House Bill No. 209

Introduced By _______________________________________________________________________________

A Bill for an Act entitled: "An Act increasing video gambling machine gross income taxes; dedicating the increased percentage of the tax to reimbursements for personal property tax reduction; amending section

23-5-610, MCA; and providing an effective date and an applicability date."

Be it enacted by the Legislature of the State of Montana:

Section 1.  Section 23-5-610, MCA, is amended to read:

"23-5-610.   Video gambling machine gross income tax -- records -- distribution -- quarterly statement and payment. (1) A licensed operator issued a permit under this part shall pay to the department a video gambling machine tax of 15% 30% of the gross income from each video gambling machine licensed under this part. A licensed operator may deduct from the gross income amounts equal to amounts stolen from machines if the amounts stolen are not repaid by insurance or under a court order, if a law enforcement agency investigated the theft, and if the theft is the result of either unauthorized entry and physical removal of the money from the machines or of machine tampering and the amounts stolen are documented.

(2)  A licensed operator issued a permit under this part shall keep a record of the gross income from each machine in the form the department requires. The records must at all times during the business hours of the licensee be subject to inspection by the department.

(3)  A licensed operator issued a permit under this part shall, within 15 days after the end of each quarter, complete and deliver to the department a statement showing the total gross income from each video gambling machine licensed to the operator, together with the total amount due the state as video gambling machine gross income tax for the preceding quarter. The statement must contain other relevant information that the department requires.

(4)  (a) The department shall, in accordance with the provisions of 15-1-501, forward one-third 16% of the tax collected under subsection (3) to the general fund.

(b)  The department shall, in accordance with the provisions of 15-1-501, forward the remaining two-thirds 34% of the tax collected under subsection (3) to the treasurer of the county or the clerk, finance officer, or treasurer of the city or town in which the licensed machine is located, for deposit to the county or municipal treasury. Counties are not entitled to proceeds from taxes on income from video gambling machines located in incorporated cities and towns. The two-thirds local government portion of tax collected under subsection (3) is statutorily appropriated to the department as provided in 17-7-502 for deposit to the county or municipal treasury.

(c) The department shall deposit the remaining 50% of the tax collected under subsection (3) in the state special revenue fund to be used for reimbursements to local governments as provided in 15-1-112."

NEW SECTION. Section 2.  Applicability. [Section 1] applies to taxes for the quarter commencing July 1, 1997.

NEW SECTION. Section 3.  Effective date. [This act] is effective July 1, 1997.

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