Senate Bill 2444

AN ACT TO PROVIDE THAT A PORTION OF THE USE TAX REVENUE COLLECTED VOLUNTARILY FROM CERTAIN OUT-OF-STATE SELLERS SHALL BE DISTRIBUTED TO MUNICIPALITIES; AND FOR RELATED PURPOSES.

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

SECTION 1. (1) An amount equal to a portion of the use tax revenue collected from voluntary taxpayers and deposited into the State General Fund shall be allocated and distributed to municipalities in this state in the manner provided in subsection (2) of this section. For the purposes of this section, the term "voluntary taxpayer" means a taxpayer that does not have nexus with this state for sales tax purposes but voluntarily collects and remits use tax to this state on behalf of this state.

(2) (a) The Department of Revenue shall determine the total amount of funds to be distributed under this section by:

(i) Determining the percentage of total sales tax revenue collected during the preceding fiscal year under Section 27-65-1 et seq. that was distributed to municipalities during the preceding fiscal year under Section 27-65-75(1)(a);

(ii) Multiplying the percentage derived under subparagraph (i) of this paragraph (a) by the total amount of use tax collected and remitted during the preceding month under the provisions of this article by voluntary taxpayers; and

(iii) Multiplying the product derived under subparagraph (ii) of this paragraph (a) by eighteen and one-half percent (18-1/2%).

(b) The total amount derived under paragraph (a) of this subsection shall be the amount of funds distributed to municipalities under this section. The department shall distribute the funds among municipalities based on the proportion that the amount of sales tax revenue distributed to a municipality during the preceding fiscal year under Section 27-65-75(1)(a) bears to the total amount of sales tax revenue distributed to all municipalities during the preceding fiscal year under Section 27-65-75(1)(a). The department shall make the distributions on or before January 31, 2019, and each succeeding January 31 thereafter. The distributions shall be made from General Fund revenue collections for the month of January.

SECTION 2. Section 1 of this act shall be codified as a separate section in Chapter 67, Title 27, Mississippi Code of 1972.

SECTION 3. This act shall take effect and be in force from and after July 1, 2018.