Pursuant to the authority granted by § 138-d
of the Village Law of the State of New York, a tax equal to 1% of its gross income from and after the
first day of July 1950 is hereby imposed upon every utility doing
business in the Village of Mount Kisco which is subject to the supervision
of the State Department of Public Service, which has a gross income
for the 12 months ending May 31 in excess of $500, except motor carriers
or brokers subject to such supervision under Article 3-B of the Public
Service Law, and a tax equal to 1% of its gross operating income from
and after the first day of July 1950 is hereby imposed upon every
other utility doing business in the Village of Mount Kisco which has
a gross operating income for the 12 months ending May 31 in excess
of $500, which taxes shall have application only within the territorial
limits of the Village of Mount Kisco and shall be in addition to any
and all other taxes and fees imposed by any other provision of law.
Such taxes shall not be imposed on any transaction originating or
consummated outside of the territorial limits of the Village of Mount
Kisco, notwithstanding that some act is necessarily performed with
respect to such transaction within such limits.
As used in this Article, the following terms
shall have the meanings indicated:
GROSS INCOME
Includes receipts received in or by reason of any sale, conditional
or otherwise, except sales hereinafter referred to with respect to
which it is provided that profits from the sale shall be included
in "gross income" made or service rendered for ultimate consumption
or use by the purchaser in the Village of Mount Kisco, including cash,
credits and property of any kind or nature, whether or not such sale
is made or such service is rendered for profit, without any deduction
therefrom on account of the cost of the property sold, the cost of
the materials used, labor or services or other costs, interest or
discount paid or any other expense whatsoever; also profits from the
sale of securities; also profits from the sale of real property growing
out of the ownership or use of or interest in such property; also
profit from the sale of personal property, other than property of
a kind which would properly be included in the inventory of the taxpayer
if on hand at the close of the period for which a return is made;
also receipts from interests, dividends and royalties derived from
sources within the Village of Mount Kisco, other than such as are
received from a corporation a majority of whose voting stock is owned
by the taxpaying utility, without any deduction therefrom for any
expenses whatsoever incurred in connection with the receipt thereof,
and also profits from any transaction, except sales for resale and
rentals, within the Village of Mount Kisco whatsoever; provided, however,
that the words "gross income" shall include, in the case of a utility
engaged in selling telephony or telephone service, only receipts from
local exchange service wholly consummated within the Village of Mount
Kisco and, in the case of a utility engaged in selling telegraphy
or telegraph service, only receipts from transactions wholly consummated
within the Village of Mount Kisco.
GROSS OPERATING INCOME
Includes receipts received in or by reason of any sale, conditional
or otherwise, made for ultimate consumption or use by the purchaser
of gas, electricity, steam, water, refrigeration, telephony or telegraphy
or in or by reason of the furnishing for such consumption or use of
gas, electric, steam, water, refrigerator, telephone or telegraph
service in the Village of Mount Kisco, including cash, credits and
property of any kind or nature, without any deduction therefrom on
account of the cost of the property sold, the cost of materials used,
labor or services or other costs, interest or discount paid or any
other expenses whatsoever.
PERSON
Persons, corporations, companies, associations, joint-stock
associations, copartnerships, estates, assignee of rents, any person
acting in a fiduciary capacity or any other entity, and persons, their
assignees, lessees, trustees or receivers appointed by any court whatsoever
or by any other means, except the state, municipalities, political
and civil subdivisions of the state or municipality and public districts.
UTILITY
Includes every person subject to the supervision of the State
Department of Public Service, except persons engaged in the business
of operating or leasing sleeping and parlor railroad cars or of operating
railroads other than street-surface, rapid-transit, subway and elevated
railroads, and also includes every person, whether or not such person
is subject to such supervision, who sells gas, electricity, steam,
water, refrigeration, telephone or telegraph, delivered through mains,
pipes or wires or furnishes gas, electric, steam, water, refrigerator
or telephone service by means of mains, pipes or wires, regardless
of whether such activities are the main business of such persons or
are only incidental thereto or of whether use is made of the public
street.
Every utility subject to tax under this Article
shall keep such records of its business and in such form as the Treasurer
may require, and such records shall be preserved for a period of three
years, except that the Treasurer may consent to their destruction
within that period or may require that they be kept longer.
[Amended 1-4-1954 by L.L. No. 1-1954]
Every utility subject to tax hereunder shall
file annually, on or before the 15th day of February, a return for
the 12 calendar months ending December 31 preceding such return date
or any portion thereof for which the tax imposed hereby is effective;
provided, however, that, in lieu of the annual return required by
the foregoing provisions, any utility may file quarterly, on or before
December 25, March 25, June 25 and September 25, a return for the
three calendar months preceding each such return date and, in the
case of the first such return, for all preceding calendar months during
which the tax imposed hereby was effective. Every return shall state
the gross income or gross operating income for the period covered
thereby. Returns shall be filed with the Treasurer on a form to be
furnished by him for such purpose and shall contain such other data,
information or matter as he may require to be included therein. The
Treasurer, in order to ensure payment of the tax imposed, may require
at any time a further or supplemental return, which shall contain
any data that may be specified by him, and he may require any utility
doing business in the Village of Mount Kisco to file an annual return,
which shall contain any data specified by him, regardless of whether
the utility is subject to tax under this Article. Every return shall
have annexed thereto an affidavit of the head of the utility making
the same or of the owner or of a copartner thereof or of a principal
officer of the corporation, if such business be conducted by a corporation,
to the effect that the statements contained therein are true.
At the time of filing a return as required by
this Article, each utility shall pay to the Treasurer the tax imposed
by this Article for the period covered by such return. Such tax shall
be due and payable at the time of filing the return or, if a return
is not filed when due, on the last day on which the return is required
to be filed.
Any notice authorized or required under the
provisions of this Article may be given by mailing the same to the
person for whom it is intended in a postpaid envelope, addressed to
such person at the address given by him in the last return filed by
him under this Article or, if no return has been filed, then to such
address as may be obtainable. The mailing of such notice shall be
presumptive evidence of the receipt of the same by the person to whom
addressed. Any period of time, which is determined according to the
provisions of this Article by the giving of notice, shall commence
to run from the date of mailing of such notice.
Any person failing to file a return or corrected
return or to pay any tax or any portion thereof within the time required
by this Article shall be subject to a penalty of 5% of the amount
of tax due, plus 1% of such tax for each month of delay or fraction
thereof, except the first month, after such return was required to
be filed or such tax became due; but the Treasurer, for cause shown,
may extend the time for filing any return and, if satisfied that the
delay was excusable, may remit all or any portion of the penalty fixed
by the foregoing provisions of this section.
If, within one year from the payment of any
tax or penalty, the payer thereof shall make application for a refund
thereof and the Treasurer or the court shall determine that such tax
or penalty or any portion thereof was erroneously or illegally collected,
the Treasurer shall refund the amount so determined. For like cause
and within the same period, a refund may be so made on the initiative
of the Treasurer. However, no refund shall be made of a tax or penalty
paid pursuant to a determination of the Treasurer, as hereinbefore
provided, unless the Treasurer, after a hearing as hereinbefore provided
or of his own motion, shall have reduced the tax or penalty or it
shall have been established in a proceeding under Article 78 of the
Civil Practice Act of the State of New York that such determination was erroneous or illegal. All
refunds shall be made out of moneys collected under this Article.
An application for a refund, made as hereinbefore provided, shall
be deemed an application for the revision of any tax or penalty complained
of, and the Treasurer may receive additional evidence with respect
thereto. After making his determination, the Treasurer shall give
notice thereof to the person interested, and he shall be entitled
to an order to review such determination under said Article 78. subject
to the provisions hereinbefore contained relating to the granting
of such an order.
The tax imposed by this Article shall be charged
against and be paid by the utility and shall not be added as a separate
item to bills rendered by the utility to customers or others but shall
constitute a part of the operating costs of such utility.
Whenever any person shall fail to pay any tax
or penalty imposed by this Article, the Village Attorney shall, upon
the request of the Treasurer, bring an action to enforce payment of
the same. The proceeds of any judgment obtained in any such action
shall be paid to the Treasurer. Each such tax and penalty shall be
a lien upon the property of the person liable to pay the same, in
the same manner and to the same extent that the tax and penalty imposed
by § 186-a of the Tax Law is made a lien.
In the administration of the Article, the Treasurer
shall have power to make such reasonable rules and regulations, not
inconsistent with law, as may be necessary for the exercise of his
powers and the performance of his duties and to prescribe the form
of blanks, reports and other records relating to the administration
and enforcement of the tax, to take testimony and proofs, under oath,
with reference to any matter within the line of his official duty
under this Article and to subpoena and require the attendance of witnesses
and the production of books, papers and documents.
All taxes and penalties received by the Treasurer
under this Article shall be paid into the treasury of the village
and shall be credited to and deposited in the general fund of the
village.