[Adopted 3-19-1968 by L.L. No. 1-1968]
[Amended 6-19-1996 by L.L. No. 4-1996]
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 April 1968 is hereby
imposed upon every utility doing business in the Village of Great
Neck Plaza which is subject to the supervision of the State Department
of Public Service, which has a gross income for the 12 months ending
the 31st day of March 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 April 1968 is hereby imposed upon every
other utility doing business in the Village of Great Neck Plaza which
has a gross operating income for the 12 months ending March 31 in
excess of $500, which taxes shall have application only within the
territorial limits of the Village of Great Neck Plaza 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 Great Neck Plaza, notwithstanding that some act be 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 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 Great Neck Plaza, 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 interest, dividends and royalties derived
from sources within the Village of Great Neck Plaza other than such
as are received from a corporation a majority of whose voting stock
is owned by the tax-paying 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 Great Neck Plaza 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 Great Neck Plaza, and in the case of a utility engaged
in selling telegraphy or telegraph service, only receipts from transactions
wholly consummated within the Village of Great Neck Plaza.
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 Great Neck Plaza, including cash, credits
and property of any kind or nature, without any deductions 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 article
shall keep such records of its business and in such form as the Treasurer
of the Village may require, and such records shall be preserved for
a period of three years, except that the Treasurer of the Village
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 April, 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 July 25, October 25,
January 25 and April 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 of the Village 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
of the Village, 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 Great Neck Plaza 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 of the Village
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.
A.
In case any return filed pursuant to this article
shall be insufficient or unsatisfactory to the Treasurer of the Village,
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 Treasurer of the Village 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 indexes
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 Treasurer of the Village for a hearing, or unless the Treasurer
of the Village, of his own motion, shall reduce the same. After such
hearing, the Treasurer of the Village 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 Treasurer of the Village 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 application, 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.
[Amended 6-19-1996 by L.L. No. 4-1996]
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 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, excepting the first month, after such return was required
to be filed or such tax becomes due; but the Treasurer of the Village,
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.
[Amended 6-19-1996 by L.L. No. 4-1996]
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 of the Village or the court shall determine
that such tax or penalty or any portion thereof was erroneously or
illegally collected, the Treasurer of the Village 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 of the Village.
However, no refund shall be made of a tax or penalty paid pursuant
to a determination of the Treasurer of the Village 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 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 Treasurer of the Village may receive additional evidence
with respect thereto. After making his determination, the Treasurer
of the Village 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 of the Village, 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 of the Village. 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 this article, the Treasurer
of the Village 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 Treasurer
of the Village or any agent, Clerk or employee of the Village of Great
Neck Plaza 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 Great Neck Plaza 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, 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, 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 article, together with any
relevant information which, in the opinion of the Treasurer of the
Village, may assist in the collection of such delinquent taxes; or
the inspection by the Village Attorney or other legal representatives
of the Village of Great Neck Plaza 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.
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 Great Neck Plaza, he shall
be dismissed from office and shall be incapable of holding any office
or employment in the Village of Great Neck Plaza for a period of five
years thereafter.
C.
Notwithstanding any provisions of this article, the
Treasurer of the Village 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 other Village grants similar privileges to the Village of
Great Neck Plaza, and provided that such information is to be used
for tax purposes only; and the Treasurer of the Village shall, upon
request, furnish the State Tax Commission with any information contained
in such returns.
All taxes and penalties received by the Treasurer
of the Village 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.