Reference is to Printer's Date 4/14/15-H.
Amend the bill, as and if amended, by striking SECTIONS 22 and 23 and inserting:
/ SECTION 22. Section 12-6-510 of the 1976 Code is amended to read:
"Section 12-6-510.
(A) For taxable years beginning after
1994, a tax is imposed on the South Carolina taxable income of
individuals, estates, and trusts and any other entity except
those taxed or exempted from taxation under Sections 12-6-530
through 12-6-550 computed at the following rates with the income
brackets indexed in accordance with Section 12-6-520:
(1)
Not over $2,220 2.5 percent of taxable income;
(2)
Over $2,220 but not over $4,440 $56 plus 3 percent
of the excess over $2,220;
(3)
Over $4,440 but not over $6,660 $123 plus 4 percent
of the excess over $4,440;
(4)
Over $6,660 but not over $8,880 $212 plus 5 percent
of the excess of $6,660;
(5)
Over $8,880 but not over $11,100 $323 plus 6
percent of the excess over $8,880; and
(6)
Over $11,100 $456 plus 7 percent of the excess over
$11,100.
(B)(1)
Beginning with taxable year 2016, based on the tax
rates and tax brackets that applied in tax year 2015, the rate
of tax imposed pursuant to subsection (A)(6) on South Carolina
taxable income in the seven percent bracket of South Carolina
taxable income is reduced by 0.125% each year. The tax rate
reduction required by this section shall continue until the
seven percent bracket is reduced to 6%. Upon the seven percent
bracket reaching 6%, the rate of tax imposed pursuant to
subsections (A)(5) and (A)(6) on South Carolina taxable income
in the former seven percent bracket and the six percent bracket
of South Carolina taxable income is reduced by 0.125% until both
brackets are reduced to 5.75%, at which time the reduction in
each of the tax brackets shall be permanent.
(2)
Notwithstanding item (1), if the Board of
Economic Advisors' February fifteenth forecast of general fund
revenue for the upcoming fiscal year does not exceed the Board
of Economic Advisors' most recent general fund revenue estimate
for the current fiscal year by one percent, then the reduction
set forth pursuant to item (1) is suspended for the next tax
year. In any tax year in which the reduction is suspended, the
tax rate in that tax year shall be the same tax rate in effect
in the immediately previous tax year.
(3)
In any tax year in which the reduction is
suspended pursuant to item (2), the tax rate in that tax year
shall be the same tax rate in effect in the immediately previous
tax year. If the reduction is suspended, the suspension is
lifted and the reductions must continue pursuant to item (1) in
the first tax year for which the conditions for suspension set
forth in item (2) are not met. Upon the reduction no longer
being suspended, the applicable rates must be reduced by 0.125%
each year in accordance with item (1).
(C) The
department may prescribe tax tables consistent with the rates
set pursuant to subsection (A) this
section."/
Amend the bill further, Part 5, by adding an appropriately numbered SECTION to read:
/ SECTION ___.
Title 6 of the 1976 Code is amended by adding:
Section 6-14-10. This chapter may be cited as the 'Local Option Motor Fuel User Fee Act'.
Section 6-14-20. For
purposes of this chapter:
(1) 'Motor fuel'
means:
(a)
all gasoline, gasohol, or blended fuels containing
gasoline that are used or consumed for any purpose in this
State; and
(b)
all diesel fuel, substitute fuels, or alternative fuels,
or blended fuels containing diesel fuel that are used or
consumed in this State in producing or generating power for
propelling motor vehicles.
(2) 'Retail sales' has
the same meaning as provided in Section 12-36-110.
(3) 'Road improvement
projects' and 'road maintenance' consist of any work that is
planned and performed to maintain and preserve the condition of
the highway system or to respond to specific conditions and
events that restore a roadway to an adequate level of service.
Such activities include, but are not limited to:
(a)
cleaning of roadside ditches and structures;
(b)
crack filling;
(c)
pothole patching and isolated overlays;
(d)
chip seal;
(e)
signage of routes;
(f)
pavement marking;
(g)
pavement reconstruction; and
(h)
pavement resurfacing.
Section 6-14-30. Subject to the requirements of this chapter, a county may impose by ordinance, approved by referendum, a user fee of not more than six cents a gallon on retail sales of motor fuel for the sole purpose of road improvement projects and road maintenance to state secondary roads and county roads within the county, with at least fifty percent of the revenue being expended on state owned roads.
Section 6-14-40. (A)
The local governing body of the county may
vote to impose the user fee authorized by this chapter, subject
to a referendum, by enacting an ordinance. The ordinance must
specify:
(1)
the specific road improvement projects for which the
proceeds of the user fee are to be used and the total estimated
capital costs associated with the projects;
(2)
the maximum time, stated in calendar years or calendar
quarters, or a combination thereof, not to exceed five years,
for which the user fee may be imposed; and
(3)
the time when the referendum shall be held. The
referendum may be held on the first Tuesday ninety days after
the adoption of the ordinance or on the first Tuesday following
the first Monday in November of an even-numbered year so long as
at least ninety days have passed since the adoption of the
ordinance.
At least two weeks before second reading of
an ordinance calling for a referendum, the local governing body
of the county shall publish notice in a newspaper of general
circulation within the jurisdiction a description of the
ordinance and the time and place of the meeting to discuss the
ordinance. The local governing body of the county also must
publish the notice on its website in the same manner. The local
governing body only may give second reading to the ordinance at
a meeting for which notice has been given.
(B) Upon the adoption
of an ordinance calling for a referendum, the county election
commission shall conduct a referendum at the time specified in
the ordinance on the question of implementing the motor fuel
user fee within the county. The state election laws apply to
the referendum, mutatis mutandis. The county election
commission shall publish the results of the referendum and
certify them to the local governing body. The user fee must not
be imposed in the county unless a majority of the qualified
electors voting in the referendum vote in favor of the
referendum.
(C)(1) The ballot must
read substantially as follows:
'Must a ______ cent a gallon motor fuel
user fee on each gallon of motor fuel sold at retail be levied
in __________ County for not more than ______ years for the
purpose of road improvement projects?
(2)
If the question is not approved at the initial referendum,
the local governing body of the county may, by an ordinance
meeting the requirements of this section, call for another
referendum on the question. However, following the initial
referendum, a referendum for this purpose must not be held more
often than once in a twenty-four month period on the Tuesday
following the first Monday in November in even-numbered
years.
(3)
Once a week for the four weeks immediately preceding the
referendum, the local governing body of the county shall publish
notice in a newspaper of general circulation within the
jurisdiction a description of and the specific uses for the user
fee. The local governing body must also publish notice on its
website in the same manner.
(D) The imposition date
of the user fee allowed pursuant to this chapter is the first
day of the first month beginning more than sixty days after the
local governing body files a certified copy of the ordinance and
a certified copy of the results of the referendum with the South
Carolina Department of Revenue.
(E) Once a certified
copy of the ordinance and a certified copy of the results of the
referendum are filed with the Department of Revenue, for the
period of imposition provided in the ordinance, the department
may not accept as filed any additional ordinance or referendum
results from the county that in any way relate to the user fee
allowed to be imposed pursuant to this chapter except an
ordinance or the referendum results rescinding or reducing the
existing user fee. The department shall accept for filing a
certified copy of an ordinance and referendum results reducing
or repealing the user fee and that reduction or repeal applies
in the manner provided in subsection (D) for imposition.
(F) Pursuant to Section
6-14-50(C), revenues collected pursuant to the imposition of the
user fee must be used only for the purpose stated in the
imposition ordinance.
(G) Upon the completion
of any road improvement project to a state owned road funded by
the user fee authorized by this chapter, ownership of the road
must be transferred to the county.
Section 6-14-50. (A)
The user fee imposed pursuant to this
chapter must be administered and collected by the Department of
Revenue in the same manner that sales and use tax are collected.
The department may prescribe amounts that may be added to the
sales price because of the user fee. The sales tax return shall
contain a line reporting gallons of gasoline sold for the
purpose of calculating the user fee. Every establishment
selling gasoline at retail in a jurisdiction imposing the user
fee shall obtain a retail sales license.
(B) When the local
motor fuel user fee is imposed for more than one project, the
local governing body authorizing the referendum for the user fee
shall determine the priority for the expenditure of the net
proceeds of the user fee for the purposes stated in the
referendum.
(C) The revenues of the
user fee collected in each county pursuant to this chapter must
be remitted to the State Treasurer and credited to a fund
separate and distinct from the general fund of the State. After
deducting the amount of refunds made and costs to the Department
of Revenue of administering the user fee, not to exceed one
percent of the revenues, the State Treasurer shall distribute
the revenues quarterly to the county in which the user fee is
imposed. These revenues must be used only for the purpose
stated in the imposition ordinance. The State Treasurer may
correct misallocation costs or refunds by adjusting subsequent
distributions, but these adjustments must be made in the same
fiscal year as the misallocation.
Section 6-14-60. The Department of Revenue shall furnish data to the State Treasurer and to the counties receiving revenues for the purpose of calculating distributions and estimating revenues. The information that must be supplied to the counties upon request includes, but is not limited to, gross receipts, net taxable sales, and tax liability by taxpayers. Information about a specific taxpayer is considered confidential and is governed by the provisions of Section 12-54-240. A person violating this section is subject to the penalties provided in Section 12-54-240.
Section 6-14-70. The Department of Revenue may promulgate regulations necessary to implement this chapter." /
Renumber sections to conform.
Amend title to conform.