[Adopted 4-19-1976 as Ch. 34, Art. I, of the 1976 Code]
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 June 1972 is hereby
imposed upon every utility doing business in the Village of Canastota,
which business is subject to the supervision of the State Department
of Public Services and which has an annual gross income in excess
of $500, except motor carriers or brokers subject to such supervision
under Article 3-B of the Public Service Law, which taxes shall have
application only within the territorial limits of the Village of Canastota
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 Canastota, notwithstanding that some act
be necessarily performed with respect to such transaction within such
limits.
As used in the article, and in compliance with
§ 186-a, Subdivision 2, of the Tax Law, the following terms
shall have the meanings indicated:
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 Canastota, 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 deductions
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 Canastota 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 Canastota 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 Canastota
and, in the case of a utility engaged in selling telegraphy or telegraph
service, only receipts from transactions wholly consummated within
the Village of Canastota.
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, telegraph service
in the Village of Canastota, 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
expense whatsoever.
Persons, corporation, companies, associations, joint-stock
a 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.
Includes every person subject to the supervision 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 regardless of whether use
is made of the public streets of the Village of Canastota.
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 of may require that they be kept longer.
Every utility subject to tax hereunder shall
file annually, on or before the first day of March, a return for the
12 calendar months proceeding such return date or any portion thereof
for which the tax imposed hereby is effective and, in the case of
the first such return, for all preceding calendar 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 Village Treasurer on a form to be
furnished by her for such purpose and shall contain such other data,
information or matter as she 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 her, and she may require
any utility doing business in the Village of Canastota to file an
annual return which shall contain any data specified by her, 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 of or 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.
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 her, or if no return is
made for any period, the Village Treasurer shall determine the amount
of tax due from such information as she is able to obtain and, if
necessary, may estimate the tax on the basis of external indices or
otherwise. She 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,
on her own motion shall reduce the same. After such hearing, the Village
Treasurer shall give notice of her 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 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 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, except 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 causes 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 this 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 of the Tax Law is made a lien.
In the administration of this article, the Village
Treasurer shall have the 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.
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 Canastota
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 Canastota 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, or 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 prohibit
the inspection by the Village Attorney or other legal representatives
of the Village of Canastota 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. 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 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.
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 funds
of the Village.
