2006 Code of Virginia § 46.2-752 - Taxes and license fees imposed by counties, cities, and towns; limitations on amounts; disposition ...

46.2-752. Taxes and license fees imposed by counties, cities, and towns;limitations on amounts; disposition of revenues; requiring evidence ofpayment of personal property taxes and certain fines; prohibiting display oflicenses after expiration; failure to display valid local license required byother localities; penalty.

A. Except as provided in 46.2-755, counties, cities, and towns may levy andassess taxes and charge license fees on motor vehicles, trailers, andsemitrailers. However, none of these taxes and license fees shall be assessedor charged by any county on vehicles owned by residents of any town locatedin the county when such town constitutes a separate school district if thevehicles are already subject to town license fees and taxes, nor shall a towncharge a license fee to any new resident of the town, previously a residentof a county within which all or part of the town is situated, who haspreviously paid a license fee for the same tax year to such county. Theamount of the license fee or tax imposed by any county, city, or town on anymotor vehicle, trailer, or semitrailer shall not be greater than the amountof the license tax imposed by the Commonwealth on the motor vehicle, trailer,or semitrailer. The license fees and taxes shall be imposed in such manner,on such basis, for such periods, and subject to proration for fractionalperiods of years, as the proper local authorities may determine. Locallicenses may be issued free of charge for any or all of the following:

1. Vehicles powered by clean special fuels as defined in 46.2-749.3,including dual-fuel and bi-fuel vehicles,

2. Vehicles owned by volunteer rescue squads,

3. Vehicles owned by volunteer fire departments,

4. Vehicles owned or leased by active members or active auxiliary members ofvolunteer rescue squads,

5. Vehicles owned or leased by active members or active auxiliary members ofvolunteer fire departments,

6. Vehicles owned or leased by auxiliary police officers,

7. Vehicles owned or leased by volunteer police chaplains,

8. Vehicles owned by surviving spouses of persons qualified to receivespecial license plates under 46.2-739,

9. Vehicles owned or leased by auxiliary deputy sheriffs or volunteer deputysheriffs,

10. Vehicles owned by persons qualified to receive special license platesunder 46.2-739,

11. Vehicles owned by any of the following who served at least 10 years inthe locality: former members of volunteer rescue squads, former members ofvolunteer fire departments, former auxiliary police officers, formervolunteer police chaplains, and former volunteer special police officersappointed under 15.2-1737. In the case of active members of volunteerrescue squads and volunteer fire departments, applications for such licensesshall be accompanied by written evidence, in a form acceptable to thelocality, of their active membership, and no member shall be issued more thanone such license free of charge, or

12. All vehicles having a situs for the imposition of licensing fees underthis section in the locality.

The governing body of any county, city, or town issuing licenses under thissection may by ordinance provide for a 50 percent reduction in the feecharged for the issuance of any such license issued for any vehicle owned orleased by any person who is 65 years old or older. No such discount, however,shall be available for more than one vehicle owned or leased by the sameperson.

The governing body of any county, city, or town issuing licenses free ofcharge under this subsection may by ordinance provide for (i) the limitation,restriction, or denial of such free issuance to an otherwise qualifiedapplicant, including without limitation the denial of free issuance to ataxpayer who has failed to timely pay personal property taxes due withrespect to the vehicle and (ii) the grounds for such limitation, restriction,or denial.

The situs for the imposition of licensing fees under this section shall inall cases, except as hereinafter provided, be the county, city, or town inwhich the motor vehicle, trailer, or semitrailer is normally garaged, stored,or parked. If it cannot be determined where the personal property is normallygaraged, stored, or parked, the situs shall be the domicile of its owner. Inthe event the owner of the motor vehicle is a full-time student attending aninstitution of higher education, the situs shall be the domicile of suchstudent, provided the student has presented sufficient evidence that he haspaid a personal property tax on the motor vehicle in his domicile.

B. The revenue derived from all county, city, or town taxes and license feesimposed on motor vehicles, trailers, or semitrailers shall be applied togeneral county, city, or town purposes.

C. A county, city, or town may require that no motor vehicle, trailer, orsemitrailer shall be locally licensed until the applicant has producedsatisfactory evidence that all personal property taxes on the motor vehicle,trailer, or semitrailer to be licensed have been paid and satisfactoryevidence that any delinquent motor vehicle, trailer, or semitrailer personalproperty taxes owing have been paid which have been properly assessed or areassessable against the applicant by the county, city, or town. A county,city, or town may also provide that no motor vehicle license shall be issuedunless the tangible personal property taxes properly assessed or assessableby that locality on any tangible personal property used or usable as adwelling titled by the Department of Motor Vehicles and owned by the taxpayerhave been paid. Any county and any town within any such county may byagreement require that all personal property taxes assessed by either thecounty or the town on any vehicle be paid before licensure of such vehicle byeither the county or the town.

C1. Any county having a population of at least 24,000, but no more than24,600, or having a population of at least 39,550, but no more than 41,550,may, by ordinance or resolution adopted after public notice and hearing and,with the consent of the treasurer, require that no license may be issuedunder this section unless the applicant has produced satisfactory evidencethat all fees, including delinquent fees, payable to such county or localsolid waste authority, for the disposal of solid waste pursuant to theVirginia Water and Waste Authorities Act ( 15.2-5100 et seq.), or pursuantto 15.2-2159, have been paid in full. For purposes of this subsection, allfees, including delinquent fees, payable to a county for waste disposalservices described herein, shall be paid to the treasurer of such county;however, in any county with a population between 39,550 and 41,550, the feeshall be paid to the county or its agent.

D. The Counties of Arlington, Fairfax, Loudoun, and Prince William and townswithin them and any city may require that no motor vehicle, trailer, orsemitrailer shall be licensed by that jurisdiction unless all fines owed tothe jurisdiction by the owner of the vehicle, trailer, or semitrailer forviolation of the jurisdiction's ordinances governing parking of vehicles havebeen paid. The provisions of this subsection shall not apply to vehiclesowned by firms or companies in the business of renting motor vehicles.

E. If in any county imposing license fees and taxes under this section, atown therein imposes like fees and taxes on vehicles of owners resident inthe town, the owner of any vehicle subject to the fees or taxes shall beentitled, on the owner's displaying evidence that he has paid the fees ortaxes, to receive a credit on the fees or taxes imposed by the county to theextent of the fees or taxes he has paid to the town. Nothing in this sectionshall deprive any town now imposing these licenses and taxes from increasingthem or deprive any town not now imposing them from hereafter doing so, butsubject to the limitations provided in subsection D of this section. Thegoverning body of any county and the governing body of any town in thatcounty wherein each imposes the license tax herein provided may providemutual agreements so that not more than one license plate or decal inaddition to the state plate shall be required.

F. Notwithstanding the provisions of subsection E of this section, in aconsolidated county wherein a tier-city exists, the tier-city may, inaccordance with the provisions of the agreement or plan of consolidation,impose license fees and taxes under this section in addition to those feesand taxes imposed by the county, provided that the combined county andtier-city rates do not exceed the maximum provided in subsection A of thissection. No credit shall be allowed on the fees or taxes imposed by thecounty for fees or taxes paid to the tier-city, except as may be provided bythe consolidation agreement or plan. The governing body of any county and thegoverning body of any tier-city in such county wherein each imposes thelicense tax herein may provide by mutual agreement that no more than onelicense plate or decal in addition to the state license plate shall berequired.

G. Any county, city, or town may by ordinance provide that it shall beunlawful for any owner or operator of a motor vehicle, trailer, orsemitrailer (i) to fail to obtain and, if any required by such ordinance, todisplay the local license required by any ordinance of the county, city ortown in which the vehicle is registered, or (ii) to display upon a motorvehicle, trailer, or semitrailer any such local license, required byordinance to be displayed, after its expiration date. The ordinance mayprovide that a violation shall constitute a misdemeanor the penalty for whichshall not exceed that of a Class 4 misdemeanor and may, in the case of amotor vehicle registered to a resident of the locality where such vehicle isregistered, authorize the issuance by local law-enforcement officers ofcitations, summonses, parking tickets, or uniform traffic summonses forviolations. Any such ordinance may also provide that a violation of theordinance by the registered owner of the vehicle may not be discharged bypayment of a fine except upon presentation of satisfactory evidence that therequired license has been obtained. Nothing in this section shall beconstrued to require a county, city, or town to issue a decal or any othertangible evidence of a local license to be displayed on the licensed vehicleif the county's, city's, or town's ordinance does not require display of adecal or other evidence of payment.

H. Except as provided by subsections E and F, no vehicle shall be subject totaxation under the provisions of this section in more than one jurisdiction.

I. Purchasers of new or used motor vehicles shall be allowed at least a10-day grace period, beginning with the date of purchase, during which to paylicense fees charged by local governments under authority of this section.

J. Beginning October 1, 1992, the treasurer or director of finance of anycounty, city, or town may enter into an agreement with the Commissionerwhereby the Commissioner will refuse to issue or renew any vehicleregistration of any applicant therefor who owes to such county, city or townany local vehicle license fees or delinquent tangible personal property taxor parking citations issued only to residents of such county, city, or town.Before being issued any vehicle registration or renewal of such license orregistration by the Commissioner, the applicant shall first satisfy all suchlocal vehicle license fees and delinquent taxes or parking citations andpresent evidence satisfactory to the Commissioner that all such local vehiclelicense fees and delinquent taxes or parking citations have been paid infull. The Commissioner shall charge a reasonable fee to cover the costs ofsuch enforcement action, and the treasurer or director of finance may add thecost of this fee to the delinquent tax bill or the amount of the parkingcitation. The treasurer or director of finance of any county, city, or townseeking to collect delinquent taxes or parking citations through thewithholding of registration or renewal thereof by the Commissioner asprovided for in this subsection shall notify the Commissioner in the mannerprovided for in his agreement with the Commissioner and supply to theCommissioner information necessary to identify the debtor whose registrationor renewal is to be denied. Any agreement entered into pursuant to theprovisions of this subsection shall provide the debtor notice of the intentto deny renewal of registration at least 30 days prior to the expiration dateof a current vehicle registration. For the purposes of this subsection,notice by first-class mail to the registrant's address as maintained in therecords of the Department of Motor Vehicles shall be deemed sufficient. Inthe case of parking violations, the Commissioner shall only refuse to issueor renew the vehicle registration of any applicant therefor pursuant to thissubsection for the vehicle that incurred the parking violations. Theprovisions of this subsection shall not apply to vehicles owned by firms orcompanies in the business of renting motor vehicles.

K. The governing bodies of any two or more counties, cities, or towns mayenter into compacts for the regional enforcement of local motor vehiclelicense requirements. The governing body of each participating jurisdictionmay by ordinance require the owner or operator of any motor vehicle, trailer,or semitrailer to display on his vehicle a valid local license issued byanother county, city, or town that is a party to the regional compact,provided that the owner or operator is required by the jurisdiction of situs,as provided in 58.1-3511, to obtain and display such license. The ordinancemay also provide that no motor vehicle, trailer, or semitrailer shall belocally licensed until the applicant has produced satisfactory evidence that(i) all personal property taxes on the motor vehicle, trailer, or semitrailerto be licensed have been paid to all participating jurisdictions and (ii) anydelinquent motor vehicle, trailer, or semitrailer personal property taxesthat have been properly assessed or are assessable by any participatingjurisdiction against the applicant have been paid. Any city and any countyhaving the urban county executive form of government, the counties adjacentto such county and towns within them may require that no motor vehicle,trailer, or semitrailer shall be licensed by that jurisdiction or any otherjurisdiction in the compact unless all fines owed to any participatingjurisdiction by the owner of the vehicle for violation of any participatingjurisdiction's ordinances governing parking of vehicles have been paid. Theordinance may further provide that a violation shall constitute a misdemeanorthe penalty for which shall not exceed that of a Class 4 misdemeanor. Anysuch ordinance may also provide that a violation of the ordinance by theowner of the vehicle may not be discharged by payment of a fine except uponpresentation of satisfactory evidence that the required license has beenobtained. The provisions of this subsection shall not apply to vehicles ownedby firms or companies in the business of renting motor vehicles.

L. In addition to the taxes and license fees permitted in subsection A,counties, cities, and towns may charge a license fee of no more than $1 permotor vehicle, trailer, and semitrailer. Except for the provisions ofsubsection B, such fee shall be subject to all other provisions of thissection. All funds collected pursuant to this subsection shall be paidpursuant to 51.1-1204 to the Volunteer Firefighters' and Rescue SquadWorkers' Service Award Fund to the accounts of all members of the Fund whoare volunteers for fire departments or rescue squads within the jurisdictionof the particular county, city, or town.

(Code 1950, 46-64; 1950, p. 240; 1952, c. 169; 1954, cc. 491, 594; 1956,cc. 66, 549, 570; 1958, c. 541, 46.1-65; 1959, Ex. Sess., cc. 22, 55; 1962,c. 574; 1964, c. 218; 1972, c. 200; 1974, c. 621; 1975, c. 105; 1977, c. 166;1979, c. 185; 1980, c. 105; 1982, c. 85; 1984, cc. 308, 630, 695; 1986, c.123; 1987, cc. 208, 243; 1989, cc. 321, 706, 727; 1990, cc. 181, 187, 188,455; 1991, c. 622; 1992, cc. 226, 355, 794, 806; 1993, cc. 50, 63, 175, 565;1994, cc. 528, 962; 1995, cc. 91, 412, 449, 460, 479, 659; 1996, cc. 89, 562;1997, cc. 246, 499, 905, 911; 1998, c. 649; 1999, c. 236; 2000, c. 303; 2001,cc. 338, 471, 605, 606; 2002, cc. 206, 553; 2003, c. 326; 2004, cc. 689, 723;2005, c. 317; 2006, c. 148.)