HB1678: Retail Sales and Use Tax; exemptions include energy-efficient products.

HOUSE BILL NO. 1678
Offered January 10, 2007
Prefiled December 8, 2006
A BILL to amend and reenact §§ 58.1-609.1, 58.1-625, and 58.1-626 of the Code of Virginia, relating to a limited sales and use tax exemption for certain energy-efficient products.
Patron-- Cosgrove

Committee Referral Pending

Be it enacted by the General Assembly of Virginia:

1.  That §§ 58.1-609.1, 58.1-625, and 58.1-626 of the Code of Virginia are amended and reenacted as follows:

§ 58.1-609.1. Governmental and commodities exemptions.

The tax imposed by this chapter or pursuant to the authority granted in §§ 58.1-605 and 58.1-606 shall not apply to the following:

1. Fuels which are subject to the tax imposed by Chapter 22 (§ 58.1-2200 et seq.) of this title. Persons who are refunded any such fuel tax shall, however, be subject to the tax imposed by this chapter, unless such taxes would be specifically exempted pursuant to any provision of this section.

2. Motor vehicles, trailers, semitrailers, mobile homes and travel trailers.

3. Gas, electricity, or water when delivered to consumers through mains, lines, or pipes.

4. Tangible personal property for use or consumption by the Commonwealth, any political subdivision of the Commonwealth, or the United States. This exclusion shall not apply to sales and leases to privately owned financial and other privately owned corporations chartered by the United States. Further, this exemption shall not apply to tangible personal property which is acquired by the Commonwealth or any of its political subdivisions and then transferred to private businesses for their use in a facility or real property improvement to be used by a private entity or for nongovernmental purposes other than tangible personal property acquired by the Herbert H. Bateman Advanced Shipbuilding and Carrier Integration Center and transferred to a Qualified Shipbuilder as defined in the third enactment of Chapter 790 of the 1998 Acts of the General Assembly.

5. Aircraft subject to tax under Chapter 15 (§ 58.1-1500 et seq.) of this title.

6. Motor fuels and alternative fuels for use in a commercial watercraft upon which a fuel tax is refunded pursuant to § 58.1-2259.

7. Sales by a government agency of the official flags of the United States, the Commonwealth of Virginia, or of any county, city or town.

8. Materials furnished by the State Board of Elections pursuant to §§ 24.2-404 through 24.2-407.

9. Watercraft as defined in § 58.1-1401.

10. Tangible personal property used in and about a marine terminal under the supervision of the Virginia Port Authority for handling cargo, merchandise, freight and equipment. This exemption shall apply to agents, lessees, sublessees or users of tangible personal property owned by or leased to the Virginia Port Authority and to property acquired or used by the Authority or by a nonstock, nonprofit corporation that operates a marine terminal or terminals on behalf of the Authority.

11. Sales by prisoners confined in state correctional facilities of artistic products personally made by the prisoners as authorized by § 53.1-46.

12. Tangible personal property for use or consumption by the Virginia Department for the Blind and Vision Impaired or any nominee, as defined in § 51.5-60, of such Department.

13. [Expired.]

14. Tangible personal property sold to residents and patients of the Virginia Veterans Care Center at a canteen operated by the Department of Veterans Services.

15. Tangible personal property for use or consumption by any nonprofit organization whose members include the Commonwealth and other states and which is organized for the purpose of fostering interstate cooperation and excellence in government.

16. Tangible personal property purchased for use or consumption by any soil and conservation district which is organized in accordance with the provisions of Article 3 (§ 10.1-506 et seq.) of Chapter 5 of Title 10.1.

17. Beginning September 1, 2004, (i) tangible personal property sold or leased to Alexandria Transit Company, Greater Lynchburg Transit Company, GRTC Transit System, or Greater Roanoke Transit Company that is owned, operated, or controlled by any county, city, or town, or any combination thereof, that provides public transportation services, and/or (ii) tangible personal property sold or leased to any county, city, or town, or any combination thereof, that is transferred to any of the companies set forth in clause (i) owned, operated, or controlled by any county, city, or town, or any combination thereof, that provides public transportation services.

18. Energy-efficient products with a sales price of $2,500 or less per product purchased for noncommercial home or personal use. The exemption provided by this subdivision shall apply only to sales occurring during the first Friday, Saturday and Sunday of October of each year, commencing October 5, 2007, through October 7, 2007. For the purposes of this subdivision, an energy-efficient product is any dishwasher, clothes washer, air conditioner, ceiling fan, fluorescent light bulb, dehumidifier, programmable thermostat, or refrigerator, the energy efficiency of which has been designated by the United States Environmental Protection Agency and the United States Department of Energy as meeting or exceeding each such agency's energy-saving efficiency requirements or that has been designated as meeting or exceeding such requirements under each such agency's Energy Star program.

§ 58.1-625. Collection of tax.

The tax levied by this chapter shall be paid by the dealer, but the dealer shall separately state the amount of the tax and add such tax to the sales price or charge. Thereafter, such tax shall be a debt from the purchaser, consumer, or lessee to the dealer until paid and shall be recoverable at law in the same manner as other debts. No action at law or suit in equity under this chapter may be maintained in this Commonwealth by any dealer who is not registered under § 58.1-613 or is delinquent in the payment of the taxes imposed under this chapter.

Notwithstanding any exemption from taxes which any dealer now or hereafter may enjoy under the Constitution or laws of this or any other state, or of the United States, such dealer shall collect such tax from the purchaser, consumer, or lessee and shall pay the same over to the Tax Commissioner as herein provided.

Any dealer collecting the sales or use tax on transactions exempt or not taxable under this chapter shall transmit to the Tax Commissioner such erroneously or illegally collected tax unless or until he can affirmatively show that the tax has since been refunded to the purchaser or credited to his account.

Any dealer who neglects, fails, or refuses to collect such tax upon every taxable sale, distribution, lease, or storage of tangible personal property made by him, his agents, or employees shall be liable for and pay the tax himself, and such dealer shall not thereafter be entitled to sue for or recover in this Commonwealth any part of the purchase price or rental from the purchaser until such tax is paid. Moreover, any dealer who neglects, fails, or refuses to pay or collect the tax herein provided, either by himself or through his agents or employees, shall be guilty of a Class 1 misdemeanor.

All sums collected by a dealer as required by this chapter shall be deemed to be held in trust for the Commonwealth.

Notwithstanding the foregoing provisions of this section, any dealer is authorized during the period of time set forth in § 58.1-611.2 or subdivision 18 of § 58.1-609.1 not to collect the tax levied by this chapter or levied under the authority granted in §§ 58.1-605 and 58.1-606 from the purchaser, and to absorb such tax himself. A dealer electing to absorb such taxes shall be liable for payment of such taxes to the Tax Commissioner in the same manner as he is for tax collected from a purchaser pursuant to this section.

§ 58.1-626. Absorption of tax prohibited.

No person shall advertise or hold out to the public, directly or indirectly, that he will absorb all or any part of the sales or use tax, or that he will relieve the purchaser, consumer, or lessee of the payment of all or any part of such tax. Any person who violates this section shall be guilty of a Class 2 misdemeanor. The prohibitions contained in this section shall not apply during the time period set out in § 58.1-611.2 or subdivision 18 of § 58.1-609.1 or during the 14 days immediately preceding such time period periods for advertisements relating to sales to be made during the time period set out in § 58.1-611.2 or subdivision 18 of § 58.1-609.1.