MISSISSIPPI LEGISLATURE

1999 Regular Session

To: Finance

By: Senator(s) Carlton

AN ACT TO AMEND CHAPTER 80, LAWS OF 1902, TO PROVIDE THAT THE BOARD OF LEVEE COMMISSIONERS FOR THE YAZOO-MISSISSIPPI DELTA SHALL PREPARE LICENSES FOR THE PRIVILEGES TAXED PURSUANT TO CHAPTER 80, LAWS OF 1902, AND RECEIVE PAYMENTS FOR SUCH LICENSES; AND FOR RELATED PURPOSES.

BE IT ENACTED BY THE LEGISLATURE OF THE STATE OF MISSISSIPPI:

SECTION 1. Chapter 80, Laws of 1902, is amended as follows:

Section 1. The Board of Levee Commissioners for the Yazoo-Mississippi Delta be, and it is hereby, authorized and empowered to levy a tax upon all privileges exercised, or which may hereafter be exercised, within the limits of the * * * levee district, and to amend, repeal, or change the levy made by them; but the * * * privilege taxes shall in no case exceed the taxes levied by the state on the same privileges.

Section 2. In order to make the levy provided for in Section 1 of this act the Board of Levee Commissioners for the Yazoo-Mississippi Delta shall enter an order upon its minutes enumerating and designating the privileges taxed and the amount levied thereon, a certified copy of which * * * shall be transmitted to each tax collector within the limits of the levee district by the secretary of such board; but this act shall not affect the collection of any taxes heretofore levied and collectible, and no action of the board shall be held to relieve any person from the payment of any taxes collectible under existing law.

Section 3. The tax collectors, upon the receipt of said certified order, shall carefully preserve the same as a record in their offices, and shall collect the tax so levied by the Board of Levee Commissioners for the Yazoo-Mississippi Delta at the same time such privileges are collected for state purposes, and no collector shall issue a license for the state privileges without issuing a license for the levee tax at the same time, but in case the board shall levy a tax upon a privilege not taxed by the state, the tax collector shall collect the amount so levied and issue a receipt therefor, which receipt shall be dated upon the first day of the month next preceding the date of the issuance thereof, and shall entitle the person to whom the same may be issued to exercise said privileges for one (1) year from said date.

Section 4. Any person or corporation desiring to enjoy any of the privileges levied as aforesaid, by the Board of Levee Commissioners for the Yazoo-Mississippi Delta, shall first pay the taxes as prescribed to the collector of taxes for the county wherein the privilege is to be exercised, and obtain from him the license hereinafter required; and any person or corporation who shall exercise any of the privileges so levied without first paying the tax and procuring the license as required shall, on conviction, be fined not less than double the amount of the tax imposed on such privilege, which fine, when collected, shall be paid into the treasury of the Board of Levee Commissioners for the Yazoo-Mississippi Delta as other collections are paid into said treasury.

Section 5. In any case where it is inconvenient to obtain the license from the tax collector of any county, the same may be obtained from the Board of Levee Commissioners for the Yazoo-Mississippi Delta upon payment into the treasury of said levee board, * * * the sum required for such license and ten percent (10%) additional.

Section 6. The Board of Levee Commissioners for the Yazoo-Mississippi Delta shall have prepared licenses for each of the privileges so taxed by the board, and shall issue to each tax collector in the levee district such number of * * * licenses, signed by the secretary of the board, with the seal of his office attached, as the collector may require for his county; and the collector shall be charged with said licenses and shall account for same as herein provided.

Section 7. The licenses shall be numbered consecutively for each county, commencing with number "one," and each series shall be for one (1) year, ending with the thirtieth day of April of each year. Licenses granted by each collector on or after the first day of May of each year shall be of the new series, commencing with number "one" for the county.

Section 8. The privilege paid to the tax collector shall be reported by him monthly, and paid into the treasury of the Board of Levee Commissioners for the Yazoo-Mississippi Delta as other taxes; and each tax collector shall, at the end of each month, make to the board a detailed report of the licenses issued by him during the month, showing the number and date of the licenses, the name of the licensees, the privileges for which they were issued, and the amounts collected for them; and if the collector shall fail to make such report, he shall be liable to be punished as a defaulter.

Section 9. The account of the Board of Levee Commissioners for the Yazoo-Mississippi Delta against a tax collector for licenses shall be so kept as to show by denominations and numbers exactly what licenses charged him by the board are in his hands at any time, and upon the final settlement of each collector, the board shall require the return by him of all licenses charged to him and not issued by him; and the collector shall receive credit for all licenses he shall return to the board without having issued them; and all licenses the collector shall not thus account for, he shall be held liable for so much money as equals the amount of said licenses and ten percent (10%) additional.

Section 10. Each tax collector shall make a requisition upon the Board of Levee Commissioners for the Yazoo-Mississippi Delta for so many of the licenses for privileges of the different denominations as he will need for his county, from time to time, which licenses, blank as to name of person and date, shall be furnished by the board, and upon application and payment to him of the tax imposed on any of such privileges, the tax collector shall issue to the applicant for it a license, and shall date each license the first day of the month of its issuance, and it shall be good for one (1) year from that date * * *. The collector shall countersign all licenses when issued by him; and he shall keep in his office a book in which he shall enter the number of the license, its date, the name of the licensee, the privilege licensed, the time when the license will expire, and the amount collected by him for it, which book shall be subject at all times to the inspection of any officer or citizen of the district. Anyone failing to pay the privilege tax levied as aforesaid, and to obtain a license as herein required, but pursuing the business taxed without such license, may be proceeded against by suit for such tax and ten percent (10%) additional; and the tax collector may seize and sell any property of such person liable for the tax in the same manner as he may distrain and sell property of other delinquents.

Section 11. The license herein provided for shall be a personal privilege, enjoyable only by the person to whom it is issued, and it shall not be transferable; and such licenses shall not exempt from taxation any property used in the business licensed.

Section 12. This act shall take effect and be in force from and after its passage.

SECTION 2. This act shall take effect and be in force from and after its passage.