Bill Text: MS HB1702 | 2025 | Regular Session | Introduced
Bill Title: City of Clarksdale; authorize levying of special sales tax on certain businesses to support public safety and economic growth.
Spectrum: Partisan Bill (Democrat 1-0)
Status: (Introduced) 2025-02-07 - Referred To Local and Private Legislation [HB1702 Detail]
Download: Mississippi-2025-HB1702-Introduced.html
MISSISSIPPI LEGISLATURE
2025 Regular Session
To: Local and Private Legislation
By: Representative Paden
House Bill 1702
AN ACT TO AUTHORIZE THE BOARD OF MAYOR AND COMMISSIONERS OF THE CITY OF CLARKSDALE, MISSISSIPPI, TO LEVY SALES TAX UPON THE GROSS PROCEEDS OF SALES AT CERTAIN BUSINESSES IN THE CITY FOR THE PURPOSE OF PROVIDING FUNDS TO SUPPORT AND PROMOTE PUBLIC SAFETY, CRIME PREVENTION, AND CONTINUING ECONOMIC GROWTH IN THE CITY; TO REQUIRE THAT AN ELECTION BE HELD ON THE QUESTION OF THE IMPOSITION OF SUCH TAX; AND FOR RELATED PURPOSES.
BE IT ENACTED BY THE LEGISLATURE OF THE STATE OF MISSISSIPPI:
SECTION 1. As used in this act, the following terms shall have the meanings ascribed to them in this section unless otherwise clearly indicated by the context in which they are used:
(a) "Alcoholic beverage" means any alcoholic liquid, including wines of more than five percent (5%) of alcohol by weight, capable of being consumed as a beverage by a human being, but shall not include light wine, light spirit product and beer, as defined in Section 67-3-3, Mississippi Code of 1972, but shall include native wines and native spirits. The words "alcoholic beverage" shall not include ethyl alcohol manufactured or distilled solely for fuel purposes or beefer of an alcoholic content of more than eight percent (8%) by weight if the beer is legally manufactured in this state for sale in another state.
(b) "Board" means the Board of Mayor and Commissioners of the City of Clarksdale, Mississippi.
(c) "City" means the City of Clarksdale, Mississippi.
(d) "Hemp" means the plant cannabis sativa and any part of that plant, including the seeds thereof and all derivatives, extracts, cannabinoids, isomers, acids, salts and salts of isomers, whether growing or not, with a delta-9-tetrahydrocannabinol(THC) concentration of not more than three-tenths percent (0.3%) on a dry weight basis that is grown or processed.
(e) "Hemp product" means a finished product that is intended for human consumption, contains any part of the hemp plant, including naturally occurring cannabinoids, compounds, concentrates, extracts, isolates, or resins, and contains less than threetenths percent (0.3%) of THC.
(f) "Marijuana" means all parts of the plant of the genus cannabis, the flower, the seeds thereof, the resin extracted from any part of the plant and every compound, manufacture, salt, derivative, mixture or preparation of the plant, its seeds or its resin, including whole plant extracts. Such term shall not mean cannabis-derived drug products approved by the federal Food and Drug Administration under Section 505 of the Federal Food, Drug, and Cosmetic Act.
(g) "Person" means any individual, company, corporation, partnership, association, joint venture, estate, trust, or any other group, or combination acting as a unit, and the plural as well as the singular, unless the intention to give a more limited meaning is disclosed by the context.
(h) "Retailer" includes every person whose principal business is that of selling merchandise at retail, who shall sell, or offer for sale any alcoholic beverage, hemp, marijuana, or tobacco to the consumer.
(i) "Sale" means an exchange for money or goods, giving away, or distributing any alcohol, hemp, marijuana, or tobacco as defined in this chapter.
(j) "Tobacco" means any cigarettes, cigars, cheroots, stogies, smoking tobacco (including granulated, plug cut, crimp cut, ready rubbed, and other kinds and forms of tobacco, or substitutes thereof, prepared in such manner as to be suitable for smoking in a pipe or cigarette) and including plug and twist chewing tobacco and snuff, when such "tobacco" is manufactured and prepared for sale or personal consumption. All words used herein shall be given the meaning as defined in the regulations of the Treasury Department of the United States of America. The term "tobacco" also includes heated tobacco products such as products that contain tobacco that produces an inhalable aerosol by (i) heating the tobacco without combustion of the tobacco or (ii) heat generated from a combustion source that only or primarily heats rather than burns the tobacco.
SECTION 2. (1) For the purpose of providing funds to promote public safety and continuing to promote economic growth in the city, the board, in its discretion, may levy, assess and collect from every person, firm and corporation operating a retail establishment licensed to sale tobacco, hemp, marijuana, or alcohol, in the city, a tax which shall be in addition to all other taxes and assessments imposed by the city, as provided in this act.
(2) The tax shall be imposed upon every person, firm or corporation operating as a retailer in the city, at a rate not to exceed two percent (2%) of the gross proceeds of the sales of such retailer.
(3) Persons liable for the tax imposed pursuant to this act shall add the amount of tax to the gross proceeds from sales and shall collect, insofar as practicable, the respective amount of the tax due by him from the person receiving the products at the time of payment for the products.
(4) The tax shall be collected by and paid to the Department of Revenue in the same manner that state sales taxes are computed, collected and paid; and the full enforcement provisions and all other provisions of Chapter 65, Title 27, Mississippi Code of 1972, shall apply as necessary to the implementation and administration of this act.
(5) Except for any amount retained by the Department of Revenue under Section 27-3-58, Mississippi Code of 1972, the proceeds of the tax shall be paid to the city on or before the fifteenth day of the month following the month in which they were collected.
(6) The proceeds of the tax shall be deposited into the general fund of the city and may be expended for any purpose authorized by law for expenditures of city general fund money, including the purpose of carrying out the programs and activities of the commission under the provisions of this act; however, accounting for receipts and expenditures of the proceeds of the tax shall be made separately as provided.
SECTION 3. Before any tax authorized under this act may be imposed, the board shall adopt a resolution declaring its intention to levy the tax, setting forth the amount of the tax to be imposed, the date upon which the tax shall become effective and calling for an election to be held on the question. The date of the election shall be fixed in the resolution. Notice of such intention shall be published once each week for at least three (3) consecutive weeks in a newspaper published or having a general circulation in the city, with the first publication of the notice to be made not less than twenty-one (21) days before the date fixed in the resolution for the election and the last publication to be made not more than seven (7) days before the election. At the election, all qualified electors of the city may vote, and the ballots used in the election shall have printed thereon a brief statement of the amount and purposes of the proposed tax levy and the words "FOR THE TAX" and, on a separate line, "AGAINST THE TAX" and the voters shall vote by placing a cross (X) or check (✓) opposite their choice on the proposition. When the results of the election shall have been canvassed and certified, the city may levy the tax if sixty percent (60%) of the qualified electors who vote in the election vote in favor of the tax. At least thirty (30) days before the effective date of the tax provided in this section, the board shall furnish to the Department of Revenue a certified copy of the resolution evidencing the tax.
SECTION 4. Before the expenditure of the proceeds of the tax authorized by this act, a budget reflecting the anticipated receipts and expenditures shall be approved by the board. The first budget of receipts and expenditures shall cover the period beginning with the effective date of the tax and ending with the end of the city's fiscal year, and thereafter, the budget shall be on the same fiscal basis as the budget of the city.
SECTION 5. Accounting for the receipts and expenditures of the funds derived from the proceeds of the tax authorized by this act shall be made separately from the accounting of receipts and expenditures of the general fund and any other funds of the city. The records reflecting the receipts and expenditures of these funds shall be audited annually by an independent certified public accountant and the audit shall be included in the general purpose statement of the city. The audit shall be made and completed as soon as practicable after the close of the city's fiscal year, and copies of the report of the audit shall be filed with the clerk of the board. The expense of this audit may be paid from the funds derived pursuant to Section 2 of this act.
SECTION 6. This act shall be liberally construed for the purposes prescribed herein, the power granted by this act shall be deemed to be full and complete authority for the imposition and collection of the tax and the expenditure of the proceeds thereof and shall be construed as additional, cumulative and supplemental to any power granted to the city by any general or local and private act of the Legislature.
SECTION 7. This act shall take effect and be in force from and after its passage.
