MISSISSIPPI LEGISLATURE
2018 Regular Session
To: Ways and Means
By: Representative Snowden
AN ACT TO AMEND SECTIONS 27-35-301, 27-35-303, 27-35-305, 27-35-307, 27-35-309, 27-35-310, 27-35-311, 27-35-313, 27-35-321, 27-35-325, 27-35-327 AND 27-35-337, MISSISSIPPI CODE OF 1972, TO REVISE THE DATE BY WHICH RAILROADS AND OTHER PUBLIC SERVICE CORPORATIONS MUST FILE WITH THE DEPARTMENT OF REVENUE FOR AD VALOREM TAX ASSESSMENT PURPOSES SCHEDULES OF PROPERTY OWNED BY SUCH CORPORATIONS; TO REVISE THE TIME FOR WHICH THE DEPARTMENT OF REVENUE MAY GRANT AN EXTENSION FOR THE FILING OF SUCH SCHEDULES; TO REVISE THE LENGTH OF TIME THAT ASSESSMENTS MADE BY THE DEPARTMENT OF REVENUE OF SUCH PROPERTY SHALL REMAIN OPEN FOR OBJECTION; TO REVISE THE DATE BY WHICH RAILROADS AND OTHER PUBLIC SERVICE CORPORATIONS MUST FILE AN APPORTIONMENT OF THE ASSESSED VALUE OF PROPERTY OF SUCH CORPORATIONS; AND FOR RELATED PURPOSES.
BE IT ENACTED BY THE LEGISLATURE OF THE STATE OF MISSISSIPPI:
SECTION 1. Section 27-35-301, Mississippi Code of 1972, is amended as follows:
27-35-301. The * * * Department
of Revenue is constituted state * * * assessor of railroads and
other public service corporations, and * * * it shall, upon the receipt or
making of the schedules hereinafter provided for, assess the property of
railroads, telegraph, telephone, sleeping car, express, electric power and
light companies and other public service corporations liable to taxation in the
state, affixing its true value so that such property shall bear its just
proportion of taxation, taking into consideration the value of the franchise
and the capital engaged in the business in this state. The state * * * assessor of railroads and
other public service corporations may adopt other and further rules necessary
and proper to ascertain the value of property to be assessed by them, including
the value of the franchise and amount of capital engaged in the business in
this state. Provided, however, the * * * Department
of Revenue shall be * * *assessors assessor of railroad and Class IV public
service property, but shall not be the * * * assessor of the types and
kinds of properties owned by the public service corporations and appraised and
assessed by county tax assessors pursuant to Sections 27-35-331 through 27-35-341.
SECTION 2. Section 27-35-303, Mississippi Code of 1972, is amended as follows:
27-35-303. (1) Each
person, firm, company or corporation owning and/or operating a railroad, oil or
gas pipeline company, electric company or any other company listed in Section
27-35-301, owning property not situated wholly in one (1) county; and any
telephone company owning property in more than six (6) counties shall, on or
before the first * * * day of March in each year, file with the * * * Department of Revenue
a complete schedule, under oath, on forms prescribed and furnished by the * * * Department of Revenue,
of all its property, real or personal, taxable and nontaxable, owned by it on
the first day of the preceding January, setting forth therein the value of the
whole, the total amount of capital stock, its par value and its actual value,
and the value of its franchise, the gross amount of receipts in the year
preceding; all real, personal or mixed property belonging to the company within
the state, not enumerated, with its value; a list of all lands in this state
owned, describing the same and giving the value thereof, the gross amount of
receipts the year preceding earned within and from this state; and if any of
said property is claimed to be exempt from taxation, it shall be separately
stated and valued, and the law cited under which the claim is made. It shall
not be necessary that a rendition on any motor vehicles be made as defined by
the "Motor Vehicle Ad Valorem Tax Law of 1958." In addition to these
required schedules, the * * *State Tax Commission Department of Revenue may require
each person, firm, company or corporation to file with the * * * Department of Revenue
a copy of any annual report or form required to be filed by him with any
federal regulatory agency. The * * * Department of Revenue
may grant an extension of up to * * * fifteen (15) days for the
filing of the schedules required by this section.
(2) The * * * Department of Revenue
shall have the power to adopt, amend or repeal such rules and regulations as
necessary to implement tax duties assigned to it in this section.
SECTION 3. Section 27-35-305, Mississippi Code of 1972, is amended as follows:
27-35-305. If any company,
corporation, firm or person, who is required by law to render schedules of its,
their or his property to the * * * Department of Revenue,
as provided by Section 27-35-303, Mississippi Code of 1972, for the purposes of
assessment for taxation, shall fail, refuse or neglect to render the schedules,
as required, such company, corporation, firm or person shall pay a penalty up
to ten percent (10%) of the assessment as computed by the * * * department, and in case
of such failure, refusal or neglect, the * * * department shall make out
such schedules from the best information obtainable.
SECTION 4. Section 27-35-307, Mississippi Code of 1972, is amended as follows:
27-35-307. If in any case
the state railroad * * * assessor has reason to believe that any person, firm,
company or corporation which under this chapter is to be assessed by the * * * Department of Revenue
has rendered a false or fraudulent schedule, so that an assessment predicated
thereon would relieve such person, firm, company or corporation of a just share
of taxation, the * * *
department shall not, in making the assessment be bound thereby, but
shall make out a proper schedule as if none had been rendered, first giving
such person, company, firm or corporation five (5) days' notice to come forward
at a time and place to be named, and show cause why such a course should not be
pursued. Such notice shall be served and returned as a summons from a court,
but the failure to receive such notice shall not render the assessment void.
SECTION 5. Section 27-35-309, Mississippi Code of 1972, is amended as follows:
27-35-309. (1) The Department of Revenue shall, if practicable, on or before the first Monday of June of each year, make out for each person, firm, company or corporation listed in Section 27-35-303, Mississippi Code of 1972, an assessment of the company's property, both real and personal, tangible and intangible. The Department of Revenue shall apportion the assessment of value of each company's property according to the provisions of this article, except as provided in subsection (3) of this section, as follows:
(a) When the property of such public service company is located in more than one (1) county in this state, the Department of Revenue shall direct the company to apportion the assessed value between the counties and municipalities and all other taxing districts therein, in the proportion which the property located therein bears to the entire value of the property of such company as valued by the department, so that to each county, municipality and taxing district therein, there shall be apportioned such part of the entire valuation as will fairly equalize the relative value of the property therein located to the whole value thereof.
(b) When the property of such public utility required to be assessed by the provisions of this article is located in more than one (1) state, the assessed value thereof shall be apportioned by the Department of Revenue in such manner as will fairly and equitably determine the principal sum for the value thereof in this state, and after ascertaining such value it shall be apportioned by them as herein provided.
The assessment roll shall contain all the property of any such public service company, railroad, person, firm or corporation and the value thereof, and so made that each county, municipality, and taxing district shall receive its just share of taxes proportionately to the amount of property therein situated.
(2) (a) The assessment
when made shall remain open for * * * ten (10) days in the Office
of the Department of Revenue, and be for such time subject to the objections
thereto which may be filed with the Executive Director of the Board of Tax
Appeals; but real estate belonging to railroads and which forms no part of the
road, and is wholly disconnected from its railroad business, shall not be
assessed by the Department of Revenue, but shall be assessed as other real
estate is assessed by the tax assessor of the county where situated.
(b) The apportionment
of the assessed value as required by this section shall be filed with the
Department of Revenue by such public service company so as to be received by
the department on or before the * * * twenty-fifth day of June
in each year. If such company shall fail, refuse or neglect to render the
apportionment of assessed value as required by this section, such company shall
be subject to the penalties provided for in Section 27-35-305. The filing of
an objection by such public service company shall not preclude such company
from filing the property apportionment as required by this section.
(3) Any nuclear generating plant which is located in the state, which is owned or operated by a public utility rendering electric service within the state and not exempt from ad valorem taxation under any other statute and which is not owned or operated by an instrumentality of the federal government shall be exempt from county, municipal and district ad valorem taxes. In lieu of the payment of county, municipal and district ad valorem taxes, such public utility shall pay to the Department of Revenue a sum based on the assessed value of such nuclear generating plant in an amount to be determined and distributed as follows:
(a) The Department of Revenue shall annually assign an assessed value to any nuclear generating plant described in this subsection in the same manner as for ad valorem tax purposes by using accepted industry methods for appraising and assessing public utility property. The assessed value assigned shall be used for the purpose of determining the in-lieu tax due under this section and shall not be included on the ad valorem tax rolls of the situs taxing authority nor be subject to ad valorem taxation by the situs taxing authority nor shall the assessed value assigned be used in determining the debt limit of the situs taxing authority. However, the assessed value so assigned may be used by the situs taxing authority for the purpose of determining salaries of its public officials.
(b) On or before February 1, 1987, for the 1986 taxable year and on or before February 1 of each year through the 1989 taxable year, such utility shall pay to the Department of Revenue a sum equal to two percent (2%) of the assessed value as ascertained by the Department of Revenue, but such payment shall not be less than Sixteen Million Dollars ($16,000,000.00) for any of the four (4) taxable years; all such payments in excess of Sixteen Million Dollars ($16,000,000.00) for these four (4) taxable years shall be paid into the General Fund of the state. On or before February 1, 1991, for the 1990 taxable year and on or before February 1 of each year thereafter, such utility shall pay to the Department of Revenue a sum equal to two percent (2%) of the assessed value as ascertained by the Department of Revenue, but such payment shall not be less than Twenty Million Dollars ($20,000,000.00) for any taxable year for as long as such nuclear power plant is licensed to operate and is not being permanently decommissioned; all such payments in excess of Sixteen Million Dollars ($16,000,000.00) for taxable years 1990 and thereafter shall be paid as follows:
(i) An amount of Three Million Forty Thousand Dollars ($3,040,000.00) annually, beginning with fiscal year 1991, shall be transferred by the Department of Revenue to Claiborne County. Such payments may be expended by the Board of Supervisors of Claiborne County for any purpose for which a county is authorized by law to levy an ad valorem tax and shall not be included or considered as proceeds of ad valorem taxes for the purposes of the growth limitation on ad valorem taxes under Sections 27-39-305 and 27-39-321. However, should the Board of Supervisors of Claiborne County withdraw its support of the Grand Gulf Nuclear Station off-site emergency plan or otherwise fail to satisfy its off-site emergency plan commitments as determined by the Mississippi Emergency Management Agency and the Federal Emergency Management Agency, Five Hundred Thousand Dollars ($500,000.00) annually of the funds designated for Claiborne County as described by this subsection (i) shall be deposited in the Grand Gulf Disaster Assistance Fund as provided in Section 33-15-51.
(ii) An amount of One Hundred Sixty Thousand Dollars ($160,000.00) annually, beginning with fiscal year 1991, shall be transferred by the Department of Revenue to the City of Port Gibson, Mississippi. Such payments may be expended by the Board of Aldermen of the City of Port Gibson for any purpose for which a municipality is authorized by law to levy an ad valorem tax and shall not be included or considered as proceeds of ad valorem taxes for the purposes of the growth limitation on ad valorem taxes under Sections 27-39-305 and 27-39-321. However, should the Board of Aldermen of the City of Port Gibson withdraw its support of the Grand Gulf Nuclear Station off-site emergency plan or otherwise fail to satisfy its off-site emergency plan commitment, as determined by the Mississippi Emergency Management Agency and the Federal Emergency Management Agency, Fifty Thousand Dollars ($50,000.00) annually of the funds designated for the City of Port Gibson as described by this subsection (ii) shall be deposited in the Grand Gulf Disaster Assistance Fund as provided in Section 33-15-51.
(iii) The remaining balance of the payments in excess of Sixteen Million Dollars ($16,000,000.00) annually, less amounts transferred under (i) and (ii) of this subsection, beginning with fiscal year 1991, shall be allocated in accordance with subsection (3)(f) of this section.
(c) Pursuant to
certification by the Attorney General to the State Treasurer and the * * * Department of Revenue
that the suit against the State of Mississippi pending on the effective date of
House Bill 8, First Extraordinary Session of 1990, [Laws, 1990 Ex Session, Ch.
12, eff June 26, 1990], in the Chancery Court for the First Judicial District
of Hinds County, Mississippi, styled Albert Butler et al v. the Mississippi
State Tax Commission et al, has been voluntarily dismissed with prejudice as to
all plaintiffs at the request of the complainants and that no attorney's fees
or court costs have been assessed against the state and each of the parties,
including Claiborne County and each municipality and school district located in
the county, have signed and delivered to the Attorney General a full and
complete release in favor of the State of Mississippi and its elected officials
of all claims that have been asserted or may be asserted in the suit pending on
the effective date of House Bill 8, First Extraordinary Session of 1990, [Laws,
1990 Ex Session, Ch. 12, eff June 26, 1990], in the Chancery Court for the
First Judicial District of Hinds County, Mississippi, styled Albert Butler et
al v. the Mississippi State Tax Commission et al, and the deposit into the
State General Fund of in-lieu payments and interest thereon due the state under
subsection (3)(b) of this section but placed in escrow because of the lawsuit
described above, the state shall promptly transfer to the Board of Supervisors
of Claiborne County out of the State General Fund an amount of Two Million
Dollars ($2,000,000.00) which shall be a one-time distribution to Claiborne
County from the state. Such payment may be expended by the Board of
Supervisors of Claiborne County for any purposes for which a county is
authorized by law to levy an ad valorem tax and shall not be included or
considered as proceeds of ad valorem taxes for the purposes of the growth
limitation on ad valorem taxes for the 1991 fiscal year under Sections 27-39-321
and 27-39-305.
(d) After distribution of the one-time payment to Claiborne County as set forth in subsection (3)(c) of this section, the Department of Revenue upon certification that the pending lawsuit as described in subsection (3)(c) of this section has been voluntarily dismissed shall promptly deposit an amount of Five Hundred Thousand Dollars ($500,000.00) into the Grand Gulf Disaster Assistance Trust Fund as provided for in Section 33-15-51, which shall be a one-time payment, to be utilized in accordance with the provisions of such section.
(e) After distribution of the one-time payment to Claiborne County as set forth in subsection (3)(c) of this section and the payment to the Grand Gulf Disaster Assistance Trust Fund as set forth in subsection (3)(d) of this section, the Department of Revenue upon certification that the pending lawsuit as described in subsection (3)(c) of this section has been voluntarily dismissed shall promptly distribute ten percent (10%) of the remainder of the prior payments remaining in escrow to the General Fund of the state and the balance of the prior payments remaining in escrow shall be distributed to the counties and municipalities in this state wherein such public utility has rendered electric service in the proportion that the amount of electric energy consumed by the retail customers of such public utility in each county, excluding municipalities therein, and in each municipality, for the next preceding fiscal year bears to the total amount of electric energy consumed by all retail customers of such public utility in the State of Mississippi for the next preceding fiscal year. The payments distributed to the counties and municipalities under this paragraph (e) may be expended by such counties and municipalities for any lawful purpose and shall not be included or considered as proceeds of ad valorem taxes for the purposes of the growth limitation on ad valorem taxes under Sections 27-39-321 and 27-39-305.
(f) After distribution of the payments for fiscal year 1991 as set forth in Section 19-9-151 and distribution of the payments as provided for in subsection (3)(b) of this section, the Department of Revenue shall distribute ten percent (10%) of the remainder of the payments to the General Fund of the state and the balance to the counties and municipalities in this state wherein such public utility renders electric service in the proportion that the amount of electric energy consumed by the retail customers of such public utility in each county, excluding municipalities therein, and in each municipality for the next preceding fiscal year bears to the total amount of electric energy consumed by all retail customers of such public utility in the State of Mississippi for the next preceding fiscal year.
(g) No county, including municipalities therein, shall receive in excess of twenty percent (20%) of the funds distributed under paragraph (f) of this subsection.
(h) The revenues received by counties and municipalities under paragraph (f) of this subsection shall not be included or considered as proceeds of ad valorem taxes for the purposes of the growth limitation on ad valorem taxes under Sections 27-39-305 and 27-39-321.
SECTION 6. Section 27-35-310, Mississippi Code of 1972, is amended as follows:
27-35-310. All nuclear
power plant property that has been abandoned and written off the books of the
public utility owning such property and is no longer considered operating
property of such utility by the * * * Department of Revenue
or is being permanently decommissioned shall be exempted from all ad valorem
taxes now levied or hereafter levied by the State of Mississippi, or any
county, municipality, levee district, school or any other taxing district
within the state.
SECTION 7. Section 27-35-311, Mississippi Code of 1972, is amended as follows:
27-35-311. (1) It shall be the duty of the Board of Tax Appeals to hear and determine objections to assessments made by the Department of Revenue for ad valorem tax purposes. They may, if they think objections just, sustain the same and amend assessments, if necessary accordingly.
(2) Any objection shall be
in writing and filed with the Executive Director of the Board of Tax Appeals
within the * * *
ten-day period set out in Section 27-35-309(2)(a). At the time of
filing the objection with the Executive Director of the Board of Tax Appeals,
the taxpayer shall also file a copy of his written objection with the
Department of Revenue.
SECTION 8. Section 27-35-313, Mississippi Code of 1972, is amended as follows:
27-35-313. So soon as the
assessment rolls have remained subject to objection for * * * ten (10) days, and when all
objections, if any, are disposed of, the assessment rolls shall be approved by the
Department of Revenue, and a certified copy of the assessment rolls shall be
sent immediately to the clerks of the board of supervisors of the respective
counties, who shall file and preserve it as a record.
SECTION 9. Section 27-35-321, Mississippi Code of 1972, is amended as follows:
27-35-321. Any corporation
owning, possessing, holding or operating a toll bridge structure located partly
but not wholly within one county of this state and any substantial part of
which so situated in this state is used or operated, howsoever, by or in
connection with any common carrier railroad, as an instrumentality or facility
for the conduct by such common carrier railroad of interstate commerce or its
interstate transportation business, shall be considered and the same is hereby
declared and defined to be a public service corporation as to all of its
property situated in this state and which is liable to taxation in this state;
and such property shall be wholly and exclusively subject to valuation and
assessment for the purposes of taxation by the * * * Department
of Revenue, which * * *
agency is by law constituted state assessor of railroads and other
public service corporations. Such property of said corporation shall be
assessed to the extent and in like manner as the property of other public
service corporations and public utilities now subject to the authority and
jurisdiction of said * * *
department; and said toll bridge corporations shall make and file
schedules in time and manner as provided by Sections 27-35-309, 27-35-317 and
27-35-323 and under penalties as therein provided.
Such property of all
persons, partnerships or associations of persons, so owned, held, possessed,
operated, situated and utilized, however, shall, likewise, be valued and
assessed for the purposes of taxation by the said * * * Department
of Revenue.
SECTION 10. Section 27-35-325, Mississippi Code of 1972, is amended as follows:
27-35-325. The Department
of Revenue is hereby authorized and empowered and it shall be its duty to
assess any property required to be assessed by the Department of Revenue as the
state assessor of railroads, which it discovers escaping taxation in former
years by reason of not being assessed; and to assess or cause to be assessed
and taxed, any such property which it discovers escaping taxation by reason of
not being assessed in or for the benefit of any road district, school district,
or other taxing district or municipality, although the property may have been
assessed and taxed for state and general county taxes; however, the right to so
assess property shall expire at the end of seven (7) years from the date when
the right so to do first accrued. When any property is discovered escaping
assessment and taxation which, under the law, is required to be assessed by the
Department of Revenue as state assessor of railroads, the Department of Revenue
shall assess the same for such purpose and for the years it has escaped
taxation, and shall give notice by United States mail, or otherwise, by the
Commissioner of Revenue of the Department of Revenue to the owner of the
property, or agent, of such owner, showing what property has escaped assessment
and for what years, and all other proper information, and the owner shall have * * * ten (10) days in which to file
objections. The Department of Revenue shall deal with the assessment in all
respects with the same powers as if made at the time regular assessment of such
property is made, and shall have power to require such information as it may
desire for the correct determination of all questions before it. When any
objection is heard and determined, the Board of Tax Appeals shall by order
approve or disapprove, or may modify the assessment, and make it final. If no
objection is made in regard to the assessment or if the assessment is approved
or modified by the Board of Tax Appeals, the Department of Revenue shall
certify it to the clerk of the board of supervisors of the county or counties
where the property is located, and such assessment shall be dealt with by the
clerk and tax collector as is required in cases of assessments when made at the
regular time. In all cases where suit is necessary, it shall be the duty of
the Attorney General to represent the Department of Revenue whenever requested
to do so.
SECTION 11. Section 27-35-327, Mississippi Code of 1972, is amended as follows:
27-35-327. Complete and
full records shall be kept and preserved by the * * * Department of Revenue
of all things done under the authority vested in it as the state assessor of
railroads, and public utilities.
SECTION 12. Section 27-35-337, Mississippi Code of 1972, is amended as follows:
27-35-337. It shall be the
duty of public service corporations subject to Sections 27-35-331 through 27-35-343
to report to the county tax assessor of the counties in which any property
subject to Sections 27-35-331 through 27-35-343 is located the same information
and data, at the same time as such data and information has heretofore been
reported to the * * * Department of Revenue. Reports to the * * * Department of Revenue
may, after the effective date of Sections 27-35-331 through 27-35-343,
eliminate the data and information which will be reported to county tax
assessors pursuant to this section.
SECTION 13. This act shall take effect and be in force from and after January 1, 2019.