Senate Bill No. 452
(By Senator Dittmar)
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[Introduced February 10, 1998; referred to the
Committee on Transportation; and then to the Committee on
Finance.]
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A BILL to amend and reenact sections five and seventeen, article
fourteen, chapter eleven of the code of West Virginia, one
thousand nine hundred thirty-one, as amended, all relating
to the gasoline and special fuel excise tax; exempting
special dyed gasoline for off road use from tax; prohibiting
uses of special dyed gasoline on public highways except in
certain circumstances; making prohibited uses of special
dyed gasoline a misdemeanor offense; and making changes
effective on the first day of July, one thousand nine
hundred ninety-eight.
Be it enacted by the Legislature of West Virginia:
That sections five and seventeen, article fourteen, chapter
eleven of the code of West Virginia, one thousand nine hundred
thirty-one, as amended, be amended and reenacted, all to read as follows:
ARTICLE 14. GASOLINE AND SPECIAL FUEL EXCISE TAX.
§11-14-5. Exemptions from tax.
There shall be exempted from the excise tax on gasoline or
special fuel imposed by this article the following:
(1) All gallons of gasoline or special fuel exported from
this state to any other state or nation;
(2) All gallons of gasoline or special fuel sold to and
purchased by the United States or any agency of the United States
when delivered in bulk quantities of five hundred gallons or
more;
(3) All gallons of gasoline or special fuel sold to and
purchased by a county board of education when delivered in bulk
quantities of five hundred gallons or more;
(4) All gallons of gasoline or special fuel sold pursuant to
a government contract, in bulk quantities of five hundred gallons
or more, for use in conjunction with any municipal, county, state
or federal civil defense or emergency service program, or to any person on whom is imposed a requirement to maintain an inventory
of gasoline or special fuel for the purpose of the program:
Provided, That fueling facilities used for these purposes are not
capable of fueling motor vehicles and the person in charge of the
program has in his or her possession a letter of authority from
the tax commissioner certifying his or her right to the
exemption;
(5) All gallons of gasoline or special fuel imported into
this state in the fuel supply tank or tanks of a motor vehicle,
other than in the fuel supply tank of a vehicle being hauled.
This exemption does not relieve a person owning or operating as
a motor carrier of any taxes imposed by article fourteen-a of
this chapter;
(6) All gallons of gasoline and special fuel used and
consumed in stationary off-highway turbine engines;
(7) All gallons of special fuel for heating any public or
private dwelling, building or other premises;
(8) All gallons of special fuel for boilers;
(9) All gallons of gasoline or special fuel used as a dry
cleaning solvent or commercial or industrial solvent;
(10) All gallons of gasoline or special fuel used as lubricants, ingredients or components of any manufactured product
or compound;
(11) All gallons of gasoline or special fuel sold to any
municipality or agency of a municipality for use in vehicles or
equipment owned and operated by the municipality or agency of a
municipality and when purchased for delivery in bulk quantities
of five hundred gallons or more;
(12) All gallons of gasoline or special fuel sold to any
urban mass transportation authority, created pursuant to the
provisions of article twenty-seven, chapter eight of this code,
for use in an urban mass transportation system;
(13) All gallons of gasoline or special fuel sold for use as
aircraft fuel;
(14) All gallons of gasoline or special fuel sold for use or
used as a fuel for commercial watercraft;
(15) All gallons of special fuel sold for use or consumed in
railroad diesel locomotives;
(16) All gallons of gasoline or special fuel sold to and
purchased by a unit of county government when delivered in bulk
quantities of five hundred gallons or more; and
(17) All gallons of special dyed diesel fuel; and
(18) All gallons of special dyed gasoline for off road use,
on and after the first day of July, one thousand nine hundred
ninety-eight.
§11-14-17. No dyed fuel on highways.
No person may operate or maintain a motor vehicle on any
public highway in this state with special dyed diesel fuel or
special dyed gasoline as the motor fuel contained in the fuel
supply tank. This provision does not apply to: (a) Persons
operating motor vehicles that have received fuel into their fuel
tanks outside of this state in a jurisdiction that permits
introduction of dyed taxable motor fuel of that color and type
into the motor fuel tank of highway vehicles, and can show proof
of such; or (b) uses of dyed fuel on the highway which are lawful
under the Internal Revenue Code and regulations under that code,
including state and local government vehicles and buses unless
otherwise prohibited by this chapter.
Any person who violates this section is guilty of a
misdemeanor and, upon conviction thereof, shall be fined ten
dollars per gallon of fuel capacity of the fuel tanks or one
thousand dollars, whichever is greater, for the first two
violations of this section in a calendar year, and a fine of fifteen dollars per gallon of fuel capacity of the fuel tanks or
two thousand dollars, whichever is greater, for each subsequent
offense in the same calendar year.
NOTE: The purpose of this bill is to exempt special dyed
gasoline for off road use from the Gasoline and Special Fuel
Excise Tax.
Strike-throughs indicate language that would be stricken
from the present law, and underscoring indicates new language
that would be added.