(A) For the purpose of providing revenue to administer the state‘s coal mining and reclamation regulatory program, to meet the environmental and resource management needs of this state, and to reclaim land affected by mining, an excise tax is hereby levied on the privilege of engaging in the severance of natural resources from the soil or water of this state. The tax shall be imposed upon the severer at the rates prescribed by this section:

Terms Used In Ohio Code 5749.02

  • Fiscal year: The fiscal year is the accounting period for the government. For the federal government, this begins on October 1 and ends on September 30. The fiscal year is designated by the calendar year in which it ends; for example, fiscal year 2006 begins on October 1, 2005 and ends on September 30, 2006.
  • Remainder: An interest in property that takes effect in the future at a specified time or after the occurrence of some event, such as the death of a life tenant.
  • Severance: means the extraction or other removal of a natural resource from the soil or water of this state. See Ohio Code 5749.01
  • Severer: means any person who actually removes the natural resources from the soil or water in this state. See Ohio Code 5749.01
  • state: means the state of Ohio. See Ohio Code 1.59
  • Ton: shall mean two thousand pounds as measured at the point and time of severance, after the removal of any impurities, under such rules and regulations as the tax commissioner may prescribe. See Ohio Code 5749.01

(1) Ten cents per ton of coal;

(2) Four cents per ton of salt;

(3) Two cents per ton of limestone or dolomite;

(4) Two cents per ton of sand and gravel;

(5) Ten cents per barrel of oil;

(6) Two and one-half cents per thousand cubic feet of natural gas;

(7) One cent per ton of clay, sandstone or conglomerate, shale, gypsum, or quartzite;

(8) Except as otherwise provided in this division or in rules adopted by the reclamation forfeiture fund advisory board under section 1513.182 of the Revised Code, an additional fourteen cents per ton of coal produced from an area under a coal mining and reclamation permit issued under Chapter 1513 of the Revised Code for which the performance security is provided under division (C)(2) of section 1513.08 of the Revised Code. Beginning July 1, 2007, if at the end of a fiscal biennium the balance of the reclamation forfeiture fund created in section 1513.18 of the Revised Code is equal to or greater than ten million dollars, the rate levied shall be twelve cents per ton. Beginning July 1, 2007, if at the end of a fiscal biennium the balance of the fund is at least five million dollars, but less than ten million dollars, the rate levied shall be fourteen cents per ton. Beginning July 1, 2007, if at the end of a fiscal biennium the balance of the fund is less than five million dollars, the rate levied shall be sixteen cents per ton. Beginning July 1, 2009, not later than thirty days after the close of a fiscal biennium, the chief of the division of mineral resources management shall certify to the tax commissioner the amount of the balance of the reclamation forfeiture fund as of the close of the fiscal biennium. Any necessary adjustment of the rate levied shall take effect on the first day of the following January and shall remain in effect during the calendar biennium that begins on that date.

(9) An additional one and two-tenths cents per ton of coal mined by surface mining methods.

(B) After the director of budget and management transfers money from the severance tax receipts fund as required in division (H) of section 5749.06 of the Revised Code, money remaining in the severance tax receipts fund, except for money in the fund from the amounts due under section 1509.50 of the Revised Code, shall be credited as follows:

(1) All of the moneys in the fund from the tax levied in division (A)(1) of this section shall be credited to the mining regulation and safety fund created in section 1513.30 of the Revised Code.

(2) The money in the fund from the tax levied in division (A)(2) of this section shall be credited to the mining regulation and safety fund.

(3) Of the moneys in the fund from the tax levied in divisions (A)(3) and (4) of this section, seven and five-tenths per cent shall be credited to the geological mapping fund and the remainder shall be credited to the mining regulation and safety fund created in section 1513.30 of the Revised Code.

(4) Of the moneys in the fund from the tax levied in divisions (A)(5) and (6) of this section, ninety per cent shall be credited to the oil and gas well fund and ten per cent shall be credited to the geological mapping fund.

(5) All of the moneys in the fund from the tax levied in division (A)(7) of this section shall be credited to the mining regulation and safety fund.

(6) All of the moneys in the fund from the tax levied in division (A)(8) of this section shall be credited to the reclamation forfeiture fund.

(7) All of the moneys in the fund from the tax levied in division (A)(9) of this section shall be credited to the mining regulation and safety fund.

(C) When, at the close of any fiscal year, the chief finds that the balance of the reclamation forfeiture fund, plus the estimated revenues from the tax levied by division (A)(8) of this section for the remainder of the calendar year that includes the close of the fiscal year, are sufficient to complete the reclamation of all lands for which the performance security has been provided under division (C)(2) of section 1513.08 of the Revised Code, the purposes for which the tax under division (A)(8) of this section is levied shall be deemed accomplished at the end of that calendar year. The chief, within thirty days after the close of the fiscal year, shall certify those findings to the tax commissioner, and the tax levied under division (A)(8) of this section shall cease to be imposed for the subsequent calendar year after the last day of that calendar year on coal produced under a coal mining and reclamation permit issued under Chapter 1513 of the Revised Code if the permittee has made tax payments under division (A)(8) of this section during each of the preceding five full calendar years. Not later than thirty days after the close of a fiscal year, the chief shall certify to the tax commissioner the identity of any permittees who accordingly no longer are required to pay the tax levied under division (A)(8) of this section for the subsequent calendar year.