond of Finance Officer, which immediately followed this
section, was repealed 7-24-2001 by Bill No. 837.
The person collecting the tax may apply and
credit against the amount of tax payable by him an amount equal to
1 1/2% of the gross tax to be remitted by the person to the County
Council, to cover his expense in the collection and remittance of
the tax. However, nothing in this section applies to any person who
fails or refuses to file his return with the County Council within
the time prescribed within this article.
The County Council, in order to protect the
revenues to be obtained under this article, may require any person
collecting the tax, who has previously been in default, to file with
the Council a surety bond issued by a surety company authorized to
do business in the State of Maryland and approved by the State Insurance
Commissioner as to solvency and responsibility, in such amount or
amounts from time to time as the County Council may fix to secure
the payment of the tax due or which may become due from the person
collecting the tax. If the Council determines that the person is to
file such a bond, the Council shall cause notice to be given to the
person to that effect, specifying the amount of bond required. The
person collecting the tax shall file the bond within five days after
receiving the notice, unless within that period he requests, in writing,
a hearing before the Council, at which hearing the necessity, propriety
and amount of the bond shall be determined by the County Council.
This determination is final and shall be complied with within 15 days
after the person collecting the tax receives notice hereof.
In lieu of the bond required by § 172-15 of this article, securities approved by the County Council or cash in such amounts as the Council prescribes may be deposited and shall be kept in the custody of the Council. The Council, at any time, without notice to the depositor of the securities or cash, may apply them to any tax due, and, for that purpose, the securities may be sold by the County Council at public or private sale without notice to the depositor of the securities.
