§ 45-6-241 — Imposition of Excise Taxes; Monthly Report; Failure to Comply

(a) For the purposes of this section, the following terms shall have the respective meanings ascribed by this subsection.
(1) COUNTY. Bullock County.
(2) COMMISSION. The Bullock County Commission.
(3) GASOLINE. Gasoline, gasohol, naphtha, and other liquid motor fuels or any device or substitute therefor commonly used in internal combustion engines; provided, that such term shall not be held to apply to those products known commercially as “kerosene oil,” “fuel oil” or “crude oil” when used for lighting, heating, or industrial purposes.
(4) MOTOR FUEL. Diesel oil, tractor fuel, gas oil, distillate, kerosene, jet fuel, or any substitutes or devices therefor when sold, distributed, stored, or withdrawn from storage in any county for use in the operation of any motor vehicle upon the highways of this state.
(5) PERSON. Persons, corporations, copartnerships, companies, agencies, associations, incorporated or otherwise, singular or plural.
(6) DISTRIBUTOR. Any person who engages in the selling of gasoline or motor fuel in this state by wholesale domestic trade, but shall not apply to any transaction of such distributor in interstate commerce.
(7) REFINER. Any person who manufactures, distills, blends, compounds, or mixes any one or more products in the production of gasoline or motor fuel as herein defined.
(8) RETAIL DEALER. Any person herein defined as a distributor who is also engaged in the selling of gasoline or motor fuel in this state at any place in this state in broken quantities.
(9) STORER. Any person who ships or causes to be shipped or receives gasoline or motor fuel into this state in any quantities and stores the same in any manner and withdraws or uses the same for any purpose.
(10) USER. Any person who uses or consumes gasoline or motor fuel in this state in any manner or for any purpose; provided, that the term “user” is not to include any refiner who has a refinery or refineries located within the State of Alabama when using gasoline or motor fuel in the manufacturing or refining process, or any person who holds a federal permit to blend motor fuels under the federal law and statutes and who pays the federal excise tax on such motor fuels directly to the federal government, when such person uses gasoline in this state in such blending process.
(b) The Bullock County Commission is hereby authorized to impose excise taxes on persons selling, distributing, storing, or withdrawing from storage for any purpose whatever, gasoline and motor fuel within such county not to exceed three cents ($.03) per gallon and to require every distributor, retail dealer, or storer of gasoline or motor fuel as herein defined to pay such excise taxes upon the selling, distributing, or withdrawing from storage for any use, gasoline and motor fuel as herein defined in such county; provided that excise taxes levied pursuant to the provisions of this section shall not be levied upon the sale of gasoline or motor fuel in interstate commerce, and provided further that if the excise tax imposed under this section upon the sale of such gasoline or motor fuel shall have been paid by a distributor or by retail dealer or storer, such payment shall be sufficient, the intention being that the taxes shall not be paid but once. The excise taxes imposed pursuant to the provisions of this section shall apply to persons, firms, corporations, dealers, or distributors storing gasoline or motor fuel and distributing the same or allowing the same to be withdrawn from storage, whether such withdrawal be for sale or other use, provided that sellers of gasoline or motor fuel and its substitutes paying the taxes herein provided may pay the same computed and paid on the bases of their sales as hereinafter required, and storers and distributors shall compute and pay such taxes on the basis of their withdrawals or distributions. The taxes herein provided for shall be in addition to any and all excise or other taxes imposed on gasoline or motor fuel or any device or substitute therefor, or on the business of selling, distributing, storing, or withdrawing from storage for any purpose, gasoline or motor fuel as herein defined; however, the county commission shall have no authority to levy any tax upon any gasoline or motor fuel as herein defined when used in essential governmental functions by the State of Alabama or any agency thereof, or the government of the United States or any agency thereof.
(c) On or before the 20th days of each month after May 21, 1987, every person upon whom the excise tax is levied shall render to the county commission of the county on forms prescribed by such county commission a true and correct statement of all sales and withdrawals of gasoline made by him, her, or them during the next preceding month, liable for payment of the excise tax imposed pursuant to the provisions of this section, and shall furnish to the county commission such additional information as such county commission may require upon blanks to be formulated and furnished by the county commission, and at the time of making such report shall pay to the county commission an amount of money equal to the excise tax levied under this section. The statement herein required to be made by the distributor, storer, or retail dealer shall be sworn to before some officer authorized to administer oaths, and any false statement sworn to shall constitute perjury and upon conviction thereupon the person so convicted shall be punished as provided by law for the crime of perjury.
(d) All distributors, storers, and retail dealers shall keep for not less than three years within the State of Alabama at some certain place or office such books, documents, or papers as will clearly show the amount of sale and withdrawals of gasoline and motor fuel made in such county taxed under this section.
(e) Within 30 days after any tax shall have been levied under authority of this section every distributor, storer, or retail dealer engaged in the sale or withdrawal of gasoline or motor fuel in such county shall make a report on blanks furnished under subsection (b) to the county commission of such county, showing the place and post office address at which he or she is engaged in the business of distributor or storer or retail dealer in gasoline or motor fuel within such county, which information shall be entered by the county commission of such county on a book kept for that purpose, and should such distributor, storer, or retail dealer move his or her place of business from one business address to another such distributor, storer, or retail dealer shall within 30 days thereafter notify the county commission of such removal, giving the former place and post office address and also the place and post office address to which his or her place of business has been removed. After the tax imposed under this section has become effective, no person shall become a distributor, storer, or seller of gasoline or motor fuel in such county until he or she shall have made such reports to the county commission.
(f) If any distributor, storer, or retail dealer of gasoline or motor fuel in such county shall fail to make the reports or any of them as required in any provision of this section or shall fail to comply with any regulation adopted for the collection of the tax by the county commission of such county, within the time required for making such reports, or shall fail to pay the tax imposed within the time fixed for the payment thereof, the distributor, storer, or retail dealer shall be guilty of a Class C misdemeanor, and upon conviction thereof shall be punished for each offense as otherwise provided by law.
(g) It shall be the duty of the county commission of such county to enforce the provisions of this section upon its imposing the tax hereunder, and it shall have the right itself, or its members or its agents, to examine the books, reports, and accounts of every distributor, storer, or retail dealer of gasoline or motor fuel on which such tax has been imposed and to make any and all rules and regulations necessary and proper for the collection of such tax. Provided however, upon resolution of the county commission, the State Department of Revenue is hereby authorized and directed to collect all taxes now or hereafter levied by such county under the provisions of this section. All persons, firms, businesses, and corporations subject to and owing such taxes shall be and hereby are directed to pay the same over to the department and such payment shall be a full and complete discharge of all liability therefor to the county. The department is authorized to promulgate reasonable rules and regulations to facilitate the orderly and efficient collection of the taxes. The department is authorized to recover all costs of collecting such taxes, not to exceed five percent of the proceeds thereof, from such proceeds and shall pay the net amount remaining thereafter to the county.
(h) If any distributor, storer, or retail dealer in gasoline or motor fuel shall fail to make monthly reports or shall fail to pay the tax imposed under authority of this section, the tax shall be deemed delinquent within the meaning of this section and there shall be added to the amount of the tax a penalty of 25 percent, provided if in the opinion of the county commission of the county a good and sufficient cause or reason is shown for such delinquency, the penalty may be remitted. The county commission shall be authorized and empowered to make returns for delinquent tax payers upon such information as it may reasonable obtain and add to that the penalty as prescribed by this section. If any person shall be delinquent in the payment of any tax imposed pursuant to the provisions of this section, the county commission of the county shall issue execution for the collection of the same, directed to any sheriff of the State of Alabama, who shall proceed to collect the same in the manner now provided by law for the collection of delinquent taxes by the county tax collector and make return of such execution to the county commission issuing the same. The tax herein authorized to be levied and the penalties herein provided for shall be held as a debt payable to such county by the person against whom the same shall have been imposed or against whom the penalties shall have accrued, and all such taxes and penalties shall be a lien upon the property in the county and elsewhere in this state of the person against whom the tax shall have been imposed and the penalties shall have accrued.
(i) The acceptance of any amount paid for the excise tax imposed under this section shall not preclude the collection of the amount actually due. However, the amount actually paid shall constitute a credit against the amount actually due.
(j) Any distributor, storer, or dealer who shall violate any provisions of this section, or shall fail to comply with any reasonable rule or regulation promulgated hereunder, may be restrained, and proper prosecution instituted in the name of the county by the Attorney General of the State of Alabama, or by such counsel as the county commission of the county shall direct, from distributing, selling, storing, or withdrawing from storage any gasoline or motor fuel the sale or withdrawal of which is taxable until such persons shall have complied with the provisions of this section.
(k) Each agent or any railroad company, bus or truck operator, or other transportation company or agency operating in such county shall report to the county commission of the county on the first day of January, April, July, and October of each year all shipments of gasoline or motor fuel as defined in this section or substitutes therefor handled by him or her or through the station or office at which he or she is the agent, and delivered to any person in such county during the preceding three months, giving the names and address of the consignor or consignee shipping and receiving the gasoline or motor fuel or substitute therefor and the number of gallons or pounds contained in each and every shipment.
(l) The proceeds of any tax imposed under authority of this section shall be paid into the general fund of the county treasury for use by the county commission for any purpose for which the general funds of the county may now be used by law and for payment of the costs incurred in the administration and enforcement of this section.

Legislative History

(Act 87-100, p. 110, §§1-12.)