§ 5-1032 — County Automobile Renting Occupation Tax

The corporate authorities of a county may impose a tax upon all persons engaged in the business of renting automobiles in the county, but outside any municipality, at the rate of not to exceed 1% of the gross receipts from such business. The tax imposed by a county pursuant to this Section and all civil penalties that may be assessed as an Incident thereof shall be collected and enforced by the State Department of Revenue. The certificate of registration which is issued by the Department to a retailer under the "Retailers' Occupation Tax Act", approved June 23, 1933, as amended, or under the "Automobile Renting Occupation and Use Tax Act", enacted by the Eighty-Second General Assembly, shall permit such person to engage in a business which is taxable under any ordinance or resolution enacted pursuant to this Section without registering separately with the Department under such ordinance or resolution or under this Section. The Department shall have full power to administer and enforce this Section; to collect all taxes and penalties due hereunder; to dispose of taxes and penalties so collected in the manner hereinafter provided, and to determine all rights to credit memoranda, arising on account of the erroneous payment of tax or penalty hereunder. In the administration of, and compliance with, this Section, the Department and persons who are subject to this Section shall have the same rights, remedies, privileges, immunities, powers and duties, and be subject to the same conditions, restrictions, limitations, penalties and definitions of terms, and employ the same modes of procedure, as are prescribed in Sections 2 and 3 (in respect to all provisions therein other than the State rate of tax; and with relation to the provisions of the "Retailers' Occupation Tax" referred to therein, except as to the disposition of taxes and penalties collected, and except for the provision allowing retailers a deduction from the tax to cover certain costs, and except that credit memoranda issued hereunder may not be used to discharge any State tax liability) of the "Automobile Renting Occupation and Use Tax Act", as the same are now or may hereafter be amended, as fully as if provisions contained in those Sections of said Act were set forth herein. Persons subject to any tax imposed pursuant to the authority granted in this Section may reimburse themselves for their tax liability hereunder by separately stating such tax as an additional charge, which charge may be stated in combination, in a single amount, with State tax which sellers are required to collect under the "Automobile Renting Occupation and Use Tax Act" pursuant to such bracket schedules as the Department may prescribe. Whenever the Department determines that a refund should be made under this Section to a claimant instead of issuing a credit memorandum, the Department shall notify the State Comptroller, who shall cause the order to be drawn for the amount specified, and to the person named, in such notification from the Department. Such refund shall be paid by the State Treasurer out of the county automobile renting tax fund. The Department shall forthwith pay over to the State Treasurer, ex-officio, as trustee, all taxes and penalties collected hereunder. On or before the 25th day of each calendar month, the Department shall prepare and certify to the Comptroller the disbursement of stated sums of money to named counties from which rentors have paid taxes or penalties hereunder to the Department during the second preceding calendar month. The amount to be paid to each county shall be the amount (not including credit memoranda) collected hereunder during the second preceding calendar month by the Department, and not including an amount equal to the amount of refunds made during the second preceding calendar month by the Department on behalf of such county, less 2% of such balance, which sum shall be retained by the State Treasurer to cover the costs incurred by the Department in administering and enforcing this Section as provided herein. The Department at the time of each monthly disbursement to the counties shall prepare and certify to the Comptroller the amount, so retained by the State Treasurer, to be paid into the General Revenue Fund of the State Treasury. Within 10 days after receipt, by the Comptroller, of the disbursement certification to the counties and the General Revenue Fund, provided for in this Section to be given to the Comptroller by the Department, the Comptroller shall cause the orders to be drawn for the respective amounts in accordance with the directions contained in such certification. Nothing in this Section shall be construed to authorize a county to impose a tax upon the privilege of engaging in any business which under the constitution of the United States may not be made the subject of taxation by this State. An ordinance or resolution imposing a tax hereunder or effecting a change in the rate thereof shall be effective on the first day of the calendar month next following the month in which such ordinance or resolution is passed. The corporate authorities of any county which levies a tax authorized by this Section shall transmit to the Department of Revenue on or not later than 5 days after passage of the ordinance or resolution a certified copy of the ordinance or resolution imposing such tax whereupon the Department of Revenue shall proceed to administer and enforce this Section on behalf of such county as of the effective date of the ordinance or resolution. Upon a change in rate of a tax levied hereunder, or upon the discontinuance of the tax, the corporate authorities of the county shall on or not later than 5 days after passage of the ordinance or resolution discontinuing the tax or effecting a change in rate transmit to the Department of Revenue a certified copy of the ordinance or resolution effecting such change or discontinuance. The Department of Revenue must upon the request of the County Clerk or County Board submit to a county a list of those persons who are registered with the Department to pay automobile renting occupation tax within the unincorporated area of that governmental unit. This list shall contain only the names of persons who have paid the tax and not the amount of tax paid by such person. This Section shall be known and may be cited as the "County Automobile Renting Occupation Tax Law".

Legislative History

(Source: P.A. 86-962.)