[Adopted 8-13-1969 by L.L. No. 1-1969]
[Amended 2-12-1997 by L.L. No. 3-1997]
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 September 1969 is
hereby imposed upon every utility doing business in the Village of
Wappingers Falls which is subject to the supervision of the State
Department of Public Service and which has a gross income for the
12 months ending May 31 in excess of $500, except motor carriers or
brokers subject to such supervision under Article 3-A of the Public
Service Law, and a tax equal to 1% of its gross operating income from
and after the first day of September 1969 is hereby imposed upon every
other utility doing business in the Village of Wappingers Falls which
has a gross operating income for the 12 months ending May 31 in excess
of $500, which taxes shall have application only within the territorial
limits of the Village of Wappingers Falls 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
Wappingers Falls, 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:
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 Wappingers Falls, 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.
Profits from the sale of securities.
Profits from the sale of real property growing
out of the ownership or use of or interest in such property.
Profits 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).
Receipts from interest, dividends and royalties
derived from sources within the Village of Wappingers Falls 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.
Profits from any transaction (except sales for
resale and rentals) within the Village of Wappingers Falls 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 Wappingers Falls and, in the case of a utility engaged
in selling telegraphy or telegraph service, only receipts from transactions
wholly consummated within the Village of Wappingers Falls.
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 Wappingers Falls, 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 cost, interest or discount paid or
any other expenses whatsoever.
Persons, corporations, companies, associations, joint-stock
associations, copartnerships, estates, assignees 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.
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 3-A of the Public Service 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.
Every utility subject to tax under this Article
shall keep such records of its business and in such form as the Village
Treasurer may require, and such records shall be preserved for a period
of three years, except that the Village Treasurer may consent to their
destruction within that period or may require that they be kept longer.
Each utility subject to tax hereunder shall
file annually on or before the 25th day of April a return for the
12 calendar months ending on the last day of February 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 October 25, January 25, April 25 and July 25, a return
for the three preceding calendar months ending on the last day of
August, November, February and May, respectively, and in the case
of the first such return, for such portion of said three-calendar-month
period 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 Village Treasurer
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 Village 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 Wappingers
Falls 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 is 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 Village Treasurer 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.
A.
In case any return filed pursuant to this Article
shall be insufficient or unsatisfactory to the Village Treasurer 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 Village 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 indices 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
Village Treasurer for a hearing or unless the Village Treasurer, of
his own motion, shall reduce the same. After such hearing, the Village
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 Village
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 is 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.
B.
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.
Any notice authorized or required under the
provisions of this Article may be given by mailing the same to the
persons 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. 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, excepting the first month, after such return was required
to be filed or such tax became due; but the Village Treasurer, 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 Village Treasurer or the court shall determine that
such tax or penalty or any portion thereof was erroneously or illegally
collected, the Village 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 Village Treasurer. However, no refund shall
be made of a tax or penalty paid pursuant to a determination of the
Village Treasurer as hereinbefore provided unless the Village 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. All refunds shall be made out of moneys collected under this
Article. 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 Village Treasurer may receive additional evidence
with respect thereto. After making his determination, the Village
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 provision hereinbefore contained relating
to the granting of such an order.
The tax imposed by this Article shall be charged
against and 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 Village Treasurer, bring an action to enforce payment
of the same. The proceeds of any judgment obtained in any such action
shall be paid to the Village 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 Village
Treasurer 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 Village
Treasurer or any agent, clerk or employee of the Village of Wappingers
Falls 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 Wappingers Falls 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 identification 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 Village 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 Wappingers Falls 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 is an officer,
agent, clerk or employee of the Village of Wappingers Falls, he shall
be dismissed from office and shall be incapable of holding any office
or employment in the Village of Wappingers Falls for a period of five
years thereafter.
C.
Notwithstanding any provisions of this article, the
Village 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 Wappingers Falls,
and provided that such information is to be used for tax purposes
only, and the Village Treasurer shall, upon request, furnish the State
Tax Commission with any information contained in such returns.
[Amended 2-12-1997 by L.L. No. 3-1997]
All taxes and penalties received by the Village
Treasurer 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.
