This article shall be known and may be cited as the "Real Estate
Transfer Tax Ordinance."
Every person who makes, executes, issues and delivers as transferor
any documents or on whose behalf any document is made, executed, issued,
delivered or accepted shall be subject to pay for, and in respect
thereof, or for or in respect of the vellum parchment or paper upon
which such document is written or printed, a Borough tax at the rate
of 1% of the value of the property represented by such document, which
Borough tax shall be payable at the time of the making, execution,
issuance or delivery of such document.
[Added 2-12-1987 by Ord. No. 423]
A. The one-percent real estate transfer tax originally imposed by the
Borough through Ordinance No. 262, enacted March 12, 1959, as last
reenacted January 7, 1965, shall be extended and expanded to include
all of the transactions as defined in Article XI-C of Act No. 77 of
1986.
B. The Council adopts as taxable the definitions prescribed by Act No.
77 of 1986 which, inter alia, includes as taxable any:
(1) Transfers to or from an nonprofit industrial development agency.
(2) The actual consideration for or actual monetary worth of any executory
agreement for the construction of buildings, structures or other permanent
improvements to real estate between the grantor and other persons
existing before transfer and not removed thereby or between the grantor,
the agent or principal of the grantor or a related corporation, association
or partnership and the grantee existing before or effective with the
transfer.
Every document, when lodged with or presented to any recorder
of deeds of this commonwealth for recording, shall set forth therein
and as a part of such document the true, full and complete value thereof
or shall be accompanied by an affidavit executed by a responsible
person connected with the transaction, showing such connection, setting
forth the true, full and complete value thereof or the reason why
such document is not subject to the tax under this article if the
document does not, of itself, disclose such reason.
It shall be unlawful for any person to:
A. Make, execute, issue, deliver or accept, or cause to be made, executed,
delivered or accepted, any document without the full amount of the
tax thereon being duly paid.
B. Fraudulently cut, tear or remove from a document any official receipt
as provided for above.
C. Fraudulently affix a receipt to any document upon which tax is imposed
by this article or have any receipt of insufficient value or any forged
or counterfeit receipt or any impression of any forged or counterfeit
receipt, die, plate or other article attached to any document.
D. Knowingly or willfully prepare, keep, sell, offer for sale or have
in his possession any forged or counterfeited receipting instrument.
[Amended 8-8-1963 by Ord. No. 294; 1-12-1989 by Ord. No. 438]
Any person violating any of the provisions of this article shall,
upon conviction thereof before the Magisterial District Judge, be
sentenced to pay a fine of not more than $300 and costs of prosecution
and, in default of payment of such fine and costs, to imprisonment
in the county jail for not more than 30 days.
[Amended 1-12-1989 by Ord. No. 438]
The tax hereby imposed is for general revenue purposes and shall
be imposed and collectible beginning May 1, 1959, and it is estimated
and expected that there shall be derived from such taxation the sum
of $1,500 for the current year.
All taxes imposed by this article together with interest and
penalties, shall be recovered as other debts of this character are
now by law recoverable.
The tax herein provided for, if unpaid when due, with interest
and penalties, shall become a lien upon the lands, tenements or hereditaments,
or any part thereof, lying, being and situate wholly or partly within
the boundaries of Ligonier Borough, Westmoreland County, Pennsylvania,
and conveyed by such document. Such liens shall be effective at the
time when the tax is due and payable and shall continue, as provided
by law, until discharged by payment, and the Borough of Ligonier,
Westmoreland County, Pennsylvania, in pursuance of said lien, may
file a municipal tax claim in the Court of Common Pleas of Westmoreland
County, Pennsylvania, according to law, against the transferor or
transferee, or both, of said lands, tenements or hereditaments so
that unpaid taxes and penalties shall become a record lien against
the lands, tenements and hereditaments conveyed.
[Amended 1-12-1989 by Ord. No. 438]
This article is enacted under the authority of the Local Tax
Enabling Act, 53 P.S. § 6901 et seq., and amendments thereto.
[Added 1-12-1989 by Ord. No. 438]
The tax imposed by this article shall continue in force without
annual reenactment by the Council.