Bill Text: GA HB321 | 2011-2012 | Regular Session | Comm Sub
Bill Title: Georgia Tourism Development Act; enact
Spectrum: Partisan Bill (Republican 4-0)
Status: (Introduced - Dead) 2011-04-14 - House Withdrawn, Recommitted [HB321 Detail]
Download: Georgia-2011-HB321-Comm_Sub.html
11 LC 18
9902TS
The
House Committee on Ways and Means offers the following substitute to HB
321:
A
BILL TO BE ENTITLED
AN ACT
AN ACT
To
amend Chapter 8 of Title 48 of the Official Code of Georgia Annotated, relating
to sales and use taxes, so as to provide for a program of tax refunds for
companies creating new tourism attractions or expanding existing tourism
attractions; to provide for a short title; to provide for definitions; to
provide for legislative findings; to provide for conditions of eligibility and
approval; to provide for agreements; to provide for procedures, conditions, and
limitations; to provide for powers, duties, and responsibilities of the
commissioner of community affairs, the Department of Community Affairs, and the
governing authorities of counties and municipalities; to provide for powers,
duties, and authority of the state revenue commissioner and the Department of
Revenue; to provide for related matters; to provide for an effective date; to
repeal conflicting laws; and for other purposes.
BE
IT ENACTED BY THE GENERAL ASSEMBLY OF GEORGIA:
SECTION
1.
Chapter
8 of Title 48 of the Official Code of Georgia Annotated, relating to sales and
use taxes, is amended by adding a new article to read as follows:
"ARTICLE
6
48-8-270.
This
article shall be known and may be cited as the 'Georgia Tourism Development
Act.'
48-8-271.
As
used in this article, the term:
(1)
'Agreement' means a tourism attraction agreement for a tourism attraction
project entered into, pursuant to Code Section 48-8-275, on behalf of the
Department of Community Affairs and an approved company.
(2)
'Approved company' means any corporation, limited liability company,
partnership, limited liability partnership, sole proprietorship, business trust,
or any other entity that is seeking to undertake a tourism attraction project
pursuant to Code Section 48-8-275 and is approved, pursuant to subsection (b) of
Code Section 48-8-274, by the commissioner of community affairs and by the
governing authority of the city where the tourism attraction project is to be
located if within a city and by the governing authority of the county where the
tourism attraction project is to be located.
(3)
'Approved costs' means:
(A)
For new tourism attractions:
(i)
Obligations incurred for labor and to vendors, contractors, subcontractors,
builders, suppliers, deliverymen, and materialmen in connection with the
acquisition, construction, equipping, and installation of a new tourism
attraction project;
(ii)
The costs of acquiring real property or rights in real property and any costs
incidental thereto;
(iii)
All costs for construction materials and equipment installed at the new tourism
attraction project;
(iv)
The cost of contract bonds and of insurance of all kinds that may be required or
necessary during the course of the acquisition, construction, equipping, and
installation of a new tourism attraction project which is not paid by the
vendor, supplier, deliveryman, or contractor or otherwise provided;
(v)
All costs of architectural and engineering services, including but not limited
to estimates, plans and specifications, preliminary investigations, and
supervision of construction and installation, as well as for the performance of
all the duties required by or consequent to the acquisition, construction,
equipping, and installation of a new tourism attraction project;
(vi)
All costs required to be paid under the terms of any contract for the
acquisition, construction, equipping, and installation of a new tourism
attraction project;
(vii)
All costs required for the installation of utilities, including but not limited
to water, sewer, sewage treatment, gas, electricity, communications, and similar
facilities; and off-site construction of utility extensions if paid for by the
approved company; and
(viii)
All other costs comparable with those described in this subparagraph;
or
(B)
For existing tourism attractions, any approved costs otherwise specified in
subparagraph (A) of this paragraph; provided, however, that such costs are
limited to the expansion only of an existing tourism attraction and not the
renovation of an existing tourism attraction.
(4)
'Incremental sales and use tax' means those state and local sales and use taxes
generated by the tourism attraction project above the amount of such sales and
use taxes generated by the previous use of the property on which such project is
located except as otherwise provided in Code Section 48-8-278.
(5)
'Tourism attraction' means a cultural or historical site; a recreation or
entertainment facility; a convention hotel and conference center; an automobile
race track with other tourism amenities; a golf course facility with other
tourism amenities; marinas and water parks with lodging and restaurant
facilities designed to attract tourists to the State of Georgia; or a Georgia
crafts and products center. A tourism attraction shall not include the
following:
(A)
Facilities that are primarily devoted to the retail sale of goods, shopping
centers, restaurants, or movie theaters; or
(B)
Recreational facilities that do not serve as likely destinations where
individuals who are not residents of this state would remain overnight in
commercial lodging at the tourism attraction.
(6)
'Tourism attraction project' or 'project' means the real estate acquisition,
including the acquisition of real estate by a leasehold interest with a minimum
term of 30 years, construction, and equipping of a tourism attraction; the
construction and installation of improvements to facilities necessary or
desirable for the acquisition, construction, and installation of a tourism
attraction, including but not limited to surveys; installation of utilities,
which may include water, sewer, sewage treatment, gas, electricity,
communications, and similar facilities; and off-site construction of utility
extensions if paid for by the approved company. Such term shall not include the
renovation of an existing tourism attraction.
48-8-272.
The
General Assembly finds and declares that the general welfare and material
well-being of the citizens of this state depend in large measure upon the
development of tourism in the state; that it is in the best interest of this
state to induce the creation of tourism attractions or expansion of existing
tourism attractions within this state in order to advance the public purposes of
relieving unemployment by preserving and creating jobs that would not exist if
not for the sales and use tax refund offered by the State of Georgia to approved
companies and preserving and creating sources of tax revenues for the support of
public services provided by the state; that the purposes to be accomplished
under the provisions of this article are proper governmental and public purposes
for which public moneys may be expended; and that the inducement of the creation
of tourism attraction projects is of paramount importance to the economy of the
state, mandating that the provisions of this article are to be liberally
construed and applied in order to advance public purposes.
48-8-273.
(a)
In consideration of the execution of the agreement, each approved company shall
be granted a sales and use tax refund from the incremental sales and use tax on
the sales generated by the approved company and arising at the tourism
attraction.
(b)
The approved company shall have no obligation to refund or otherwise return any
amount of this sales and use tax refund to the persons from whom the sales and
use tax was collected.
(c)
For all tourism attractions the term of the agreement granting the sales and use
tax refund shall be ten years, commencing on the later of:
(1)
The final approval of the agreement for purposes of the sales and use tax
refund; or
(2)
The date the tourism attraction opens for business and begins to collect sales
and use taxes;
(d)
Any sales and use tax collected by an approved company on sales transacted after
final approval but prior to the commencement of the term of the agreement shall
be refundable as if collected after the commencement of the term and applied to
the approved company's first year's refund after activation of the term and
without changing the term.
(e)
The total sales and use tax refund allowed to the approved company over the term
of the agreement shall be equal to the lesser of the total amount of the sales
and use tax liability of the approved company or 25 percent of the approved
costs for the tourism attraction project, subject to the following
conditions:
(1)
The sales and use tax refund shall accrue over the term of the agreement in an
annual amount equal to the lesser of the sales and use tax liability of the
approved company for that year or 2.5 percent of the approved costs;
and
(2)
Notwithstanding the 2.5 percent limitation of paragraph (1) of this subsection,
any unused sales and use tax refunds from a previous year may be carried forward
to any succeeding year during the term of the agreement.
(f)
On or before March 31 of each year during the term of the agreement, an approved
company shall file with the department a claim for the sales and use tax refund
collected by the approved company and remitted to the department during the
preceding calendar year pursuant to subsection (e) of this Code
section.
(g)
The department, in consultation with other appropriate state agencies, shall
promulgate administrative regulations and require the filing of a refund form
designed by the department to reflect the intent of this article.
(h)
No sales and use tax refund shall be granted to an approved project which is
during a tax year simultaneously receiving any other state tax
incentive.
(i)
Any sales and use tax refund shall be first applied to any outstanding tax
obligation of the approved company which is due and payable to the
state.
48-8-274.
(a)
The commissioner of community affairs, in consultation with other appropriate
state agencies, shall establish standards for the filing of an application for
tourism attraction projects by the promulgation of administrative
regulations.
(b)
An application for a tourism attraction project filed with the Department of
Community Affairs shall include, but not be limited to:
(1)
Marketing plans for the tourism attraction project that target individuals who
are not residents of this state;
(2)
A description and location of the tourism attraction project;
(3)
Capital and other anticipated expenditures for the tourism attraction project
and the anticipated sources of funding for such project;
(4)
The anticipated employment and wages to be paid at the tourism attraction
project;
(5)
Business plans which indicate the average number of days in a year in which the
tourism attraction project will be in operation and open to the public;
and
(6)
The anticipated revenues to be generated by the tourism attraction
project.
(c)
Following the filing of the application under subsection (b) of this Code
section, the Department of Community Affairs shall submit the application to an
independent consultant who shall perform an in depth analysis of the proposed
project. All costs associated with such analysis shall be paid for by the
approved company.
(d)
The commissioner of community affairs may grant approval to the tourism
attraction project if the project shall:
(1)
Have approved costs in excess of $1 million and such project is to be a tourism
attraction;
(2)
Have a significant and positive economic impact on the state considering, among
other factors, the extent to which the tourism attraction project will compete
directly with tourism attractions in this state and the amount by which
increased state local tax revenues from the tourism attraction project will
exceed the refund to be given to the approved company;
(3)
Produce sufficient revenues and public demand to be operating and open to the
public for a minimum of 100 days per year, including the first year of
operation;
(4)
Not adversely affect existing employment in the state; and
(5)
For each year following the third year of operation, attract a minimum of 25
percent of its visitors from nonresidents of this state.
48-8-275.
Following
approval by the commissioner of community affairs, the Department of Community
Affairs shall enter into an agreement with any approved company which may also
include as a partner any local development authority, and the terms and
provisions of each agreement shall include, but not be limited to:
(1)
The projected amount of approved costs, provided that any increase in approved
costs incurred by the approved company and agreed to by the Department of
Community Affairs shall apply retroactively for purposes of calculating the
carry forward for unused sales and use tax refunds as set forth in subsection
(e) of Code Section 48-8-273 for tax years commencing on or after July 1,
2011;
(2)
A date certain by which the approved company shall have completed the tourism
attraction project and begun operations. Upon request from any approved company
that has received final approval, the Department of Community Affairs shall
grant an extension or change, which in no event shall exceed 18 months from the
date of final approval, to the completion date as specified in the agreement
with an approved company; and
(3)
A statement specifying the term of the agreement in accordance with subsection
(c) of Code Section 48-8-273.
48-8-276.
In
the event an approved company fails to abide by the terms of the agreement, then
such agreement shall be void and all sales and use tax proceeds which were
refunded shall become immediately due and payable back to the state and to the
governing authority of any county or municipality whose approval was required
under paragraph (2) of Code Section 48-8-271.
48-8-277.
An
approved company may, subject to approval by the commissioner of community
affairs, transfer its rights, duties, and obligations under the agreement to a
successor company if the successor company meets the qualifications of an
approved company and, upon such approval by the commissioner of community
affairs, such successor approved company shall be authorized to receive the
sales and use tax refunds for the remaining duration of the agreement if it
abides by the terms of the agreement.
48-8-278.
This
chapter shall not apply to the sales tax for educational purposes levied
pursuant to Part 2 of Article 3 of this chapter and Article VIII, Section VI,
Paragraph IV of the
Constitution."
SECTION
2.
This
Act shall become effective on July 1, 2011.
SECTION
3.
All
laws and parts of law in conflict with this Act are repealed.