[Adopted 1-23-1951 by L.L. No. 1-1951]
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 January 1951 is hereby imposed upon every utility doing
business in the Village of Scarsdale which is subject to the supervision
of the State Department of Public Service, which has a gross income,
for the 12 months ending December 31 of the year immediately prior
to the tax year, in excess of $500, except motor carriers or brokers
subject to such supervision under Article 7 of the Transportation
Law, and a tax equal to 1% of its gross operating income from
and after the first day of January 1951 is hereby imposed upon every
other utility doing business in the Village of Scarsdale which has
a gross operating income for the 12 months ending said December 31
in excess of $500, which taxes shall have application only within
the territorial limits of the Village of Scarsdale 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 Scarsdale, 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:
GROSS INCOME
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 Scarsdale, 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 Scarsdale 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 Scarsdale 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 Scarsdale
and, in the case of a utility engaged in selling telegraphy or telegraph
service, only receipts from transactions wholly consummated within
the Village of Scarsdale.
GROSS OPERATING INCOME
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 Scarsdale, 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.
PERSON
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.
UTILITY
Includes every person subject to the supervision of the State
Department of Public Service, except omnibus corporations subject
to the supervision of the State Department of public service under
Article 7 of the Transportation Law and 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.
[Amended 12-13-1955 by L.L. No. 6-1955]
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 may consent to
their destruction within that period or may require that they be kept
longer.
[Amended 10-9-1951 by L.L. No. 3-1951]
Every utility subject to tax hereunder shall
file annually, on or before the 25th day of February, a return for
the 12 calendar months ending December 31 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
June 25, September 25, December 25 and March 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 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,
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 Scarsdale 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.
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 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
for a hearing or unless the Treasurer, of his own motion, shall reduce
the same. After such hearing, the 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 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 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. 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.
A. 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.
B. 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, except the first month, after such return was required to
be filed or such tax became 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.
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 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. However, no refund shall be made
of a tax or penalty paid pursuant to a determination of the Treasurer
as hereinbefore provided unless the 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 Law and Rules of the State of New
York that such determination was erroneous or illegal.
A. All refunds shall be made out of moneys collected
under this article.
B. 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 may receive additional
evidence with respect thereto.
C. After making his determination, the 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 article shall be charged
against and shall 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. 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 Scarsdale
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 Scarsdale 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 or 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 indentification 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 may assist
in the collection of such delinquent taxes, or the inspection by the
Village Attorney or other legal representatives of the Village of
Scarsdale 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 Scarsdale, he shall be
dismissed from office and shall be incapable of holding any office
or employment in the Village of Scarsdale for a period of five years
thereafter.
C. Notwithstanding any provisions of this article, the
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 article, provided that such city or other
Village grants similar privileges to the Village of Scarsdale and
provided that such information is to be used for tax purposes only,
and the Treasurer 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.