ARTICLE VI. - WHOLESALE AND RETAIL INVENTORY

Sec. 74-146. - Wholesale and retail inventory tax phase out pursuant to G.L. § 44-3-29.1.#

(a)

Beginning July 1, 1999, over a ten-year period, the stock in trade or inventory tax of wholesalers and retailers conducting operations within the City of Warwick shall be phased out. The phase out rate schedule to be implemented is set forth in subsection (d) below.

(b)

The terms "inventory," as it refers to wholesalers, "stock in trade", as it refers to wholesalers, and "wholesaler" shall have the same meaning as defined in G.L. § 44-3-29.

(c)

The terms "inventory," as it refers to retailers, "stock in trade," as it refers to retailers, and "retailer" shall have the same meaning as defined in G.L. § 44-3-40.

(d)

The rate schedule for the ten-year phase out of the wholesale and retail inventory tax shall be as follows:

Year Maximum Tax Rate per

$1,000.00 of Inventory

FY 1999 $31.83

FY 2000 28.65

FY 2001 25.46

FY 2002 22.28

FY 2003 19.10

FY 2004 15.92

FY 2005 12.73

FY 2006 9.55

FY 2007 6.37

FY 2008 3.18

FY 2009 No tax authorized

(e)

In the event that a wholesaler sold inventory or stock in trade both at wholesale and at retail in the preceding calendar year, the tax assessor shall assess on the same basis as a retailer's inventory or stock in trade as of December 31 of that year, to the extent permitted by applicable law, notwithstanding any freeze of assessed valuation or exemption permitted pursuant to G.L. § 44-5-12(c), that proportion of inventory or stock in trade of the wholesaler which shall be equal to the percentage of the wholesaler's total sales during the preceding calendar year that were at retail. For the purposes of this paragraph, sales at retail shall not include sales to employees of the wholesaler or to employees of its affiliates. If retail sales are less than one percent of total sales during the year, it shall be deemed that no sales were made at retail during the year. All sales of a wholesaler to a customer which is an affiliated entity shall be deemed to be retail sales for the purposes of this subsection if more than half of the dollar volume of the sales of the affiliated entity is made within the municipality.

(f)

For purposes of this section, a wholesaler shall be considered affiliated with customers if it controls, or is under common control with the customers.

(g)

In the event that a wholesaler or retailer subject to the inventory tax commences operations in the City of Warwick after fiscal year 1999, the tax assessor shall determine what would have been the value of the inventory as of December 1998, adjusting the inventory value to fiscal year 1999 using the changes in the consumer price index all urban consumers (CPI-U) published by the bureau of labor statistics of the United States Department of Labor. The director of the department of administration shall publish annually an adjustment schedule.

(Ord. No. O-99-4, 3-8-99)