The Authority may impose an occupation tax upon all persons engaged in the business of renting, leasing, or letting rooms in a hotel, as defined in the Hotel Operators' Occupation Tax Act, at a rate not to exceed 2% of the gross rental receipts from the renting, leasing or letting of hotel rooms. The taxing may be imposed, however, only if approved by ordinance of the municipality within which the tax is to be imposed.
The tax imposed by the Authority pursuant to this Section and all civil penalties that may be assessed as an incident thereof shall be collected and enforced by the State Department of Revenue. The certificate of registration which is issued by the Department to a lessor under the Hotel Operators' Occupation Tax Act shall permit such registrant to engage in a business which is taxable under any ordinance or resolution enacted pursuant to this Section without registering separately with the Department under such ordinance or resolution or under this Section. The Department shall have full power to administer and enforce this Section; to collect all taxes and penalties due hereunder; to dispose of taxes and penalties so collected in the manner provided in this Section, and to determine all rights to credit memoranda, arising on account of the erroneous payment of tax or penalty hereunder. In the administration of, and compliance with, this Section, the Department and persons who are subject to this Section shall have the same rights, remedies, privileges, immunities, powers and duties, and be subject to the same conditions, restrictions, limitations, penalties and definitions of terms, and employ the same modes of procedure, as are prescribed in the Hotel Operators' Occupation Tax Act (except where that Act is inconsistent herewith), as the same is now or may hereafter be amended, as fully as if the provisions contained in the Hotel Operators' Occupation Tax Act were set forth herein.
Whenever the Department determines that a refund should be made under this Section to a claimant instead of issuing a credit memorandum, the Department shall notify the State Comptroller, who shall cause the warrant to be drawn for the amount specified, and to the person named, in such notification from the Department. Such refund shall be paid by the State Treasurer out of the amounts held by the State Treasurer as trustee for the Authority.
Persons subject to any tax imposed pursuant to authority granted by this Section may reimburse themselves for their tax liability for such tax by separately stating such tax as an additional charge, which charge may be stated in combination, in a single amount, with State tax imposed under the Hotel Operators' Occupation Tax Act.
The Department shall forthwith pay over to the State Treasurer, ex-officio, as trustee for the Authority, all taxes and penalties collected hereunder for deposit in a trust fund outside the State Treasury. On or before the 25th day of each calendar month, the Department shall certify to the Comptroller the amount to be paid to or on behalf of the Authority from amounts collected hereunder by the Department, and deposited into such trust fund during the second preceding calendar month. The amount to be paid to or on behalf of the Authority shall be the amount (not including credit memoranda) collected hereunder during such second preceding calendar month by the Department, less an amount equal to the amount of refunds authorized during such second preceding calendar month by the Department on behalf of the Authority, and less 4% of such balance, which sum shall be retained by the State Treasurer to cover the costs incurred by the Department in administering and enforcing the provisions of this Section, as provided herein. Each such monthly certification by the Department shall also certify to the Comptroller the amount to be so retained by the State Treasurer for payment into the General Revenue Fund of the State Treasury.
Amounts collected by the Department and paid to the Authority pursuant to this Section shall be used for the corporate purposes of the Authority.
Nothing in this Section shall be construed to authorize the Authority to impose a tax upon the privilege of engaging in any business which under the constitution of the United States may not be made the subject of taxation by this State.
An ordinance or resolution imposing or discontinuing a tax hereunder or effecting a change in the rate thereof shall be effective on the first day of the second calendar month next following the month in which the ordinance or resolution is passed.
If the Authority levies a tax authorized by this Section it shall transmit to the Department of Revenue not later than 5 days after the adoption of the ordinance or resolution a certified copy of the ordinance or resolution imposing such tax whereupon the Department of Revenue shall proceed to administer and enforce this Section on behalf of the Authority. Upon a change in rate of a tax levied hereunder, or upon the discontinuance of the tax, the Authority shall not later than 5 days after the effective date of the ordinance or resolution discontinuing the tax or effecting a change in rate transmit to the Department of Revenue a certified copy of the ordinance or resolution effecting such change or discontinuance.
70 ILCS 3210/105