H-3276.1  _______________________________________________

                          HOUSE BILL 2559

          _______________________________________________

State of Washington      57th Legislature     2002 Regular Session

By Representatives Ogden, O'Brien, McDermott, Morell, Conway and Wood

Read first time 01/21/2002.  Referred to Committee on Finance.

Authorizing a local option sales tax to fund parks and recreational facilities.

    AN ACT Relating to authorizing a local option sales tax to fund parks and recreational facilities; and adding a new section to chapter 82.14 RCW.

BE IT ENACTED BY THE LEGISLATURE OF THE STATE OF WASHINGTON:

NEW SECTION. Sec. 1.  A new section is added to chapter 82.14 RCW to read as follows:

    (1) The legislative authority of a county may submit an authorizing proposition to the voters, and if the proposition is approved by a majority of those voting on the proposition, fix and impose a sales and use tax in accordance with this chapter for the purposes designated in subsection (4) of this section.

    (2) The tax authorized in this section is in addition to any other taxes authorized by law and shall be collected from those persons who are taxable by the state under chapters 82.08 and 82.12 RCW upon the occurrence of any taxable event within the county.  The rate of tax shall equal no more than one-tenth of one percent of the selling price in the case of a sales tax, or value of the article used in the case of a use tax.

    (3) The department of revenue shall perform the collection of this tax on behalf of the county at no cost to the county.

    (4) Money received from tax imposed under this section shall be used solely for the purpose of providing funds for operating and maintaining parks and recreational facilities owned by the county and the cities located within the county in which the tax is imposed.  If a city or county receiving revenues owns no park or recreational facilities, the revenues may additionally be used for the acquisition and development of these facilities.

    (5) The tax authorized by this section shall be allocated to the county based on the population the unincorporated area of the county bears to the total population of the county and to each city within the county based on the proportion each city's population bears to the total population of the county, as determined by the most recent population estimates of the office of financial management.  Where a city lies in more than one county, only the city's population within the county in which the tax is imposed may be the basis for an allocation under this subsection.

    (6) Money received from any tax imposed under this section shall not be used to supplant existing funding of the operation and maintenance of parks and recreational facilities.

    (7) The tax authorized pursuant to this section may not be imposed if the tax authorized by RCW 82.14.400 is being imposed.

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