[HISTORY: Adopted by the Board of Trustees
of the Village of Valley Stream 8-20-1951 by L.L. No. 2-1951. Amendments noted where
applicable.]
Pursuant to the authority granted by § 138-D
of the Village Law of the State of New York,[1] a tax equal to one per centum of its gross income from
and after the first day of May 1951 is hereby imposed upon every utility
doing business in the Village of Valley Stream 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,[2] and a tax equal to one per centum of its gross operating
income from and after the first day of May 1951 is hereby imposed
upon every other utility doing business in the Village of Valley Stream
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 Valley Stream 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 Valley Stream, notwithstanding that some act be necessarily
performed with respect to such transaction within such limits.
As used in this chapter, the following terms
shall have the meanings indicated:
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 Valley Stream, including
cash, credits and property of any kind or nature (whether or not such
sale is made or such service 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 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 interest, dividends and royalties derived from
sources within the Village of Valley Stream 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 Valley Stream 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 Valley Stream, and in the case of a utility engaged in
selling telegraphy or telegraph service, only receipts from transactions
wholly consummated within the Village of Valley Stream.
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 Valley Stream, 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, municipalities,
political and civil subdivisions of the state or 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 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, telephony or telegraphy, delivered through mains,
pipes or wires, or furnishes gas, electric, steam, water, refrigerator,
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 chapter
shall keep such records of its business and in such form as the Village
Treasurer may require, and such records shall be preserved for a period
of three years, except that the Village Treasurer may consent to their
destruction within that period or may require that they be kept longer.
Every utility subject to tax hereunder shall
file annually, on or before the 25th day of March, a return for the
12 calendar months 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 September 25, December
25, March 25 and June 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 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 Valley Stream to file an annual return,
which shall contain any data specified by him, regardless of whether
the utility is subject to tax under this chapter. 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 filing a return as required by
this chapter, each utility shall pay to the Village Treasurer the
tax imposed by this chapter 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.
A.
In case any return filed pursuant to this chapter
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 Act 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.
B.
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 chapter, the tax may be assessed
at any time.
Any notice authorized or required under the
provisions of this chapter 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 chapter, 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 chapter by the giving of notice, shall commence
to run from the date of mailing 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 chapter, 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, excepting 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 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 chapter.
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 may receive additional evidence with
respect thereto. After making his determination, 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 subject to the provisions hereinbefore contained relating to the
granting of such an order.
The tax imposed by this chapter 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 chapter, the Village Attorney shall, upon
the request of the Village 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 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 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 this chapter, 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 chapter 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 Valley
Stream, 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 chapter. 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 Valley Stream in an action or proceeding
under the provisions of this chapter, 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 chapter 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, so much of said returns
or of the facts shown thereby as are pertinent to the action or proceeding,
and no more. 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 chapter, 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 representatives of the Village
of Valley Stream 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 chapter.
B.
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 be an officer,
agent, clerk or employee of the Village of Valley Stream, he shall
be dismissed from office and shall be incapable of holding any office
or employment in the Village of Valley Stream for a period of five
years thereafter.
C.
Notwithstanding any provisions of this chapter, 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 chapter, provided that such city or other
village grants similar privileges to the Village of Valley Stream,
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 chapter shall be paid into the treasury of the
Village and shall be credited to and deposited in the general fund
of the Village.
This chapter shall take effect immediately.
