§45-5-242. Levy of gasoline tax; use of proceeds.

(a) The following words, when used in this section shall have the meaning ascribed to them below, unless the context clearly indicates a different meaning:

(1) "Gasoline" means any type of gasoline, naptha, or other liquid motor fuel, or any device or substitute therefor, commonly used in internal combustion engines.

(2) "Diesel fuel" means any type diesel oil, tractor fuel, gas oil, distillate or liquefied gas, jet fuel, or any device or substitute therefor.

(3) "Kerosene" means the product known commercially as "kerosene oil."

(b) In addition to all other taxes and licenses, there is hereby levied upon every distributor, refiner, retail dealer, or storer of gasoline, kerosene, or diesel fuel in Blount County, Alabama, an excise tax of one cent ($.01) per gallon upon the selling, distributing, storing, or withdrawing from storage in Blount County for any use, gasoline, kerosene, or diesel fuel as defined by this section; provided, the tax shall not be levied or paid on the sale of gasoline, kerosene, or diesel fuel in interstate commerce or to the government of the United States or its agencies, or direct to the State of Alabama. When the tax levied herein shall have been paid by a distributor, refiner, retail dealer or storer, such payment shall be sufficient, the intention being that the tax shall be paid but once. The tax shall not be levied or paid on gasoline, kerosene, or diesel fuel which is withdrawn from storage within Blount County for delivery only to a point or points outside the county, when the distributor or seller of such gasoline, kerosene, or diesel fuel prepares and files with the governing body of Blount County written statements sworn to and subscribed, in such form as may be required by the county governing body, showing the name and address of the person to whom the gasoline, kerosene, or diesel fuel is or has been delivered by the distributor; the volume and kind of such gasoline, kerosene, or diesel fuel; the dates of such withdrawals; and the point or points outside the county to which such gasoline, kerosene, or diesel fuel is delivered or is to be delivered.

(c) On or before the twentieth day of each month after March 1, 1956, every person upon whom the tax levied herein is imposed shall render to the governing body of Blount County, on forms prescribed by the county governing body, a true and correct statement of all sales and withdrawals of gasoline, kerosene, or diesel fuel liable for payment of the tax imposed by this section made by them during the next preceding month; shall furnish to the county governing body such additional information as the county governing body may require upon blanks to be formulated and furnished by the county governing body; and, at the time of making such report, shall pay to the county governing body the tax levied by this section upon such sales and withdrawals. The statement herein required to be made by the distributor, storer, or retail dealer shall be sworn to before some officer authorized to administer oaths. Any false statement sworn to shall constitute perjury, and upon conviction thereof the person so convicted shall be punished as provided by law.

(d) All distributors, storers, or retail dealers shall keep for not less than two years within the State of Alabama at some certain place or office such books, documents, or papers as will clearly show the amount of sales or withdrawals of gasoline, kerosene, or diesel fuel made in Blount County and subject to the tax levied by this section.

(e) Within 30 days of March 1, 1956, every distributor, storer, or retail dealer engaged in the sale or withdrawal of gasoline, kerosene, or diesel fuel in Blount County shall make a report on blanks furnished under subsection (c) hereof to the governing body of the county, showing the place and post office address at which his or her business of distributor or storer or retail dealer in gasoline, kerosene, or diesel fuel is located in the county, which information shall be entered by the county governing body on a book kept for that purpose, and should such distributor, storer, or retail dealer move his or her place of business from one business address to another, such distributor, storer, or retail dealer shall within 30 days thereafter notify the county governing body of such removal, giving the former place and post office address and also the place and post office address to which his or her place of business has been removed. After March 1, 1956, no person shall become a distributor, storer, or retail dealer of gasoline, kerosene, or diesel fuel in Blount County until he or she shall have made such report to the county governing body.

(f) If any distributor, storer, or retail dealer in gasoline, kerosene, or diesel fuel in Blount County fails to make any report required by this section, or fails to comply with any regulation adopted by the county governing body for the collection of the tax, or fails to make any report within the time prescribed, or fails to pay the tax imposed within the time fixed for the payment thereof, such distributor, storer, or retail dealer shall be guilty of a misdemeanor, and upon the conviction thereof shall be fined not less than fifty dollars ($50) nor more than three hundred dollars ($300) for each offense.

(g) It shall be the duty of the court of county commissioners, board of revenue, or like governing body of Blount County to enforce this section, and to make any and all rules and regulations necessary and proper for the collection of the tax levied herein. The county governing body or any member thereof or its agents shall have the right to examine the books, reports, and accounts of every distributor, storer, or retail dealer of gasoline, kerosene, or diesel fuel subject to such tax.

(h) If any distributor, storer, or retail dealer in gasoline, kerosene, or diesel fuel fails to make monthly reports or fails to pay the tax imposed under this section, the tax shall be deemed delinquent within the meaning of this section and there shall be added to the amount of the tax a penalty of 25 percent; provided, however, that if in the opinion of the county governing body a good and sufficient cause and reason is shown for such delinquency, the penalty may be remitted. The county governing body is hereby authorized and empowered to make returns for delinquent taxpayers upon such information as it may reasonably obtain and add to that the penalty as prescribed by this section. If any person shall be delinquent in the payment of any tax imposed by this section, the county governing body shall issue execution for the collection of the same, directed to any sheriff of the State of Alabama, who shall proceed to collect the same in the manner now provided by law for the collection of delinquent taxes by the county tax collector, and make return of such execution to the governing body issuing the same. The tax levied by this section and the penalty herein provided for shall be held as a debt payable to the county by the person against whom the same shall have been imposed or against whom the penalties shall have accrued; and all such taxes and penalties shall be a lien upon the property in the county and elsewhere in this state of the person against whom the tax shall have been imposed and the penalties shall have accrued.

(i) The acceptance of any amount paid for the excise tax levied by this section shall not preclude the collection of the amount actually due. However, the amount actually paid shall constitute a credit against the amount actually due.

(j) Any distributor, storer, or retail dealer who violates any provision of this section or who fails to comply with any reasonable rule or regulation promulgated hereunder may be restrained by proper legal proceedings from distributing, selling, storing, or withdrawing from storage any gasoline, kerosene, or diesel fuel the sale or withdrawal of which is taxable, until such person or persons shall have complied with the provisions of this section. Such proceedings shall be instituted in the name of Blount County by counsel chosen by the county governing body.

(k) Each agent of any railroad company, bus, or truck operator or other transportation company or agency operating in Blount County shall report to the county governing body on the first day of October, January, April, and July of each year all shipments of gasoline, kerosene, or diesel fuel as defined in this section handled by him or her or through the station or office at which he or she is agent, and delivered to any person in Blount County, Alabama, during the preceding three months, giving the names and addresses of the consignor and consignee shipping and receiving gasoline, kerosene, or diesel fuel and the number of gallons or pounds contained in each and every shipment.

(l) The proceeds of the tax levied by this section shall be paid into a special fund, and a one-time distribution of three hundred thousand dollars ($300,000) shall be made to the county general fund from the special fund upon the recommendation of the chairman of the county commission.

(m) The governing body of Blount County shall be charged with the duty of enforcing the provisions of this section and is hereby authorized and empowered to employ such clerical assistants and inspectors, and fix their rate of pay, as may be necessary in aiding them in the enforcement of the provisions of the section. The salaries of such clerical assistants and inspectors, and other necessary expense of enforcing this section, shall be paid from the proceeds of the tax levied herein.

(Acts 1956, No. 57, p. 86, §§1-13; Act 89-279, p. 441, §1.)