1.1 	A bill for an act
1.2 	relating to taxation; wheelage tax; authorizing a county wheelage tax; requiring 
1.3 	referendum;proposing coding for new law in Minnesota Statutes, chapter 163.
1.4 	BE IT ENACTED BY THE LEGISLATURE OF THE STATE OF MINNESOTA:

1.5 	Section 1. [163.052] COUNTY WHEELAGE TAX.
1.6 		Subdivision 1.Tax authorized. If approved by the voters of the county in a 
1.7 	referendum, the board of commissioners of each county may levy a wheelage tax of up 
1.8 	to $40 on each motor vehicle registered in the county with a registered gross weight of 
1.9 	26,000 pounds or less. For purposes of this subdivision, a motor vehicle is considered 
1.10 	registered in the county if the address of the registered owner lies within the county, 
1.11 	regardless of whether or not the registered owner is a natural person. The county board 
1.12 	shall provide for the collection of the wheelage tax by the Department of Public Safety at 
1.13 	the same time and in the same manner as motor vehicle registration taxes. This tax is in 
1.14 	addition to the metropolitan county wheelage tax authorized under section 163.051. 
1.15 		Subd. 2.Collection. If imposed, the wheelage tax authorized under subdivision 1 
1.16 	shall be certified by the county auditor to the Department of Public Safety not later than 
1.17 	August 1 in the year before the calendar year or years for which the tax is levied, and the 
1.18 	department shall collect the tax for that county with the motor vehicle taxes on each of the 
1.19 	affected vehicles for the year or years. Every owner and every operator of a motor vehicle 
1.20 	shall furnish to the department all information requested by the registrar. No state motor 
1.21 	vehicle tax for any year shall be received or deemed paid unless the applicable wheelage 
1.22 	tax is also paid. The department shall pay to the treasurer of each county imposing the 
1.23 	tax the proceeds of the tax, less any amount retained by the department to pay costs of 
2.1 	collection of the tax, for deposit in a wheelage tax proceeds account in the county road and 
2.2 	bridge fund. Money in the account may be spent by the county only for highway purposes. 
2.3 		Subd. 3.Offenses; application of other law. An owner or lessee of a motor vehicle 
2.4 	who willfully gives any false information relative to the tax authorized under this section 
2.5 	to the Department of Public Safety or who willfully fails or refuses to furnish any such 
2.6 	information is guilty of a misdemeanor. Except as otherwise provided, the collection and 
2.7 	payment of a wheelage tax and all matters relating to it are subject to all provisions of law 
2.8 	relating to collection and payment of motor vehicle taxes so far as applicable. 
2.9 		Subd. 4.Lead agency. In a highway project constructed jointly by the county and 
2.10 	the Department of Transportation, funded wholly or partly with funds from the wheelage 
2.11 	tax, the county shall act as the lead agency. 
2.12 		Subd. 5.Expiration of authority. The authority of a county to levy wheelage 
2.13 	tax under this section expires ten years after the effective date of the passage of a local 
2.14 	referendum under subdivision 1. 

2.15 	EFFECTIVE DATE. This section is effective July 1, 2006.