Pursuant to the authority granted by § 5-530
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 January 1969 is hereby
imposed upon every utility doing business in the Village of North
Syracuse, New York, 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 Transportation Law § 240
et seq., and a tax equal to 1% of its gross operating income from
and after the first day of January 1969 is hereby imposed upon every
other utility doing business in the Village of North Syracuse, New
York, 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 North Syracuse, New
York, 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 North Syracuse, New York, 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:
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 the 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 North Syracuse, New York,
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 real property growing out of the ownership or use
of or interest in such property; also profits 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 interest, dividends
and royalties derived from sources within the Village of North Syracuse,
New York, 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 North Syracuse,
New York, 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 North Syracuse, New York, and in
the case of a utility engaged in selling telegraphy or telegraph service,
only receipts from transactions wholly consummated within the Village
of North Syracuse, New York.
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, refrigeration, telephone or telegraph
service in the Village of North Syracuse, New York, 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.
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, municipality and public districts.
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 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 service by means of mains,
pipes or wires, regardless of whether such activities are the main
business of such person or are only incidental thereto or of whether
use is made of the public streets.
Every utility subject to tax under this article
shall keep such records of its business and in such form as the Village
Treasurer may require or as the Village Board may require, and such
records shall be preserved for a period of three years, except that
the Village Treasurer or Village Board may consent to their destruction
within that period or may require that they be kept longer.
Every utility subject to tax hereunder shall
file, on or before September 15, December 15, March 15 and June 15,
a return for the three calendar months preceding each such return
date, including any period for which the tax imposed hereby or by
any amendment hereof is effective. Every return shall state the gross
income or gross operating income for the period covered thereby. Returns
shall be filed with the Village 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 Village 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 North Syracuse, New York, 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 is
conducted by a corporation, to the effect that the statements contained
therein are true.
At the time of the filing of a return as required
by this article, each utility shall pay to the Village of North Syracuse
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.
In case any return filed pursuant to this article
shall be insufficient or unsatisfactory to the Village Treasurer and
if a corrected or sufficient return is not filed within 20 days after
the same is required by notice from him, or if no return is made for
any period, the Village Treasurer shall determine the amount of tax
due from such information as he is able to obtain and, if necessary,
may estimate the tax on the basis of external indices or otherwise.
He shall give notice of such determination to the person liable for
such tax. Such determination shall finally and irrevocably fix such
tax unless the person against whom it is assessed shall, within 30
days after the giving of notice of such determination, apply to the
Village Treasurer for a hearing or unless the Village Treasurer, of
his own motion, shall reduce the same. After such hearing, the Village
Treasurer shall give notice of his decision to the person liable for
the tax. Such decision may be reviewed by a proceeding under Article
78 of the Civil Practice Law and Rules of the State of New York if
application therefor is made within 90 days after the giving of notice
of such decision. An order to review such decision shall not be granted
unless the amount of any tax sought to be reviewed, with interest
and penalties thereon, if any, shall be first deposited with the Village
Treasurer and an undertaking filed with him, in such amount and with
such sureties as a Justice of the Supreme Court shall approve, to
the effect that, if such proceeding be dismissed or the tax confirmed,
the applicant will pay all costs and charges which may accrue in the
prosecution of such proceeding, or, at the option of the applicant,
such undertaking may be in a sum sufficient to cover the tax, interest,
penalties, costs and charges aforesaid, in which event the applicant
shall not be required to pay such tax, interest and penalties as a
condition precedent to the granting of such order. Except in the case
of a willfully false or fraudulent return with intent to evade the
tax, no assessment of additional tax shall be made after the expiration
of more than three years from the date of the filing of a return;
provided, however, that where no return has been filed as required
by this article, the tax may be assessed at any time.
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 Village 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 Village Treasurer or the court shall determine that
such tax or penalty or any portion thereof was erroneously or illegally
collected, the Village 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 Village Treasurer. However, no refund shall
be made of a tax or penalty paid pursuant to a determination of the
Village Treasurer as hereinbefore provided unless the Village Treasurer,
after a hearing as hereinbefore provided or of his own motion, shall
have reduced the tax or penalty or unless it shall have been established
in a proceeding under Article 78 of the Civil Practice Law and Rules
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 Village 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 of the Civil Practice
Law and Rules of the State of New York, subject to the provision 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 Village Board, bring an action to enforce payment
of the same. The proceeds of any judgment obtained in any such action
shall be paid to the Village 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 are made a lien.
In the administration of this article, the Village
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.
A.
Except in accordance with proper judicial order or
as otherwise provided by law, it shall be unlawful for the Village
Treasurer or any agent, clerk or employee of the Village of North
Syracuse, New York, to divulge or make known in any manner the amount
of gross income or gross operating income or any particulars set forth
or disclosed in any return under this article. The officer charged
with the custody of such returns shall not be required to produce
any of them or evidence of anything contained in them in any action
or proceeding in any court, except on behalf of the Village of North
Syracuse, New York, in an action or proceeding under the provisions
of this article or on behalf of the State Tax Commission in an action
or proceeding under the provisions of the Tax Law of the State of
New York or on behalf of any party to any action or proceeding under
the provisions of this article when the returns or facts shown thereby
are directly involved in such action or proceeding, in either of which
events the court may require the production of and may admit in evidence
as much of said returns or of the facts shown thereby as is pertinent
to the action or proceeding and no more.
B.
Nothing herein shall be construed to prohibit the
delivery to a person or his duly authorized representative of a copy
of any return filed by him, nor to prohibit the publication of statistics
so classified as to prevent the identification of particular returns
and the items thereof or the publication of delinquent lists showing
the names of persons who have failed to pay their taxes at the time
and in the manner provided for by this article, together with any
relevant information which in the opinion of the Village Treasurer
may assist in the collection of such delinquent taxes, or the inspection
by the Village Attorney or other legal representative of the Village
of North Syracuse, New York, of the return of any person who shall
bring action to set aside or review the tax based thereon or against
whom an action has been instituted in accordance with the provisions
of this article.
C.
Any offense against the foregoing secrecy provisions
shall be punishable by a fine not exceeding $1,000 or by imprisonment
not exceeding one year, or both, and if the offender is an officer,
agent, clerk or employee of the Village of North Syracuse, New York,
he shall be dismissed from office and shall be incapable of holding
any office or employment for the Village of North Syracuse, New York,
for a period of five years thereafter.
D.
Notwithstanding any provisions of this article, the
Village Treasurer may exchange with the chief fiscal officer of any
city or any other village in the State of New York information contained
in returns filed under this article, provided that such city or village
grants similar privileges to the Village of North Syracuse, New York,
and provided that such information is to be used for tax purposes
only, and the Village Treasurer shall, upon request, furnish the State
Tax Commission with any information contained in such returns.
All taxes and penalties received by the Village
Treasurer under this article shall be paid into the treasury of the
Village of North Syracuse, New York, and shall be credited to and
deposited in the general fund of the Village.
