Senate Bill 2993

AN ACT TO AMEND SECTION 27-65-107, MISSISSIPPI CODE OF 1972, TO EXEMPT FROM THE STATE SALES TAX SALES OF WATER FOR AGRICULTURAL PURPOSES; AND FOR RELATED PURPOSES.

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

SECTION 1. Section 27-65-107, Mississippi Code of 1972, is amended as follows:

27-65-107. The exemptions from the provisions of this chapter which relate to utilities or which are more properly classified as utility exemptions than any other exemption classification of this chapter shall be confined to those persons or property exempted by this section or by provisions of the Constitutions of the United States or the State of Mississippi. No utility exemption as now provided by any other section shall be valid as against the tax herein levied. Any subsequent utility exemption from the tax levied hereunder shall be provided by amendment to this section.

No exemption provided in this section shall apply to taxes levied by Section 27-65-15 or 27-65-21 * * *~~, Mississippi Code of 1972~~.

The tax levied by this chapter shall not apply to the following:

(a) Sales and rentals of locomotives, rail rolling stock and materials for their repair, locomotive water, when made to a railroad whose rates are fixed by the Interstate Commerce Commission or the Mississippi Public Service Commission.

(b) Rentals of manufacturing machinery to a manufacturer or custom processor where such manufacturer or custom processor is engaged in, and such machinery is used in, the manufacture of containers made from timber or wood for sale. The tax, likewise, shall not apply to replacement or repair parts of such machinery used in such manufacture.

(c) Sales of tangible personal property and services to nonprofit water associations or corporations in which no part of the net earnings inures to the benefit of any private shareholder, group or individual. Only sales of property or services which are ordinary and necessary to the operation of such organizations are exempt from tax.

(d) Wholesale sales of tangible personal property for resale under Section 27-65-19.

(e) From and after July 1, 2003, sales of fuel used to produce electric power by a company primarily engaged in the business of producing, generating or distributing electric power for sale.

(f) Sales of electricity, current, power, steam, coal, natural gas, liquefied petroleum gas or other fuel to a manufacturer, custom processor, data center meeting the criteria provided for in Section 57-113-21, technology intensive enterprise meeting the criteria provided for in Section 27-65-17(1)(f), or public service company for industrial purposes, which shall include that used to generate electricity, to operate an electrical distribution or transmission system, to operate pipeline compressor or pumping stations, or to operate railroad locomotives.

(g) Sales of electricity, current, power, steam, coal, natural gas, liquefied petroleum gas or other fuel, or water to a producer or processor for use directly in the production of poultry or poultry products, the production of livestock and livestock products, the production of domesticated fish and domesticated fish products, the production of marine aquaculture products, the production of plants or food by commercial horticulturists, the processing of milk and milk products, the processing of poultry and livestock feed, and the irrigation of farm crops.

(h) Sales of electricity, current, power, steam, coal, natural gas, liquefied petroleum gas or other fuel to a commercial fisherman, shrimper or oysterman.

(i) Sales exempt under the Facilitating Business Rapid Response to State Declared Disasters Act of 2015 (Sections 27-113-1 through 27-113-9).

(j) Sales of electricity, current, power, steam, coal, natural gas, liquefied petroleum gas or other fuel to a permanent enterprise that is eligible for the exemption authorized in Section 27-65-101(1)(ww) upon completion of the expansion upon which such exemption is based; however, in order to be eligible for the exemption authorized by this paragraph, the expansion must:

(i) Create at least eighty-five (85) full-time jobs in this state with an average annual wage of at least Sixty Thousand Dollars ($60,000.00); and

(ii) Have at least Eighty Million Dollars ($80,000,000.00) in new investment at the existing facility.

(k) Sales of electricity, current, power, steam, coal, natural gas, liquefied petroleum gas or other fuel to an enterprise or its affiliates operating a project certified by the Mississippi Major Economic Impact Authority as a project as defined in Section 57-75-5(f)(xxxii) or 57-75-5(f)(xxxiii).

SECTION 2. This act shall take effect and be in force from and after July 1, 2024.