[Adopted 6-15-1937 by L.L. No. 1-1937]
[Amended 5-16-1950 by L.L. No. 2-1950]
Pursuant to the authority granted by Section
20-b of the General City Law of the State of New York, a tax equal
to 1% of its gross income from and after July 1, 1937, is hereby imposed
upon every utility doing business in the City of Amsterdam which is
subject to the supervision of the State Department of Public Service,
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-B of the Public Service Law,[1] and a tax equal to 1% of its gross operating income is
hereby imposed from and after July 1, 1937, upon every other utility
doing business in the City of Amsterdam 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 City
of Amsterdam, and shall be in addition to any and all other taxes
and fees imposed by any other provision of law for the same period.
Such taxes shall not be imposed on any transaction originating or
consummated outside of the territorial limits of the City of Amsterdam,
notwithstanding that some act be necessarily performed with respect
to such transactions within such limits.
[1]
Editor's Note: Article 3-B of the Public Service
Law was repealed by L. 1970. c. 267, § 5. See now Transportation
Law § 240 et seq.
As used in this article, the following terms
shall have the meanings indicated:
Includes receipts received in or by reason of any sale (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 to persons for ultimate consumption or use by
them in the City of Amsterdam, 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 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; also receipts from interest,
dividends and royalties derived from sources within the City of Amsterdam
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 within
the City of Amsterdam whatsoever.
Includes receipts received in or by reason of any sale made
to persons for ultimate consumption or use by them of gas, electricity,
steam, water, refrigeration, telephony or telegraphy, or in or by
reason of the furnishing to persons for such consumption or use of
gas, electric, steam, water, refrigerator, telephone or telegraph
service in the City of Amsterdam, 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.
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.
Every person subject to the supervision of either division
of the State Department of Public Service, except 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 shall engage
in the business of selling gas, electricity, steam, water, refrigeration,
telephony or telegraphy, delivered through mains, pipes or wires,
or of furnishing gas, electric, steam, water, refrigerator, telephone
or telegraph service by means of mains, pipes or wires.
Every utility subject to tax under this article
shall keep such records of its business and in such form as the City
Treasurer may require, and such records shall be preserved for a period
of three years, except that the City Treasurer may consent to their
destruction within that period or may require that they be kept longer.
[Amended 5-16-1950 by L.L. No. 2-1950]
Every utility subject to tax hereunder shall
file, on or before September 25, December 25, March 25 and June 25,
a return for the three calendar months preceding each such return
date, including any period for which the tax imposed hereby or by
any amendment hereof is effective, each of which returns shall state
the gross income or gross operating income for the period covered
by each such return. Returns shall be filed with the City Treasurer
on a form to be furnished by him for such purpose and shall contain
such other data, information or matter as the City Treasurer may require
to be included therein. Notwithstanding the foregoing provisions of
this chapter, any utility whose average gross income or average gross
operating income, as the case may be, for the aforesaid three-month
periods is less than $1,500 may file a return annually on June 25
for the 12 preceding calendar months, and the City Treasurer may require
any utility doing business in the City of Amsterdam to file an annual
return, which shall contain any data specified by the City Treasurer,
regardless of whether the utility is subject to tax under this article.
The City 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 the City Treasurer. Every
return shall have annexed thereto an affidavit of the head of the
utility making the same 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 City 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.
In case any return filed pursuant to this article
shall be insufficient or unsatisfactory to the City Treasurer, and
if a corrected or sufficient return is not filed within 20 days after
the same is required by notice from the City Treasurer, or if no return
is made for any period, the City 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. The City Treasurer 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 City Treasurer for a hearing, or unless
the City Treasurer, of his own motion, shall reduce the same. After
such hearing, the City Treasurer shall give notice of his decision
to the person liable for the tax. The decision of the City Treasurer
may be reviewed by certiorari, if application therefor is made within
30 days after the giving of notice of such decision. An order of certiorari
shall not be granted unless the amount of any tax sought to be reviewed,
with penalties thereon, if any, shall be first deposited with the
City 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 order be dismissed or the tax confirmed,
the applicant for the order will pay all costs and charges which may
accrue in the prosecution of the certiorari proceeding, or, at the
option of the applicant, such undertaking may be in a sum sufficient
to cover the tax, penalties, costs and charges aforesaid, in which
event the applicant shall not be required to pay such tax and penalties
as a condition precedent to the granting of such order.
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. 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 City Treasurer, if satisfied
that the delay was excusable, may remit all or any portion of such
penalty.
If, within one year from the payment of any
tax or penalty, the payer thereof shall make application for a refund
thereof and the City Treasurer or the court shall determine that such
tax or penalty or any portion thereof was erroneously or illegally
collected, the City 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 City Treasurer. However, no refund shall
be made of a tax or penalty paid pursuant to a determination of the
City Treasurer as hereinbefore provided unless the City 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 certiorari proceeding 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 City Treasurer may receive additional evidence
with respect thereto. After making his determination, the City Treasurer
shall give notice thereof to the person interested, and he shall be
entitled to a certiorari order to review such determination, 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 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 Corporation Counsel shall,
upon the request of the City 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 City 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 City
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 the proper judicial order
or as otherwise provided by law, it shall be unlawful for the City
Treasurer or any agent, clerk or employee of the City of Amsterdam
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 City of Amsterdam 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 any 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 City Treasurer, may assist in the collection
of such delinquent taxes; or the inspection by the Corporation Counsel
or other legal representative of the City of Amsterdam 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 six months or both, and if the offender be an officer,
agent, clerk or employee of the City of Amsterdam, he shall be dismissed
from office and shall be incapable of holding any office or employment
in the City of Amsterdam for a period of five years thereafter.
C.
Notwithstanding any provisions of this article, the
City Treasurer may exchange with the Chief Fiscal Officer of any other
city in the State of New York information contained in returns filed
under this article, provided that such other city grants similar privileges
to the City of Amsterdam and provided that such information is to
be used for tax purposes only, and the City Treasurer shall upon request
furnish the State Tax Commission with any information contained in
such returns.
All taxes and penalties received by the City
Treasurer under this article shall be deposited by him in a separate
bank account or accounts and shall be used solely and exclusively
for the purpose of granting relief from the hardships and suffering
caused by unemployment within the City of Amsterdam.
