[Adopted as Ch. 125 of the 1975 Municipal
Code]
A.
Pursuant to the authority granted by § 20-b
of the General City Law of the State of New York, a tax equal to 1%
of its annual gross income of the period from July 1 to June 30 of
each and every year is hereby imposed upon every utility doing business
in the City of Ithaca 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 for the same period upon every other utility doing
business in the City of Ithaca 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
Ithaca 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 Ithaca, notwithstanding
that some act is necessarily performed with respect to such transaction
within such limits.
[Amended 8-5-1992 by L.L. No. 3-1992]
[1]
Editor's Note: Art. 3-B of the Public Service
Law was repealed by Chapter 267 of the Laws of 1970.
B.
Revenues resulting from the imposition of taxes hereby
imposed shall be paid into the treasury of the City of Ithaca and
shall be credited to and deposited in the general fund.
C.
All of the provisions of § 186-a of the
Tax Law, so far as the same are applicable, shall apply to the taxes
imposed by this article.
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 City of Ithaca, 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 City of Ithaca
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 rental) within the City of Ithaca whatsoever.
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, refrigeration, telephone or telegraph
service in the City of Ithaca, 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 discounts 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 and
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 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 in such form as the City Chamberlain
may require, and such records shall be preserved for a period of three
years, except that the City Chamberlain may consent to their destruction
within that period or may require that they be kept longer.
A.
Every utility subject to tax hereunder shall file,
on or before the 25th day of September, December, March and June,
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 return shall state
the gross income or gross operating income for the period covered
by each such return. Returns shall be filed with the City Chamberlain
on a form to be furnished by him/her for such purpose and shall contain
such other data, information or matter as the City Chamberlain may
require to be included therein.
B.
Notwithstanding the foregoing provisions of this article,
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 its returns for such periods on June
25 of each and every year, and the City Chamberlain may require any
utility to file an annual return, which shall contain any data specified
by him/her, regardless of whether the utility is subject to tax under
this article.
C.
Every return shall have annexed thereto an affidavit
of the head of the utility making the same or of the owner or of the
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 City Chamberlain 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 Chamberlain and
if a corrected or sufficient return is not filed within 20 days after
the same is required by notice from the City Chamberlain or if no
return is made for any period, the City Chamberlain shall determine
the amount of tax due from such information as he/she is able to obtain
and, if necessary, may estimate the tax on the basis of external indices
or otherwise. The City Chamberlain 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 Chamberlain for a hearing or unless
the City Chamberlain, of his/her own motion, shall reduce the same.
After such hearing, the City Chamberlain shall give notice of his/her
decision to the person liable for the tax. The decision of the City
Chamberlain 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 30 days after the giving of notice of such
decision. An order of review 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 Chamberlain and an undertaking
filed with him/her in such amount and with such sureties as a Justice
of the Supreme Court shall approve, to the effect that, if such order
is dismissed or the tax confirmed, the applicant for the order will
pay all costs and charges which may accrue in the prosecution of the
proceedings, 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/her in the last return filed
by him/her 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 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 City Chamberlain, if satisfied
that the delay was excusable, may remit all or any portion of such
penalty.
If, within one year of the payment of any tax
or penalty, the payer thereof shall make application for a refund
thereof and the City Chamberlain or the court shall determine that
such tax or penalty or any portion thereof was erroneously or illegally
collected, the City Chamberlain 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 Chamberlain. However, no refund shall
be made of a tax or penalty paid pursuant to a determination of the
City Chamberlain as hereinbefore provided unless the City Chamberlain,
after a hearing as hereinbefore provided or of his/her own motion,
shall have reduced the tax or penalty or it shall have been established
in an Article 78 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 Chamberlain may receive additional evidence
with respect thereto. After making his/her determination, the City
Chamberlain shall give notice thereof to the person interested, and
he/she shall be entitled to an 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 City Attorney shall, upon
the request of the City Chamberlain, 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 Chamberlain. 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
Chamberlain shall have the power to make such reasonable rules and
regulations not inconsistent with law as may be necessary for the
exercise of his/her powers and the performance of his/her duties;
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/her official duty under this article; and to subpoena and require
the attendance of witnesses and the production of books, papers and
documents.
A.
Prohibition. Except in accordance with proper judicial
order or as otherwise provided by law, it shall be unlawful for the
City Chamberlain or any agent, clerk or employee of the City of Ithaca
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 Ithaca 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 such 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/her duly authorized representative of a copy of
any return filed by him/her; nor the publication of statistics so
classified as to prevent the identification of particular returns
and the items thereof; nor 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 Chamberlain,
may assist in the collection of such delinquent taxes; nor the inspection
by the City Attorney or other legal representatives of the City of
Ithaca 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.
Offenses; punishment. 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
is an officer, agent, clerk or employee of the City of Ithaca, he/she
shall be dismissed from office and shall be incapable of holding any
office or employment in the City of Ithaca for a period of five years
thereafter.
C.
Exception. Notwithstanding any provisions of this
article, the City Chamberlain 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 Ithaca, and provided that such information
is to be used for tax purposes only, and the City Chamberlain shall,
upon request, furnish the State Tax Commission with any information
contained in such returns.
All taxes and penalties received by the City
Chamberlain for taxes heretofore or hereafter imposed under this article
shall be credited and deposited by him/her in the general fund of
the city.