07 LC 14
9609
House
Bill 451
By:
Representatives Lewis of the
15th,
Stephens of the
164th,
and Parrish of the
156th
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 taxation, so as to provide for a program of tax refunds for
companies creating certain tourism attractions; to provide for a short title; to
define terms; to state legislative findings; to provide for conditions of
eligibility and approval by the Department of Economic Development and a local
government; to provide for agreements between that department and companies; to
provide for regulations; 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 taxation, is amended by adding a new Article 5 as follows:
"ARTICLE
5
48-8-240.
This
article shall be known and may be cited as the 'Georgia Tourism Development
Act.'
48-8-241.
As
used in this article, the term:
(1)
'Agreement' means a tourism attraction agreement entered into, pursuant to Code
Section 48-8-245, on behalf of the Georgia Department of Economic Development
and an approved company, with respect to a tourism attraction
project.
(2)
'Approved company' means any corporation, limited liability company,
partnership, limited liability partnership, sole proprietorship, business trust,
or any other entity approved by the commissioner of economic development and by
the governing authority of the city or county where the tourism attraction
project is to be located pursuant to Code Section 48-8-245 that is seeking to
undertake a tourism attraction project.
(3)
'Approved costs' means:
(A)
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 tourism attraction
project;
(B)
The costs of acquiring real property or rights in real property and any costs
incidental thereto;
(C)
All costs for construction materials and equipment installed at the tourism
attraction project;
(D)
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 tourism attraction project which is not paid by the vendor,
supplier, deliveryman, contractor, or otherwise provided;
(E)
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 tourism attraction project;
(F)
All costs required to be paid under the terms of any contract for the
acquisition, construction, equipping, and installation of a tourism attraction
project;
(G)
All costs required for the installation of utilities, including but not limited
to: water, sewer, sewer treatment, gas, electricity and communications and
including off-site construction of the facilities paid for by the approved
company; and
(H)
All other costs comparable with those described in this paragraph.
(4)
'Tourism attraction' means a cultural or historical site; a recreation or
entertainment facility; an area of natural phenomenon or scenic beauty; a
convention hotel and conference center; a race track with lodging and restaurant
and other tourism amenities; a golf course facility with lodging and restaurant
and other tourism amenities; marinas and water parks with lodging and restaurant
facilities; or an entertainment destination center, designed to attract tourists
to the State of Georgia, subject to the following conditions:
(A)
A tourism attraction shall include commercial lodging facilities if the
facilities constitute a significant portion of a tourism attraction project or
the facilities are to be located on recreational property leased from a county,
a municipal corporation, the state, or the federal government; and
(B)
A tourism attraction shall not include the following:
(i)
Facilities that are primarily devoted to the retail sale of goods, shopping
centers, restaurants, movie theaters, performing arts facilities, or a Georgia
crafts and products center; or
(ii)
Recreational facilities that do not serve as a likely destinations where
individuals who are not residents of the state would remain overnight in
commercial lodging at the tourism attraction project.
(5)
'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 project, 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.
48-8-242.
The
General Assembly finds and declares that the general welfare and material
well-being of the citizens of the state depend in large measure upon the
development of tourism in the state; that it is in the best interest of the
state to induce the creation of new tourism attractions and the expansion of
existing tourism attractions within the 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 Department of
Economic Development 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 and expansion 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.
48-8-243.
(a)(1)
In consideration of the execution of the agreement each approved company shall
be granted a sales and use tax refund from the Georgia sales and use tax and all
local sales and use taxes on the sales generated by or arising at the tourism
attraction.
(2)
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.
(3)
For all tourism attractions the term of the agreement granting the sales and use
tax refund shall be ten years.
(4)
This time period shall commence on the later of:
(A)
The final approval of the agreement for purposes of the sales and use tax
refund; or
(B)
The effective date specified in the agreement.
(b)
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 fiscal year´s refund after activation of
the term and without changing the term.
(c)
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 and its lessees 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 2.5 percent of the approved costs; and
(2)
Notwithstanding the foregoing 2.5 percent limitation, 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.
(d)
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 sales and use tax refund
collected by the approved company and remitted to the department during the
preceding calendar year pursuant to subsection (c) of this Code
section.
(e)
The department shall promulgate administrative regulations and require the
filing of a refund form designed by the department to reflect the intent of this
article.
48-8-244.
(a)
The commissioner of economic development 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
Economic Development shall include: marketing plans for the tourism attraction
project that target individuals who are not residents of the state; a
description and location of the tourism attraction project; capital and other
anticipated expenditures for the tourism attraction project and the anticipated
sources of funding therefor; the anticipated employment and wages to be paid at
the tourism attraction project; 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 the anticipated revenues to be generated by the
tourism attraction project.
(c)
The commissioner of economic development and the governing authority of the city
or county where the tourism attraction project is to be located may grant
approval to the tourism attraction project if the project shall:
(1)
Attract at least 50 percent of its visitors from among persons who are not
residents of the state;
(2)
Have approved costs in excess of $25 million;
(3)
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 existing tourism attractions in the state and the amount by which
increased state and local tax revenues from the tourism attraction project will
exceed the refund to be given to the approved company;
(4)
Produce sufficient revenues and public demand to be operating and open to the
public for a minimum of 250 days per year; and
(5)
Not adversely affect existing employment in the state.
48-8-245.
(a)
The Department of Economic Development, upon final approval of a tourism
attraction project application, shall enter into an agreement with any approved
company and the terms and provisions of each agreement shall include, but not be
limited to:
(1)
The projected amount of approved costs, provided any increase in approved costs
incurred by the approved company and agreed to by the department shall apply
retroactively for purposes of calculating the carry forward for unused sales and
use tax refunds as set forth in subsection (c) of Code Section 48-8-243 for tax
years commencing on or after January 1, 2006;
(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 Economic Development 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;
(3)
The term shall be ten years from the later of:
(A)
The date of the final approval of the tourism attraction project;
or
(B)
The original effective date specified in the agreement, if this effective date
is within three years of the date of the final approval of the tourism
attraction project."
SECTION
2.
This
Act shall become effective upon its approval by the Governor or upon its
becoming law without such approval.
SECTION
3.
All
laws and parts of law in conflict with this Act are repealed.