CHAPTER 94
AN ACT CONFERRING UPON THE MAYOR AND COUNCIL OF WILMINGTON CERTAIN POWERS RELATING TO THE TAXATION OF REAL ESTATE TRANSFERS WITHIN THE CITY OF WILMINGTON.
Be it enacted by the House of Representatives and the Senate of the State of Delaware in General Assembly met (two-thirds of all the Members elected to each House thereof concurring therein):
Section 1. That in order to provide for the payment of its debts and expenses The Mayor and Council of Wilmington, in addition to the powers now conferred upon it, shall have the power and authority by ordinance or ordinances to levy, assess and collect or provide for the levying, assessment and collection of such taxes as it shall determine to be paid by the transferor or transferee as determined by it upon the transfer of real property or of any interest in real property, situate within the corporate limits of the City of Wilmington regardless of where the instruments making the transfers are made, executed or delivered or where the actual settlements on such transfers occur; provided, however, no tax levied under this Act shall exceed two per cent (2%) of the sales price (including the value of assumed mortgages) or fair market value of the real property and providing further that no tax shall be levied on an organization exempted from ad valorem real estate taxes.
Section 2. No ordinance or ordinances providing for a tax on the transfer of real property under. Section 1 of this Act shall become operative unless it shall receive an affirmative vote of two-thirds of all of the members elected to The Council.
Section 3. If the taxing power and authority granted under subsection 1 herein shall be exercised by way of a stamp affixed to a document, the Recorder of Deeds in and for New Castle County shall not receive for record documents subject to said tax unless stamps are affixed thereto.
Section 4. The Mayor and Council of Wilmington may adopt an ordinance or ordinances to provide for the effective administration and regulation of any tax adopted pursuant to this Act.
Section 5. The Mayor and Council of Wilmington in addition to enforcing this Act through civil remedies may adopt an ordinance or ordinances providing that violation of the provision of ordinances adopted pursuant to this Act shall be a misdemeanor punishable by a fine not to exceed Five Hundred Dollars ($500.00) and/or imprisonment not to exceed six (6) months or both.
Section 6. The power and authority granted hereunder shall apply The Mayor and Council of Wilmington under the present or future charter of The City of Wilmington.
Section 7. No tax levied under this Act shall exceed the difference between any tax levied by the State of Delaware on the transfer of the same property and two per cent (2%).
Approved May 27, 1965.