[Adopted 1-19-1983 by Ord. No. 83-1]
This article shall be known as the "Lower Saucon
Township Landfill Business Privilege Tax."
As used in this article, unless the context
clearly indicates a different meaning, the following words shall have
the meanings ascribed to them in this section:
Any person paying consideration to an operator for the disposal
of disposable material by means of the sanitary landfill.
Includes garbage, rubbish, trash, waste material, ashes,
refuse or other recoverable or nonrecoverable discarded matter.
Includes the total of the landfill receipts received by an
operator during a taxable period.
A customer who transports his disposable material to the
sanitary landfill site.
Shall include:
Any person operating a sanitary landfill.
A customer for whom the operator performs substantial additional
services, such as collection or transportation of disposable material,
off the premises of the sanitary landfill.
Any natural person, partnership, unincorporated association,
corporation or municipal corporation, authority or body.
Any place where refuse or disposable material is dumped,
stored, treated, processed, recovered, buried, sold or otherwise disposed
of.
The standard rates paid by paying inside customers per truckload,
ton, yard or other measures during the taxable period. Quantity discounts
actually given to inside customers during the taxable period may be
considered in determining the standard unit rate to be applied to
an outside customer when the quantity of disposable material handled
for the outside customer equals or exceeds the quantity for which
an inside customer has received the discount.
Lower Saucon Township.
A tax for a general revenue purpose is hereby
imposed, assessed, and levied upon operators for the privilege of
engaging in the sanitary landfill business within Lower Saucon Township
at the rate of 3% of the gross receipts from such business from and
after. No person shall engage in such business without complying with
all the provisions of this article and paying taxes hereby levied.
[Amended 3-3-2021 by Ord.
No. 2021-01]
Each operator, upon forms prescribed by the
Township, shall file, on or before January 31, April 30, July 31 and
October 31 of each tax year, returns showing gross receipts received
with respect to each sanitary landfill in the respective three-month
period ending on the last day of the month preceding the month in
which the return due date occurs. At the time of filing the return,
the operator shall pay to the Director of Finance the tax due for
the period as to which the return applies. Any operator who, for the
preceding quarterly period, has failed to pay over the proper amount
of tax to the Director of Finance may be required by the Director
of Finance to file subsequent returns and pay the tax monthly. In
such cases, payments of the tax shall be made to the Director of Finance
on or before the last day of the month following the month for which
the tax is due.
In calculating the gross receipts from a sanitary
landfill business, the operator shall include the total consideration
received from the inside customers and shall include such portion
of the consideration received from the outside customers as shall
then be allocated to landfill receipts pursuant to the following section.
Where a landfill operator performs substantial
off-the-premises services, such as collection or transportation of
disposable material for a customer, an allocation of the total consideration
paid by the customer shall be made so as to impose the tax levied
by this article on the on-site operations as follows:
A.
Any operator who serves inside customers and outside
customers may apply his standard unit rates to the quantity of material
handled for outside customers and allocate that sum to the landfill
receipts for such outside customers.
B.
Any operator who does not serve inside customers may
apply the average standard unit rates charged by the other operators
in the Township to the quantity of material that he handles for the
outside customers and allocate that such to his landfill receipts
for such outside customers.
C.
If the formula set forth in Subsection A or Subsection B between an operator's landfill operation and his other services, such operator shall present satisfactory evidence thereof to the Director of Finance. If the Director of Finance is satisfied by such evidence, he shall then establish a formula which does fairly allocate receipts, but, in such event, the Director of Finance must notify all other operators in Lower Saucon Township, and such other operators shall have the option of having their receipts from outside customers allocated in the same manner. The new formula shall be effective for the operator who requested its establishment as of the date of his request and shall be effective as of the same date for all other operators who notify the Director of Finance, in writing, of their election to have their receipts allocated thereby within 30 days of receipt of notice from the Director of Finance. If an operator elects at some later turn to have his receipts allocated according to the new formula, his election shall be effective as of the date the Director of Finance received his election in writing.
[Amended 3-3-2021 by Ord.
No. 2021-01]
[Amended 3-3-2021 by Ord.
No. 2021-01]
Each operator shall maintain, separately with
respect to each sanitary landfill, complete and accurate records of
all transactions, gross receipts, contracts and landfill receipts.
Each operator shall allow the Director of Finance and his designated
employees and agents access to all such records and evidence at all
reasonable times and shall provide verification of the same, as the
Director of Finance may require. The Director of Finance and agents
designated by him are hereby authorized to examine the books, papers
and records of each operator to verify the accuracy of any return
made or, if no return has been made, to ascertain the tax due.
[Amended 3-3-2021 by Ord.
No. 2021-01]
Any information gained by the Director of Finance,
his agents or any other official or agent of the Township pursuant
to the administration of this article shall be confidential and shall
not be disclosed except for official purposes or in accordance with
proper judicial order or for purposes expressly authorized by this
article. The Director of Finance and his agents shall have the duty
to disclose the average standard unit rates, on request, to any operator
having a proper use of them. Any change in formula allowed by the
Director of Finance to any operator shall be disclosed to all operators.
[Amended 3-3-2021 by Ord.
No. 2021-01]
The Director of Finance is hereby authorized
to accept payment under protest of any taxes claimed by the Township
in any case where the taxpayer disputes the validity or amount of
the Township's claim to tax. If it is thereafter judicially determined
that the Township has been overpaid, the amount of the overpayment
shall be refunded to the taxpayer.
[Amended 3-3-2021 by Ord.
No. 2021-01]
The Director of Finance shall collect, by suit
or otherwise, all taxes, interest, costs, fines and penalties due
and unpaid under this article. If, for any reason, any tax is not
paid when due, interest at the rate of 6% per year on the amount of
unpaid tax and an additional penalty of 1/2 of 1% per month shall
be added to the tax and collected. The taxpayer shall also be liable
for all costs of collection.
[Amended 9-18-1996 by Ord. No. 96-10; 5-20-1998 by Ord. No. 98-17; 3-3-2021 by Ord. No. 2021-01]
Any person who fails to voluntarily pay within
10 days to the Township the penalty imposed for violation of this
article shall be subject to a civil enforcement proceeding. Any person
who violates or permits a violation of this chapter, upon being found
liable therefor in a civil enforcement proceeding, shall pay a fine
of not more than $600, plus all court costs, including reasonable
attorney's fees, incurred by the Township in the enforcement of this
chapter. No judgment shall be imposed until the date of the determination
of the violation by the Magisterial District Judge and/or Court. If
the defendant neither pays nor timely appeals the judgment, the Township
may enforce the judgment pursuant to the applicable rules of civil
procedure. Each day a violation exists shall constitute a separate
offense. Further, the appropriate officers or agents of the Township
are hereby authorized to seek equitable relief, including injunction,
to enforce compliance herewith.
This article is enacted under the authority
of the Local Tax Enabling Act, the Act of December 31, 1965, P.L. 1257, 53 P.S. § 6901
et seq., as amended.
[1]
Editor's Note: Original Section 12, which
immediately preceded this section and estimated the revenue generated
by the landfill business privilege tax, was deleted 5-20-1998 by Ord.
No. 98-17.
