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HomeMy WebLinkAbout3150 Amending AMC 4.38 Marijuana Tax Interest and Penalties ORDINANCE NO. 3150 AN ORDINANCE AMENDING AMC 4.38 TO CONFORM WITH THE OREGON DEPARTMENT OF REVENUE ASSESSING AND COLLECTING MARIJUANA TAX INTEREST AND PENALTIES Annotated to show deletions and additions to the code sections being modified. Deletions are bold lined thr-ou and additions are bold underlined. WHEREAS, Article 2. Section 1 of the Ashland City Charter provides: Powers of the City. The City shall have all powers which the constitutions, statutes, and common law of the United States and of this State expressly or impliedly grant or allow municipalities, as fully as though this Charter specifically enumerated each of those powers, as well as all powers not inconsistent with the foregoing; and, in addition thereto, shall possess all powers hereinafter specifically granted. All the authority thereof shall have perpetual succession. WHEREAS, City of Ashland law enforcement passed a Marijuana Tax ordinance, Ord 3121, 2016, which was codified as Ashland Municipal Code Chapter 4.38; and WHEREAS, the Department of Revenue has entered into an intergovernmental agreement with the City of Ashland to collect the City's taxes and interest and penalties; and WHEREAS, the manner by which the City of Ashland originally intended to collect interest and penalties it imposed upon marijuana retailers was modeled after its ordinance that regulates the Ashland Food and Beverage Tax without considering methods the State of Oregon would use to collect the same; and WHEREAS, the DOR requires that the City conform its ordinance to a statewide model that allows for the Department to lawfully and efficiently collect marijuana taxes and interest and penalties on behalf of the City of Ashland. THEREFORE, THE PEOPLE OF THE CITY OF ASHLAND DO ORDAIN AS FOLLOWS: SECTION 1. Section 4.38.020 is amended as follows: Section 4.38.020 Definitions When not clearly otherwise indicated by the context, the following words and phrases as used in this chapter shall have the following meanings: A. "Director" means the Director of Finance for the City of Ashland or his/her designee. Ordinance No. Page 1 of 4 B. "Gross Taxable Sales" means the total amount received in money, credits, property or other consideration from sales of marijuana and marijuana-infused products that is subject to the tax imposed by this chapter. C. "Marijuana" means all parts of the plant of the Cannabis family Moraceae, whether growing or not; the resin extracted from any part of the plant; and every compound, manufacture, salt, derivative, mixture, or preparation of the plant or its resin, as may be defined by Oregon Revised Statutes as they currently exist or may from time to time be amended. It does not include the mature stalks of the plant, fiber produced from the stalks, oil or cake made from the seeds of the plant, any other compound, manufacture, salt, derivative, mixture, or preparation of the mature stalks (except the resin extracted there from), fiber, oil, or cake, or the sterilized seed of the plant which is incapable of germination. D. "Person" means natural person, joint venture, joint stock company, partnership, association, club, company, corporation, business, trust, organization, or any group or combination acting as a unit, including the United States of America, the State of Oregon and any political subdivision thereof, or the manager, lessee, agent, servant, officer or employee of any of them. E. "Purchase or Sale" means the retail acquisition or furnishing for consideration by any person of marijuana within the City and does not include the acquisition or furnishing of marijuana by a grower or processor to a seller. F. "Retail sale" and "retail selling" means any transfer, exchange, gift or barter of a marijuana item by any person to a consumer and does not include the transfer or exchange of goods or services between a grower or processor and a seller. And, does not include the transfer or exchange of goods or services between a grower or processor and a seller. G. "Seller" or "Marijuana Retailer" means any person who is required to be licensed or has been licensed by the Oregon Liquor Control Commission to provide marijuana or marijuana- infused products to purchasers for money, credit, property or other consideration. H. "Tax" means either the tax payable by the seller or the aggregate amount of taxes due from a seller during the period for which the seller is required to report collections under this chapter. 1. "Taxpayer" means any person obligated to account to the Finance Director for taxes collected or to be collected, or from whom a tax is due, under the terms of this chapter. SECTION 2. Section 4.38.060 is amended as follows: Section 4.38.060 Penalties and Interest A. time required shall pay a penalty of to percent (100%) of the amount "of the tax, in additi date, to the amount of the ta-x--. B. Any seller-who fails to remit any delinquent remittanee on or before a period of 60 days shall pay a seeond following the delinquent, on which the remittanee first beeame delinqueney penalty of ten pereent 0 amount of the tax and the penalty first imposed-. C. if the Direetor deter-mines that the nonpayment of any remittanee due under this 0 chapter is due to fraud, a penalty of twent~, five pereent shall be added thereto in addition to the penalties stated in subparagraphs A and B of this seetion. D. In addition to the penalties imposed, an), seller who fails to remit any tax imposed by 0 this ehap Y interest at the rate of one pereent Ordinance No. Page 2 of 4 i on the amount of the tax, exelusive of penalties, from the date on m,hieh the remittanee fi became delinquent , ntil paid E. Eve", penalty imposed, and sueh interest as neerues under- the provisions of this , shall beeo a part of the tax r-ed to be puiu,7 . F. Notwithstanding subsection AMC 4.34.020.C, all sums colleeted pursuant to the penalty s in paragraphs A and C of this seetion shall be distributed to the City of Ashland se m rviee Fund to offset the eosts of auditing and enfor-ee ent of this tax. G. Waiver- of Penalties. Penalties and interest for- eer-tain late tax payments may be waived pursuant to AMC 2.28.045D. A. Interest shall be added to the overall tax amount due at the same rate established under ORS 305.220 for each month, or fraction of a month, from the time the return to the Oregon Department of Revenue was originally required to be filed by the marijuana retailer to the time of payment. B. If a marijuana retailer fails to file a return with the Oregon Department of Revenue or pay the tax as required, a penalty shall be imposed upon the marijuana retailer in the same manner and amount provided under ORS 314.400. C. Every penalty imposed, and any interest that accrues, becomes a part of the financial obligation required to be paid by the marijuana retailer and remitted to the Oregon Department of Revenue. D. Taxes, interest and penalties transferred to Ashland by the Oregon Department of Revenue will be distributed to the City's General Fund. E. If at any time a marijuana retailer fails to remit any amount owed in taxes, interest or penalties, the Oregon Department of Revenue is authorized to enforce collection on behalf of the City of the owed amount in accordance with ORS 475B.700 to 475B.755, any agreement between the Oregon Department of Revenue and Ashland under ORS 305.620 and any applicable administrative rules adopted by the Oregon Department of Revenue. SECTION 3. Section 4.38.070 is deleted as follows: ccct c ~ 24 non Failure to Report t it T., Determination f Tax 1~ iv and Dis«< to ,~irrt~v--zc ozsr~ --rorzz~a if any seller should fail to malke,within the time pr-ovided in this ehapter, any report of th tax required by this ehapter-, the Director- shall proeeed in sueh manner as deemed best to obtain faets and infoffnation on,,A,hieh to base the estimate of tax due. As soon as the Direetor- shall pr-oeure sueh faets and infer-mation as is able to be obtained, upon m,hieh to base the assessment of any tax imposed by this ehapter and payable by any seller, the Director shall proeeed to determine and assess against sueh seller- the tax, interest anA penalties provided for- by this ehapter, in ease sueh determination is made, the Direeto shall give a notiee of the amount so assessed by having it sen,ed personally or by depositing it in the United States mail, postage prepaid, addressed to the seller- so assessi-d tit thp- I.A-St known plaee of address. Sueh seller- may make an appeal of sueh determination as provided- tl,. t' 4.34.080. if al is filed, the Di `•tor-'s determinationfinal and amount thereby is immediateb, due and payvAAe-. SECTION 4. Section 4.38.100 is deleted as follows: Ordinance No. Page 3 of 4 A tax required to be id by any ells under the provisions of this t.al hKpali ~a shall be deemed a debt owed by the seller- to the City. Any such tax eolleeted by a seller-whieh has not been paid to the City shall be deented a debt owed by the seller- to the City. Any per-son . - ney to the Cit~, under- the provisions of this ehapter- shall be liable to an aetion brought the name of the r;*" of Ashland for the of s ..h amount. in l f aii.u va 2!1 filing action f^" the the City of A shlan'1, when taxes `1` more than ✓v days delinquent, ean submit any outstanding tax to a eolleetion ageney. So long as the Cit~ of Ashland has eomplied with the , . . et forth in ORS 697.105, in the event the Cit~, 7 it may add to the amount owin an amount equal to the eolleetion ageney fees, not to exeeed the greater- of fift~, dollars ($50.00) or- fifty per-eent (501,46) of the outstanding tax, penalties and interest owing-_ SECTION 5. Savings. Notwithstanding this amendment/repeal, the City ordinances in existence at the time any criminal or civil enforcement actions were commenced, shall remain valid and in full force and effect for purposes of all cases filed or commenced during the times said ordinances(s) or portions thereof were operative. This section simply clarifies the existing situation that nothing in this Ordinance affects the validity of prosecutions commenced and continued under the laws in effect at the time the matters were originally filed. SECTION 6. Severability. The sections, subsections, paragraphs and clauses of this ordinance are severable. The invalidity of one section, subsection, paragraph, or clause shall not affect the validity of the remaining sections, subsections, paragraphs and clauses. SECTION 7. Codification. Provisions of this Ordinance shall be incorporated in the City Code, and the word "ordinance" may be changed to "code", "article", "section", or another word, and the sections of this Ordinance may be renumbered or re-lettered, provided however, that any Whereas clauses and boilerplate provisions, i. e., Sections 5-7 need not be codified, and the City Recorder is authorized to correct any cross-references and any typographical errors. The foregoing ordinance was first read by title only in accordance with Article X, Section 2(C) of the City Charter on the 15'1'- day of 2017, and duly PASSED and ADOPTED this _V day of , 2017. ` n Melissa Huhtala, City Recorder SIGNED and APPROVED this 14day of 2017. O Stromb g, Mayor Revierd as to form:, ~irrv David H. Lo an, City Attorney Ordinance No. Page 4 of 4