SB 306

Relating to Coosa County; to amend Sections 45-19-244, 45-19-244.01,45-19-244.02, 45-19-244.03, and 45-19-244.05, Code of Alabama 1975, providing for a severance tax on materials severed from the soil in the county; to provide for the tax on graphite; and to repeal Section 45-19-244.07, Code of Alabama 1975, providing for expiration of the severance tax in the county.

Section 1

Sections 45-19-244, 45-19-22.01, 45-19-244.02, 45-19-244.03, and 45-19-244.05, Code of Alabama 1975, are amended to read as follows:

§45-19-244.

When used in this part, the following words and phrases shall have the following meanings:

(1) DEPARTMENT. The State Department of Revenue.

(2) EARTHEN MATERIALS. Materials covered in this part which include sand, clay, silt, loam, dirt, gravel, rock, sand-gravel, clay-gravel, sand-clay, or any combination thereof, but does not include graphite.

(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, graphite, 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, or graphite.

(6) SEVERING. Mining, stripping, or otherwise taking or removing sand, clay, silt, loam, dirt, gravel, rock, sand-gravel, clay-gravel, sand-clay, graphite, 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, graphite, 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.

§45-19-244.01.

(a)(1) There is levied, in addition to all other taxes imposed by law, an excise and privilege tax on every person severing earthen materials except graphite 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.

(2) There is levied, in addition to all other taxes imposed by law, an excise and privilege tax on every person severing graphite within Coosa County. The graphite tax shall be paid to the Department of Revenue at the rate of five dollars ($5) per ton by every producer who severs graphite 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.

§45-19-244.02.

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 or graphite 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 part. 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 producer in the case of an individual producer or by a member, officer, or manager of the producer in other cases.

§45-19-244.03.

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 or graphite 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 or graphite so acquired, and, in the case of a transporter, to whom and where each ton of earthen material or graphite was delivered, and any other information as the commissioner may reasonably require for the proper enforcement of this part, 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 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.

§45-19-244.05.

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 on earthen material and one percent of the total taxes collected on graphite. 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 2

Section 45-19-244.07 of the Code of Alabama 1975, is repealed.

Section 3

This act shall become effective immediately following its passage and approval by the Governor, or its otherwise becoming law.