[Adopted 1-10-1973 by Ord. No. 157 (Ch. XXIII, Part 3A, of the 1970 Code)]
Unless otherwise specifically stated herein, the following terms shall have, for the purposes of this article, the meaning hereinafter set forth:
ASSOCIATION
A partnership, limited partnership, registered partnership, business operated under a fictitious name or any other form of unincorporated enterprise owned or conducted by two or more persons.
CORPORATION
Any corporation or joint-stock association organized under the laws of the United States, the Commonwealth of Pennsylvania, or any other state, territory or foreign country or dependency, including banking institutions.
DOCUMENT
Any deed, instrument or writing by which any real estate, lands, tenements or hereditaments or any part thereof or interest therein, within the limits of the Borough of West Leechburg, Westmoreland County, Pennsylvania, shall be sold, transferred, granted, bargained or conveyed to a purchaser or grantee, but shall not include wills or other testamentary writings, mortgages, sales or transfers between husband and wife, or parent and child, or transfers to the United States, the Commonwealth of Pennsylvania, or to any agency or political subdivision of any document.
PERSONS
Include natural persons, copartnerships, association, corporation, firm or fiduciary. Whenever used in any clause prescribing or imposing a penalty, fine or imprisonment, or both, the term "person" as applied to associations, or copartnerships shall mean the members or partners thereof, and as applied to corporations, the officers thereof. The singular shall include the plural.
SPECIAL TAX COLLECTOR
The Recorder of Deeds of Westmoreland County, Pennsylvania.
VALUE
In the case of any document resulting from or being evidence of the sale or transfer of real estate within the Borough of West Leechburg, Westmoreland County, Pennsylvania, transferring, granting or otherwise conveying any land, tenement or hereditament or part thereof or interest therein, the amount of the actual consideration paid therefor, including liens or other encumbrances thereon or a commensurate portion of the liens or other encumbrances thereon, where such document specifically sets forth a small nominal or sentimental consideration, the value shall be the total actual consideration or sale price of said real estate; provided, further, however, that if such transfer is in a nature of a gift without actual valuable consideration, the value of the real estate or interest therein being transferred shall be considered as the highest valuation for tax purposes established by the Board of Assessment and Revision of Taxes in and for Westmoreland County, Pennsylvania, from which said Board derives the assessed valuation for the purposes of taxes which means the highest valuation established by said Board and not the tax assessment valuation.
Every person who makes, executes, issues or delivers any documents or on whose behalf the document is made, executed, issued, delivered or accepted, being the transferor in said document and transaction, shall be subject to pay for and in respect thereof, or for and in respect of the instrument or paper upon which such document is written or printed, a Borough tax at the rate of 1/2% of the value as herein defined, of the property being transferred by such document, regardless of where the instrument making the transfer is made, executed or delivered or where the actual settlement on such transfer takes place, which said Borough tax shall be payable to the Borough of West Leechburg at the time of the making, executing, issuance or delivery of such a document.
The payment of the tax imposed by this article shall be evidenced by a stamp of metal or rubber which shall clearly show that the tax assessed under this article has been paid. The Special Tax Collector shall affix or impress said stamp mark and collect the tax imposed herein.
The tax imposed by this article shall be paid to the Special Tax Collector who is hereby charged with the collection thereof. The Special Tax Collector shall account for and pay over to the Borough of West Leechburg, Westmoreland County, Pennsylvania, the collections made, less any commissions provided by law, in accordance with Act No. 113 of the General Assembly of the Commonwealth of Pennsylvania approved November 1, 1971.
No document which represents a sale or transfer involving the transfer of title to real estate situate in the Borough of West Leechburg, Westmoreland County, Pennsylvania, upon which the tax is hereby levied and assessed shall be recorded in the office of the Recorder of Deeds of Westmoreland County, Pennsylvania, or any county of the commonwealth, nor shall such document be made the basis of any action or other legal proceedings, not shall proof thereof be offered in evidence in any court of the Commonwealth of Pennsylvania, unless and until the said stamp as provided herein shall have been affixed thereto.
Every such document when presented to the Recorder of Deeds of Westmoreland County, or any other county of the commonwealth for recording therein, shall set forth in said document and as part thereof, the true, full and complete consideration or value of said transfer or, in lieu thereof, shall be accompanied by an affidavit to be executed by the grantor, grantee or the responsible agent of either, which said affidavit shall set forth the true, full and complete consideration or value for the said transfer, or the specific reason why the said document and the transfer represented thereby is not subject to the tax imposed by this article if the document, upon its face, does not disclose said reason.
[Amended 1-11-1989 by Ord. No. 223]
It shall be unlawful for any person to make, execute, issue, deliver or accept, or cause to be made, executed, issued, delivered or accepted, any document transferring title to any real estate situated in the Borough of West Leechburg, in accordance with the provisions of this article, unless and until the full amount of the tax imposed by this article shall have been paid. Any person violating any provision of this article shall be guilty of an offense, and, upon conviction, shall be sentenced to pay a fine, the minimum amount thereof and the maximum amount thereof to be the same as for a violation of the Borough's realty transfer tax levied under Act 77 of 1986, and, in default of payment of fine and costs, to undergo imprisonment for not more than 30 days.
In addition to all other fines and other penalties imposed by this article, all taxes imposed in accordance with the provisions hereof, if not paid when due, shall bear interest at the rate of 1/2 of 1% per month until paid
A penalty of 5% in addition to other penalties imposed hereunder is imposed upon the amount of any tax imposed under the provisions of this article, which shall remain unpaid for a period of longer than one month from the date of said transfer.
The tax levied and assessed by this article together with the interest and penalties imposed herein shall become a lien upon the lands, tenements, hereditaments or any part thereof or interest therein within the limits of the Borough of West Leechburg, Westmoreland County, Pennsylvania, transferred or conveyed in accordance with the provisions hereof, which such liens shall be effective at the time when the taxes are due and payable in accordance with the provisions of this article, and shall continue until discharged by payment to the Borough of West Leechburg, and the said Borough of West Leechburg may file a municipal or tax claim in the Court of Common Pleas of Westmoreland County, Pennsylvania, a claim against the transferor or transferee, or both, on the said lands, tenements or hereditaments concerned in accordance with the provisions of the laws of the Commonwealth of Pennsylvania covering the filing of municipal or tax claim.
If any sentence, clause, section or part of this article shall, for any reason be found to be unconstitutional, illegal, invalid or void, such unconstitutionality, illegality, invalidity or nullity shall not affect or impair any of the remaining provisions, sentences, clauses or sections, or parts of this article. It is hereby declared to be the legal intent of the Council of the Borough of West Leechburg that this article would have been adopted had such unconstitutional, illegal or invalid sentence, clause, section or part thereof had not been included therein.
This article is enacted under the authority of the Act of the General Assembly known as "The Local Tax Enabling Act," 1965, December 31, P.L. 1257, as amended.[1]
[1]
Editor's Note: See 53 P.S. § 6924.101 et seq.