BILL NUMBER: AB 760 AMENDED
BILL TEXT
AMENDED IN ASSEMBLY MARCH 19, 2013
INTRODUCED BY Assembly Member Dickinson
(Principal coauthor: Senator Steinberg)
FEBRUARY 21, 2013
An act to amend Section 1656.1 of the Civil Code, and to add Part
14.5 (commencing with Section 33001) to Division 2 of the Revenue and
Taxation Code, relating to taxation, to take effect immediately, tax
levy.
LEGISLATIVE COUNSEL'S DIGEST
AB 760, as amended, Dickinson. Taxes: ammunition sales.
Existing sales and use tax laws impose taxes on retailers measured
by the gross receipts from the sale of tangible personal property
sold at retail in this state, or on the storage, use, or other
consumption in this state of tangible personal property purchased
from a retailer for storage, use, or other consumption in this state.
This bill would impose a tax upon retailers for the privilege of
selling ammunition, as defined, at the rate of $0.05 per item of
ammunition sold at retail in this state on or after
January 1, 2014. It would also impose a complemental excise tax on
the storage, use, or other consumption in this state of ammunition
purchased from a retailer for storage, use, or other consumption in
this state, as provided. The tax would be collected pursuant to the
procedures set forth in the Fee Collection Procedures Law. This bill
would require that revenues collected pursuant to these taxes be
allocated to the School-Based Early Mental Health Intervention and
Prevention Services Matching Grant Program.
Because this bill would expand the scope of the Fee Collection
Procedures Law, the violation of which is a crime, it would impose a
state-mandated local program.
The California Constitution requires the state to reimburse local
agencies and school districts for certain costs mandated by the
state. Statutory provisions establish procedures for making that
reimbursement.
This bill would provide that no reimbursement is required by this
act for a specified reason.
This bill would include a change in state statute that would
result in a taxpayer paying a higher tax within the meaning of
Section 3 of Article XIII A of the California Constitution, and thus
would require for passage the approval of 2/3 of the membership of
each house of the Legislature.
This bill would take effect immediately as a tax levy.
Vote: 2/3. Appropriation: no. Fiscal committee: yes.
State-mandated local program: yes.
THE PEOPLE OF THE STATE OF CALIFORNIA DO ENACT AS FOLLOWS:
SECTION 1. The Legislature finds and declares all of the
following:
(a) California has long recognized the relationship between mental
health and gun violence by enacting several laws restricting the
ownership of guns by individuals who have been identified as
suffering from mental disorders or as not in control of all of their
mental faculties.
(b) There is evidence that people with severe mental illness have
a higher risk of committing violent acts than the general population.
The National Institute of Mental Health found that the lifetime
prevalence of violence among people with serous mental illness was 16
percent, compared with 7 percent among people without any mental
disorder.
(a) People with mental illness are no more likely to commit
violent acts than are others. California law, however, does restrict
the ownership of guns by individuals who have been adjudicated as
being a danger to themselves or others because of mental illness.
(c) However, the
(b) The ability of mental health
professionals to predict any particular mental disorder or disordered
individual as being likely responsible for and likely to commit an
act of violence with a deadly weapon is weak. Nonetheless,
recent tragic events involving mass shootings in Connecticut,
Colorado, Arizona, and elsewhere are revealing a pattern of young
individuals who are suffering from some form of mental illness that
progressed from mild or moderate to more serious conditions when
those individuals' mental illness was not identified and treated at
an early age.
(d) Reducing mental illness, in conjunction with restricting
mentally disordered persons from owning guns, has been seen as a
productive approach for reducing the risk of mentally disordered
individuals to commit acts of violence with a deadly weapon.
(e)
(c) Research has found that there is a clear
relationship between early adjustment problems and later adolescent
problems, and many of these adjustment problems are due to mild to
moderate mental disorders among school age children. In many cases,
signs of these problems can be detected in early school grades.
(d) Treating mental illness in a timely manner before conditions
become more severe, in conjunction with restricting gun ownership
from individuals adjudicated as being a danger to themselves or
others, may be a productive approach for reducing the extent to which
some people suffering from mental illness commit a violent act with
the use of a deadly weapon.
(f)
(e) In 1991 California enacted the School-Based Early
Mental Health Intervention and Prevention Services Matching Grant
program (EMHI). This program is intended to ensure that pupils will
receive the benefits of school-based early mental health intervention
and prevention services that will enhance the mental health and
social development of children.
(g)
(f) Scientific evaluation of EMHI has shown dramatic
improvements in adjustment behavior among children in grades 1 to 3,
inclusive, and success in reducing the incidence of early mild to
moderate mental illness. Further, the improvement in children's
behavior has been shown to continue through their later school years.
(h)
(g) Due to state budget constraints EMHI was defunded
in the 2012-13 Budget Act. The Legislature, therefore, finds and
declares that providing a source of stable revenue to continue the
EMHI matching grants is in California's best interest, both in
economic and human terms, to identify and treat the minor and
moderate mental difficulties that children experience before they
become serious mental disorders. The Legislature further finds and
declares that a reduction in the incidence of mental illness is
likely to reduce acts of violence committed with a deadly weapon in
our state, and therefore a tax on the sale of ammunition is a means
of refunding the EMHI program.
SEC. 2. Section 1656.1 of the Civil Code is amended to read:
1656.1. (a) Whether a retailer may add sales tax reimbursement to
the sales price of the tangible personal property sold at retail to
a purchaser depends solely upon the terms of the agreement of sale.
It shall be presumed that the parties agreed to the addition of sales
tax reimbursement to the sales price of tangible personal property
sold at retail to a purchaser if:
(1) The agreement of sale expressly provides for such addition of
sales tax reimbursement;
(2) Sales tax reimbursement is shown on the sales check or other
proof of sale; or
(3) The retailer posts in his or her premises in a location
visible to purchasers, or includes on a price tag or in an
advertisement or other printed material directed to purchasers, a
notice to the effect that reimbursement for sales tax will be added
to the sales price of all items or certain items, whichever is
applicable.
(b) It shall be presumed that the property, the gross receipts
from the sale of which is subject to the sales tax, is sold at a
price which includes tax reimbursement if the retailer posts in his
or her premises, or includes on a price tag or in an advertisement
(whichever is applicable) one of the following notices:
(1) "All prices of taxable items include sales tax reimbursement
computed to the nearest mill."
(2) "The price of this item includes sales tax reimbursement
computed to the nearest mill."
(c) (1) The State Board of Equalization shall prepare and make
available for inspection and duplication or reproduction a sales tax
reimbursement schedule which shall be set fourth
the various rates of tax then in effect as applied to price ranges
from $.01 to at least $1.00.
(2) Reimbursement on sales prices in excess of those shown in the
schedules prepared pursuant to paragraph (1) may be computed by
applying the applicable tax rate to the sales price, rounded off to
the nearest cent by eliminating any fraction less than one-half cent
and increasing any fraction of one-half cent or over to the next
higher cent.
(3) If sales tax reimbursement is added to the sales price of
tangible personal property sold at retail, the retailer shall use a
schedule provided by the board, or a schedule approved by the board.
(d) The presumptions created by this section are rebuttable
presumptions.
(e) For purposes of this section, as applied to Part 14.5
(commencing with Section 33001) of Division 2 of the Revenue
and Taxation Code, sales tax reimbursement shall refer to
reimbursement for the tax imposed by that part, and tangible personal
property shall include ammunition as defined under that part.
SEC. 3. Part 14.5 (commencing with Section 33001) is added to
Division 2 of the Revenue and Taxation Code, to read:
PART 14.5. Ammunition Tax Law
CHAPTER 1. GENERAL PROVISIONS AND DEFINITIONS
33001. This part is known and may be cited as the "Ammunition Tax
Law."
33011. For purposes of this part:
(a) "Ammunition" means projectiles with their fuse, propelling
charges, or primers fired from a weapon, or any of the individual
components thereof, including without limitation shot, sharpel
bullets, or shells. "Ammunition" shall not include a BB or a pellet
commonly used in an air rifle or air pistol.
(b) "Retailer engaged in business in this state" has the same
meaning as defined in Section 6203.
33012. Unless the context otherwise requires the definition
provided in Chapter 1 (commencing with Section 6001) of Part 1
of Division 2 govern the construction of this
part.
CHAPTER 2. IMPOSITION OF TAX AND EXCISE TAX
33021. For the privilege of selling ammunition at retail there is
hereby imposed a tax upon all retailers at the rate of five cents
($0.05) per item of ammunition sold at retail in this state on or
after January 1, 2014.
33022. (a) An excise tax is hereby imposed on the storage, use,
or other consumption in this state of an item of ammunition purchased
from any retailer on or after January 1, 2014, for storage, use, or
other consumption in this state at the rate of five cents ($0.05) per
item of ammunition.
(b) Every person storing, using, or otherwise consuming in this
state munitions ammunition purchased
from a retailer is liable for the tax. His or her liability is not
extinguished until the tax has been paid to this state except that a
receipt from a retailer engaged in business in this state or from a
retailer who is authorized by the board, under the rules and
regulations as it may prescribe, to collect the tax and who is, for
the purposes of this part relating to the use tax, regarded as a
retailer engaged in business in this state, given to the purchaser
pursuant to subdivision (c) is sufficient to relieve the purchaser
from further liability for the tax to which the receipt refers.
(c) Every retailer engaged in business in this state and making
sales of tangible personal property
ammunition for storage, use, or other consumption in this
state, not exempted under Chapter 3 (commencing with Section 33031),
shall, at the time of making the sales or, if the storage, use, or
other consumption of the munitions ammunition
is not then taxable hereunder, at the time the storage, use,
or other consumption becomes taxable, collect the tax from the
purchaser and give to the purchaser a receipt therefor in the manner
and form prescribed by the board.
(d) The tax required to be collected by the retailer and any
amount unreturned to the customer which is not tax but was collected
from the customer under the representation by the retailer that it
was tax constitutes debts owed by the retailer to this state.
(e) It is unlawful for any retailer to advertise or hold out or
state to the public or to any customer, directly or indirectly, that
the tax or any part thereof will be assumed or absorbed by the
retailer or that it will not be added to the selling price of the
property ammunition sold or that if
added it or any part thereof will be refunded.
(f) The tax required to be collected by the retailer from the
purchaser shall be displayed separately from the list price, the
price advertised in the premises, the marked price, or other price on
the sales check or other proof of sales.
(g) Any person violating subdivision (c), (e), or (f) is guilty of
a misdemeanor.
CHAPTER 3. EXEMPTION
33031. There are exempted from the taxes imposed by this part,
the sale of, or the storage, use or other consumption of any item of
ammunition purchased by any peace officer required to carry a weapon
requiring ammunition while on duty, or by any governmental law
enforcement agency employing that peace officer, for use in the
normal course of employment.
CHAPTER 4. COLLECTION AND ADMINISTRATION
33041. The board shall administer and collect the tax imposed by
this part pursuant to the Fee Collection Procedures Law (Part 30
(commencing with Section 55001) of Division 2).
55001)). For purposes of this part, the references in the
Fee Collection Procedures Law to "fee" shall include the tax imposed
by this part, and to "feepayer" shall mean any person liable for the
payment of the taxes collected pursuant to that part.
33042. The taxes imposed by this part are due and payable to the
board quarterly on or before the last day of the month next
succeeding each quarterly period.
33043. On or before the last day of the month following each
quarterly period of three months, a return for the preceding
quarterly period shall be filed with the board.
CHAPTER 5. DISPOSITION OF PROCEEDS
33051. All taxes, interest, and penalties imposed and required to
be paid under this part shall be made in remittances to the board.
33052. All taxes, interest, and penalties, less refunds and costs
of collection, in this fund shall, upon appropriation by the
Legislature, only be allocated to the School-Based Early Mental
Health Intervention and Prevention Services Matching Grant Program
(Chapter 2 (commencing with Section 4380) of Part 4 of Division 4 of
the Welfare and Institutions Code).
SEC. 4. No reimbursement is required by this act pursuant to
Section 6 of Article XIII B of the California Constitution because
the only costs that may be incurred by a local agency or school
district will be incurred because this act creates a new crime or
infraction, eliminates a crime or infraction, or changes the penalty
for a crime or infraction, within the meaning of Section 17556 of the
Government Code, or changes the definition of a crime within the
meaning of Section 6 of Article XIII B of the California
Constitution.
SEC. 5. This act provides for a tax levy within the meaning of
Article IV of the Constitution and shall go into immediate effect.