Bill Text: CT SB00400 | 2012 | General Assembly | Introduced

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Bill Title: An Act Concerning The Taxation Of Digital Products.

Spectrum: Committee Bill

Status: (Introduced - Dead) 2012-03-12 - Public Hearing 03/16 [SB00400 Detail]

Download: Connecticut-2012-SB00400-Introduced.html

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General Assembly		Raised Bill No. 400
February Session, 2012		LCO No. 2140
		*02140_______FIN*
Referred to Committee on Finance, Revenue and Bonding
Introduced by:
(FIN)

AN ACT CONCERNING THE TAXATION OF DIGITAL PRODUCTS.

Be it enacted by the Senate and House of Representatives in General Assembly convened:

Section 1. Subdivision (2) of subsection (a) of section 12-407 of the 2012 supplement to the general statutes is repealed and the following is substituted in lieu thereof (Effective July 1, 2012, and applicable to sales occurring on or after said date):

(2) "Sale" and "selling" mean and include:

(A) Any transfer of title, exchange or barter, conditional or otherwise, in any manner or by any means whatsoever, of tangible personal property for a consideration;

(B) Any withdrawal, except a withdrawal pursuant to a transaction in foreign or interstate commerce, of tangible personal property from the place where it is located for delivery to a point in this state for the purpose of the transfer of title, exchange or barter, conditional or otherwise, in any manner or by any means whatsoever, of the property for a consideration;

(C) The producing, fabricating, processing, printing or imprinting of tangible personal property for a consideration for consumers who furnish either directly or indirectly the materials used in the producing, fabricating, processing, printing or imprinting, including, but not limited to, sign construction, photofinishing, duplicating and photocopying;

(D) The furnishing and distributing of tangible personal property for a consideration by social clubs and fraternal organizations to their members or others;

(E) The furnishing, preparing, or serving for a consideration of food, meals or drinks;

(F) A transaction whereby the possession of property is transferred but the seller retains the title as security for the payment of the price;

(G) A transfer for a consideration of the title of tangible personal property which has been produced, fabricated or printed to the special order of the customer, or of any publication, including, but not limited to, sign construction, photofinishing, duplicating and photocopying;

(H) A transfer for a consideration of the occupancy of any room or rooms in a hotel or lodging house for a period of thirty consecutive calendar days or less;

(I) The rendering of certain services, as defined in subdivision (37) of this subsection, for a consideration, exclusive of such services rendered by an employee for the employer;

(J) The leasing or rental of tangible personal property of any kind whatsoever, including, but not limited to, motor vehicles, linen or towels, machinery or apparatus, office equipment and data processing equipment, provided for purposes of this subdivision and the application of sales and use tax to contracts of lease or rental of tangible personal property, the leasing or rental of any motion picture film by the owner or operator of a motion picture theater for purposes of display at such theater shall not constitute a sale within the meaning of this subsection;

(K) The rendering of telecommunications service, as defined in subdivision (26) of this subsection, for a consideration on or after January 1, 1990, exclusive of any such service rendered by an employee for the employer of such employee, subject to the provisions related to telecommunications service in accordance with section 12-407a;

(L) (i) The rendering of community antenna television service, as defined in subdivision (27) of this subsection, for a consideration on or after January 1, 1990, exclusive of any such service rendered by an employee for the employer of such employee. For purposes of this chapter, "community antenna television service" includes service provided by a holder of a certificate of cable franchise authority pursuant to section 16-331p, and service provided by a community antenna television company issued a certificate of video franchise authority pursuant to section 16-331e for any service area in which it was not certified to provide community antenna television service pursuant to section 16-331 on or before October 1, 2007;

(ii) The rendering of certified competitive video service, as defined in subdivision (38) of this subsection, for consideration on or after October 1, 2007, exclusive of any such service rendered by an employee for the employer of such employee;

(M) The transfer for consideration of space or the right to use any space for the purpose of storage or mooring of any noncommercial vessel, exclusive of dry or wet storage or mooring of such vessel during the period commencing on the first day of November in any year to and including the thirtieth day of April of the next succeeding year;

(N) The sale for consideration of naming rights to any place of amusement, entertainment or recreation within the meaning of subdivision (3) of section 12-540;

(O) The transfer for consideration of a prepaid telephone calling service, as defined in subdivision (34) of this subsection, and the recharge of a prepaid telephone calling service, provided, if the sale or recharge of a prepaid telephone calling service does not take place at the retailer's place of business and an item is shipped by the retailer to the customer, the sale or recharge shall be deemed to take place at the customer's shipping address, but, if such sale or recharge does not take place at the retailer's place of business and no item is shipped by the retailer to the customer, the sale or recharge shall be deemed to take place at the customer's billing address or the location associated with the customer's mobile telephone number; [and]

(P) The furnishing by any person, for a consideration, of space for storage of tangible personal property when such person is engaged in the business of furnishing such space, but "sale" and "selling" do not mean or include the furnishing of space which is used by a person for residential purposes. As used in this subparagraph, "space for storage" means secure areas, such as rooms, units, compartments or containers, whether accessible from outside or from within a building, that are designated for the use of a customer, where the customer can store and retrieve property, including self-storage units, mini-storage units and areas by any other name to which the customer has either unlimited free access or free access within reasonable business hours or upon reasonable notice to the service provider to add or remove property, but does not mean the rental of an entire building, such as a warehouse. For purposes of this subparagraph, furnishing space for storage shall not include general warehousing and storage, where the warehouse typically handles, stores and retrieves a customer's property using the warehouse's staff and equipment and does not allow the customer free access to the storage space and shall not include accepting specific items of property for storage, such as clothing at a dry cleaning establishment or golf bags at a golf club; and

(Q) The electronic transfer, for a consideration, of any digital product, as defined in subdivision (42) of this subsection, that grants to a purchaser a right or license to use, retain or make a copy of such digital product.

Sec. 2. Subsection (a) of section 12-407 of the 2012 supplement to the general statutes is amended by adding subdivision (42) as follows (Effective July 1, 2012, and applicable to sales occurring on or after said date):

(NEW) (42) "Digital product" means an electronically transferred digital audio-visual work, digital audio work, including a ringtone, or digital book, and includes a digital code that provides a purchaser with a right to obtain the product. "Digital product" does not include video programming services, including video on demand television services, broadcasting services or content to provide such services, or computer and data processing services.

This act shall take effect as follows and shall amend the following sections:
Section 1	July 1, 2012, and applicable to sales occurring on or after said date	12-407(a)(2)
Sec. 2	July 1, 2012, and applicable to sales occurring on or after said date	12-407(a)

Statement of Purpose:

To include digital movies, books, music, ringtones, audio and video works and similar downloadable products as subject to the sales and use tax.

[Proposed deletions are enclosed in brackets. Proposed additions are indicated by underline, except that when the entire text of a bill or resolution or a section of a bill or resolution is new, it is not underlined.]