This article shall be known and may be cited as the "Pocono
Township Local Services Tax Ordinance."
This article is enacted under authority of the Local Tax Enabling
Act, P.L. 1257, No. 511, December 31, 1965, 53 P.S. 6901 et seq. (1982),
as amended by Act 222 of 2004 and by Act 7 of 2007, and as revised
and renumbered in 53 P.S. § 6924.101 et seq. and as hereafter
amended, supplemented, modified or reenacted by the General Assembly
of Pennsylvania,
The following words and phrases, when used in this article,
shall have the meanings ascribed to them in this section, except where
the context or language clearly indicates or requires a different
meaning:
COLLECTOR
The person, public employee or private agency designated
by the political subdivision to collect and administer the tax herein
imposed.
COMMISSIONERS
The Board of Commissioners of Pocono Township, Monroe County,
Pennsylvania.
DCED
The Department of Community and Economic Development of the
Commonwealth of Pennsylvania.
EARNED INCOME
Compensation as determined under Section 303 of the Act of March 4, 1971 (P.L. 6, No. 2), known as the "Tax Reform Code of 1971," and regulations in 61 Pa. Code Pt. I, Subpt. B, Art.
V (relating to personal income tax), not including, however, wages or compensation paid to individuals on active military service. Employee business expenses are allowable deductions as determined under Article
III of the Tax Reform Code of 1971. The amount of any housing allowance provided to a member of the clergy shall not be taxable as earned income.
EMPLOYER
An individual, partnership, association, limited liability
company, limited liability partnership, corporation, governmental
body, agency or other entity employing one or more persons on a salary,
wage, commission or other compensation basis, including a self-employed
Individual.
HE, HIS or HIM
Indicates the singular and plural number, as well as male,
female and neuter genders.
INDIVIDUAL
Any person, male or female, engaged in any occupation, trade
or profession within the corporate limits of Pocono Township, Monroe
County, Pennsylvania.
NET PROFITS
The net income from the operation of a business, profession, or other activity, except corporations, determined under Section 303 of the Act of March 4, 1971 (P.L. 6, No. 2), known as the "Tax Reform Code of 1971," and regulations in 61 Pa. Code Pt. I, Subpt. B, Art.
V (relating to personal income tax). The term does not include income which is not paid for services provided and which is in the nature of earnings from an investment. For taxpayers engaged in the business, profession or activity of farming, the term shall not include:
A.
Any interest earnings generated from any monetary accounts or
investment instruments of the farming business;
B.
Any gain on the sale of farm machinery;
C.
Any gain on the sale of livestock held 12 months or more for
draft, breeding or dairy purposes; and
D.
Any gain on the sale of other capital assets of the farm.
OCCUPATION
Any trade, profession, business or undertaking of any type,
kind or character, including services, domestic or other, carried
on or performed within the corporate limits of Pocono Township for
which compensation is charged or received; whether by means of salary,
wages, commission or fees for services rendered.
TAX
The local services tax imposed by this article.
TAX YEAR
The period from January 1 until December 31 in any year;
a calendar year.
TOWNSHIP
Pocono Township, Monroe County, Pennsylvania.
The Township hereby levies and imposes on every individual engaging
in an occupation within the jurisdictional limits of the Township
a tax in the amount of $52 per annum, beginning on January 1, 2008,
and continuing on a calendar basis annually thereafter, in accordance
with the provisions of this article. This tax may be used solely for
the following purposes as the same may be allocated by the Commissioners
from time to time: emergency services, which shall include emergency
medical services, police services and/or fire services; road construction
and/or maintenance; reduction of property taxes; or property tax relief
through implementation of a homestead and farmstead exclusion in accordance
with 53 Pa.C.S.A. Ch. 85, Subch. F (relating to homestead property
exclusion). The Township shall use no less than 25% of the funds derived
from the tax for emergency services. This tax is in addition to all
other taxes of any kind or nature heretofore levied by the Township.
The tax shall be no more than $52 on each individual for each calendar
year, irrespective of the number of political subdivisions within
which an individual may be employed.
Each employer shall prepare and file a return 30 days after
the end of each quarter of a calendar year showing a computation of
the tax on forms to be supplied to the employer by the Collector.
If an employer fails to file the return and pay the tax, whether or
not the employer makes collection thereof from the salary, wages or
commissions paid by him or her to an employee, except as provided
hereafter in this article, the employer shall be responsible for the
payment of the tax in full as though the tax had been originally levied
against the employer.
In each tax year, each employer shall use his or her employment
records to determine the number of employees from whom such tax shall
be deducted and paid over to the Collector on or before the 30th day
following the end of each calendar quarter of each such tax year.
Each self-employed individual who performs services of any type
or kind or engages in any occupation or profession with a primary
place of employment within the Township shall be required to comply
with this article and pay the pro rata portion of the tax due to the
Collector on or before the 30th day following the end of each calendar
quarter of each tax year.
The situs of the tax shall be the place of employment on the
first day the individual becomes subject to the tax during each payroll
period. in the event an individual is engaged in more than one occupation,
that is, concurrent employment, or an occupation which requires the
individual to work in more than one political subdivision during a
payroll period, the priority of claim to collect the local services
tax shall be in the following order:
A. First, the political subdivision in which an individual maintains
his or her principal office or is principally employed;
B. Second, the political subdivision in which the individual resides
and works if the local services tax is levied by that political subdivision;
C. Third, the political subdivision in which an individual is employed
and which imposes the local services tax nearest in miles to the individual's
home.
All employers and self-employed individuals residing or having
their places of business outside of the Township but who perform services
of any type or kind or engage in any occupation or profession within
the Township do, by virtue thereof, agree to be bound by and subject
themselves to the provisions, penalties and regulations promulgated
under this article with the same force and effect as though they were
residents of the Township. Further, any individual engaged in an occupation
within the Township and an employee of a nonresidential employer may,
for the purpose of this article, be considered a self-employed person,
and in the event his or her tax is not paid, the Township shall have
the option of proceeding against either the employer or employee for
the collection of this tax as hereinafter provided.
Whoever fails, neglects or refuses to make any declaration or
return required by this article; any employer who fails, neglects
or refuses to pay the tax deducted from his employees; any person
who refuses to permit the Collector or any agent designated by the
Collector to examine his books, records and papers setting employees
subject to this tax or necessary to properly calculate whether any
tax is due and the amount thereof; any person who knowingly makes
an incomplete, false or fraudulent return or attempts to do anything
whatsoever to avoid the full disclosure in order to avoid the payment
of the whole or any part of the tax imposed by this article, or who
violates any other provisions of this article, shall upon conviction
thereof before any Magisterial District Judge or court of competent
jurisdiction in Monroe County, Pennsylvania, be sentenced to pay a
fine of not more than $500 for each violation, and costs, and, in
default of payment of said fine and costs to be imprisoned for a period
not exceeding 30 days. The action to enforce the penalty herein prescribed
may be instituted against any person in charge of the business of
any employer who shall have failed or who refuses to file a return
or collect or pay the tax required by this article. Additionally,
the appropriate officers or agents of Pocono Township are hereby authorized
to seek equitable relief, including injunctions, to enforce compliance
with this article. The failure of any individual or employer to receive
or procure forms for making the declaration or returns required by
this article shall not excuse that individual or employer from making
such declarations or returns.
Nothing contained in this article shall be construed to empower
the Township to levy and collect the tax hereby imposed on any occupation
not within the taxing power of the Township under the Constitution
of the United States and the laws of the Commonwealth of Pennsylvania.
If the tax hereby imposed under the provisions of this article
shall be held by any court of competent jurisdiction to be in violation
of the Constitution or laws of the United States or of the Constitution
or laws of the Commonwealth of Pennsylvania as to any individual,
the decision of the court shall not affect or impair the right to
impose or collect said tax or the validity of the tax so imposed on
other persons or individuals as herein provided.
Except as hereafter set forth, all ordinances or parts of ordinances
inconsistent herewith are hereby repealed. Nothing herein shall be
construed to repeal the existing ordinance providing for the assessment
and collection of an occupation privilege tax, plus applicable penalties
and interest, for calendar year 2005 and all prior calendar years,
or of the existing ordinance levying an emergency and municipal services
tax, plus applicable penalties and interest, for calendar years 2006
and 2007, as the same exist prior to this amendment and reenactment.