Illinois § 5

§ 5.

Legislative intent. (a) The General Assembly imposed a tax on invested capital of utilities to partially replace the personal property tax that was abolished by the Illinois Constitution of 1970. Since that tax was imposed, telecommunications retailers have evolved from utility status into an increasingly competitive industry serving the public. (b) This Act is intended to abolish the invested capital tax on telecommunications retailers (that is, persons engaged in the business of transmitting messages and acting as a retailer of telecommunications as defined in Section 2 of the Telecommunications Excise Tax Act). Cellular telecommunications retailers have already been excluded from application of the invested capital tax by earlier legislative action. (c) For the period prior to the effective date of this amendatory Act of the 92nd General Assembly, this Act is also intended to abolish municipal franchise fees with respect to telecommunications retailers, create a uniform system for the collection and distribution of fees associated with the privilege of use of the public right of way for telecommunications activity, and provide municipalities with a comprehensive method of compensation for telecommunications activity including the recovery of reasonable costs of regulating the use of the public rights-of-way for telecommunications activity. (d) For the period from the effective date of this amendatory Act of the 92nd General Assembly through December 31, 2002, it is the intent of the General Assembly that the municipal infrastructure maintenance fee and its rate are subject only to the limits prescribed in Section 20, and that the fee and the rate of the fee do not relate to use of the public rights-of-way or the costs associated with maintaining and regulating the use of the public rights-of-way. It is also the intent of the General Assembly that proceeds of the municipal infrastructure maintenance fee may be used for any lawful corporate purpose. It is not the intent of the General Assembly that the municipal infrastructure maintenance fee is in any way compensation for use of the public rights-of-way. It is the intent of the General Assembly that the fee be paid by all telecommunications retailers, regardless of whether they have equipment in the public rights-of-way. (e) This amendatory Act of the 92nd General Assembly is intended to repeal the municipal infrastructure maintenance fee and the optional infrastructure maintenance fee effective January 1, 2003. (Source: P.A. 91-533, eff. 8-13-99; 92-526, eff. 2-8-02.)