Coosa County
Act No. 99-544
Relating to Coosa County; levying a tax on those persons, firms, and corporations
severing and transporting sand, clay, silt, loam, dirt, gravel, rock, sand-gravel,
clay-gravel, sand-clay, or any combination thereof in the county; authorizing
the county commission to impose and collect a certain mining fee on minerals;
providing for the collection of the tax by the Department of Revenue; providing
for enforcement and distribution of the proceeds of the tax; and to provide
for the expiration of this act.
BE IT ENACTED BY THE LEGISLATURE OF ALABAMA:
Section 1: When used in this act, the following words
and phrases shall have the following meanings:
(1) DEPARTMENT. The state Department of Revenue.
(2) EARTHEN MATERIALS. Materials covered in this
bill which include sand, clay, silt, loam, dirt, gravel, rock, sand-gravel,
clay-gravel, sand-clay, or any combination thereof.
(3) PERSON. Any individual, firm, partnership,
corporation, association, or any combination thereof.
(4) PRODUCER. Any person engaging in the business
of severing sand, clay, silt, loam, dirt, gravel, rock, sand-gravel, clay-gravel,
sand-clay, or any combination thereof from the soil within Coosa County.
(5) PURCHASER. Any person acquiring title, outright
or conditionally, to any interest in sand, clay, silt, loam, dirt, gravel, rock,
sand-gravel, clay-gravel, sand-clay, or any combination thereof.
(6) SEVERING. Mining, stripping, or otherwise
taking or removing sand, clay, silt, loam, dirt, gravel, rock, sand-gravel,
clay-gravel, sand-clay, or any combination thereof from the soil within Coosa
County.
(7) TON. A short ton of 2,000 pounds.
(8) TRANSPORTER. Any person transporting sand,
clay, silt, loam, dirt, gravel, rock, sand-gravel, clay-gravel, sand-clay, or
any combination thereof from the place where it is severed or from any other
place to any other place, within or without Coosa County.
Section 2. (a) There is levied, in addition to
all other taxes imposed by law, an excise and privilege tax on every person
severing earthen materials within Coosa County. The tax shall be paid
to the Department of Revenue at the rate of twenty-five cents ($.25) per ton
by every producer who severs the product within Coosa County.
(b) In addition to the tax levied in subsection (a),
the county commission may assess a mining fee as it deems necessary on producers
who mine minerals other than earthen material from the soil in Coosa County.
If the county commission does assess such a fee at a county commission meeting,
it shall advertise the time, place, and purpose of such a commission meeting
for four consecutive weeks in a newspaper of general circulation in the county
prior to the meeting. The county commission may provide for collecting
the fee.
Section 3. Every producer shall within 20 days after
the end of each calendar month, whether or not the producer shall have severed
or sold any earthen materials during that month, file with the Department of
Revenue a report which shall set forth, in a form prescribed by the department,
the amount of the products in tons, if any, severed or sold, as the case may
be, by the producer during the next preceding calendar month, the point of severance
thereof, the amount of taxes due, and any other information as the department
may reasonably require for the proper enforcement of this act. The producer
shall accompany the report with payment of the full amount of the taxes shown
to be due. The report shall be signed by the producer himself in the case
of an individual producer or by a member, officer, or manager of the producer
in other cases.
Section 4. Purchasers and transporters of a product
severed in Coosa County shall file a report with the Department of Revenue,
on forms prescribed by the department, within 20 days after the end of each
calendar month in which the purchaser or transporter purchased or transported
earthen material severed in Coosa County. The report shall state the names
and addresses of all producers in Coosa County from whom the purchaser or transporter
has received the earthen material during the calendar month, the total quantity
of earthen material so acquired, and, in the case of a transporter, to whom
and where each ton of earthen material was delivered, and any other information
as the commissioner may reasonably require for the proper enforcement of this
act, including the routes traveled in transporting the gravel and the amounts
of any privilege tax on the transportation. The report shall be signed
by the purchaser or transporter himself or herself in the case of an individual
purchaser or transporter, or by a member, officer, or manager of the purchaser
or transporter in all other cases.
Section 5. The taxes imposed by this act shall constitute
a debt due Coosa County and may be collected by civil suit, in addition to all
other methods provided by law. The taxes, together with interest thereon,
shall constitute and be secured by a lien upon the property of any person from
whom the taxes are due. All provisions of the revenue law of this state
which apply to the enforcement of liens for taxes due the state shall apply
fully to the collection of the county taxes levied herein, and the state Department
of Revenue for the use and benefit of Coosa County shall collect the taxes and
enforce this act and shall have and exercise for the collection and enforcement
all rights and remedies that this state or department has for collection of
the state stone severance tax. The state Department of Revenue shall have
full authority to employ special counsel as it deems necessary to enforce collection
of the taxes levied by this act, and to otherwise enforce the provisions of
this act, including any litigation involving this act, and the Department of
Revenue shall pay the special counsel's fee, as it deems necessary and proper,
from the proceeds of the taxes collected by it for Coosa County.
Section 6. The state Department of Revenue shall charge
Coosa County for collecting the county taxes levied herein, an amount or percentage
of total collections not to exceed five percent of the total amount of taxes
collected hereunder. The charge for collecting the taxes for the county
may be deducted each month from the proceeds of the taxes before certifying
the amount thereof due Coosa County for that month.
Section 7. The proceeds from taxes levied by this act
shall be deposited in a separate account to be used for the maintenance, restoration,
and replacement of county bridges and roads and for other general county purposes.
Section 8. This act shall expire and be repealed 20
years from the effective date of this act.
Section 9. This act shall become effective on the first
day of the third month following its passage and approval by the Governor, or
its otherwise becoming law.
Local Severance Taxes