Chap. 57.—An ACT to amend and re-enact sections 3 and 9 of an act entitled
“An act to provide for licensing dealers in motor fuel; to require certain
reports by such dealers and certain other persons; to levy a tax upon motor
fuel; to provide for its collection; to appropriate the revenue raised by the
same; to prescribe penalties for violations; and to repeal an act of the Gen-
eral Assembly entitled, an act to levy a tax upon motor vehicle fuel; to
provide for its collection; to appropriate revenue raised by the same, and to
prescribe penalties, approved March 26, 1923, and to repeal all acts amendatory
thereof, and all other acts and parts of acts in conflict with the provisions of
this act,’ approved March 23, 1932. [H. B. 55]

Approved September 13, 1933

1. Be it enacted by the General Assemblv of Virginia, That sections
three and nine of an act entitled “An act to provide for licensing dealers
in motor fuel; to require certain reports by such dealers and certain
other persons; to levy a tax upon motor fuel; to provide for its collec-
tion; to appropriate the revenue raised by the same; to prescribe penal-
ties for violations ; and to repeal an act of the General Assembly entitled,
an act to levy a tax upon motor vehicle fuel; to provide for its collec-
tion; to appropriate revenue raised by the same, and to prescribe penal-
ties, approved March twenty-sixth, nineteen hundred and twenty-three,
and to repeal all acts amendatory thereof, and all other acts and parts
of acts in conflict with the provisions of this act,’ approved March
twenty-third, nineteen hundred and thirty-two, be amended and re-
enacted so as to read as follows:

Section 3. Every dealer shall file with the director a bond in the
approximate sum of three times the average monthly motor fuel tax
due by such dealer during the next preceding twelve calendar months
under the existing law of this State. Such bond shall be in such form
as may be approved by the director, shall be executed by some surety
company duly licensed to do business under the laws of the State of
Virginia, shall be payable to the State of Virginia, and shall be con-
ditioned upon the prompt filing or true reports and the payment by such
dealer to the director of any and all motor fuel taxes which are now
or which may hereafter be levied or imposed by the State of Virginia,
together with any and all penalties and/or -interest thereon, and gen-
erally upon faithful compliance with the provisions of this act. Any
such dealer, however, may deposit with the director, in lieu of such
surety bond, bonds of the United States or of the State of Virginia, or
a certificate of deposit in some banking institution approved by the
director, in the approximate sum’ of three times the average monthly
motor fuel tax due by such dealer during the next preceding twelve
calendar months under the existing laws of this State, any such certifi-
cates of deposit to be payable to the Commonwealth of Virginia. Any
person becoming a dealer as heretofore defined, subsequent to the
effective date of this act, or any dealer who has not paid motor fuel
taxes now imposed by law, for the twelve months next preceding the
effective date of this act, shall file a surety bond, or deposit bonds or a
certificate of deposit, as hereinbefore set forth, in an amount to be
determined upon investigation by the director to be approximately
three times the anticipated average monthly fuel tax to become due by
such dealer during the next succeeding twelve calendar months under
the existing laws of this State. In no case shall the amount of any
surety bond required to be filed by any dealer under the provisions of
this section, or the amount of such bonds and/or certificates of deposits
as are permitted to be filed in lieu thereof, exceed the sum of twenty
thousand dollars.

Any dealer who shall so deposit with the director bonds of the
United States or of the State of Virginia, or a certificate of deposit,
in lieu of filing a surety bond, shall at the same time deliver to the
director a power of attorney authorizing him to transfer said bonds
or any part thereof, or to receive payment of said certificate of deposit,
as the case may be, for the purpose of paying any liability of said dealer
to the State of Virginia for motor fuel tax due and payable by him,
including any and all penalties and interest accrued thereon, and any
damages for which he may be liable by reason of his failure to comply
with any of.the other provisions of this act.

In the event that liability upon the bonds, certificates of deposit or
surety bond thus filed by the dealer with the director shall be discharged
or reduced, whether by judgment rendered, payment made or other-
wise, or if in the opinion of the director any surety on the surety bond
theretofore given shall have become unsatisfactory or unacceptable,
then the director may require the filing of a new bond with like surety
as hereinbefore provided and in the same amount, failing which, or in
lieu thereof, failing to deposit with the director bonds of the United
States or of the State of Virginia, or a certificate of deposit in some
bank to be approved by the director, in an equivalent amount, the direc-
tor shall forthwith cancel the license certificate of said dealer.

If such new bond shall be furnished by such dealer, or in lieu
thereof, if bonds of the United States or the State of Virginia, or a
certificate of deposit in some bank which shall be approved by the direc-
tor, shall be filed with the director, as above provided, the director shall
cancel and surrender the bond of said dealer for which such new bond
or other securities shall be substituted.

In the event that upon hearing, of which the dealer shall be given
five (5) days’ notice in writing, the director shall decide that the amount
of the bonds or certificate of deposit, deposited with him or of the
surety bond filed with him, is insufficient to insure payment to the
Commonwealth of Virginia of the amount of the tax and any penalties
and interest for which said dealer is or may at any time become liable,
then the dealer shall forthwith, upon the written demand of the director,
file additional bonds of the United States or the State of Virginia, or a
certificate of deposit in some banking institution approved by the direc-
tor, or an additional surety bond in the same manner and form with
like surety thereon as hereinbefore provided; provided, however, that
the total amount of any such additional bonds, certificate of deposit or
surety bond, as well as the bond or other securities required under the
provisions of the first paragraph of this section shall not exceed the
maximum of twenty thousand ($20,000.00) dollars, and the director
shall forthwith cancel the license certificate of any dealer failing to file
such additional bond or other securities.

Any surety on any bond filed by any dealer as above provided shall
be released and discharged from any and all liability to the Common-
wealth of Virginia accruing on such bond, after the expiration of
sixty (60) days from the date upon which such surety shall have lodged
with the director, written request to be released and discharged. Pro-
vided, however, that such request shall not operate to relieve, release
or discharge such surety from any liability already accrued or which
shall accrue before the expiration of said sixty (60) day period. The
director shall promptly on receipt of notice of such request notify the
dealer who furnished such bond, and unless such dealer shall on or
before the expiration of such sixty days’ period file with the director
1933] ACTS OF ASSEMBLY 111

a new bond approved by the director and executed by some surety com-
pany duly licensed to do business under the laws of this State, in the
amount and form hereinbefore in this section provided, or unless such
dealer in lieu thereof deposits with the director bonds of the United
States or of the State of Virginia or a certificate of deposit in some
banking institution to be approved by the director, in a like amount,
the director shall forthwith cancel the license of said dealer.

If such new bond shall be furnished by such dealer, or bonds of the
United States or the State of Virginia, or a certificate of deposit filed
with the director in lieu thereof, as above provided, the director shall
cancel and surrender the bond of said dealer for which such new bond
or other securities shall be substituted. _ ,

Section 9. When any dealer shall fail to submit its monthly report
to the director by the twentieth day of the following month, or when
such dealer fails to submit the date required by section five (5) of this
act in such monthly report, or when such dealer shall fail to pay to the
director the amount of taxes hereby imposed when the same shall be
payable, there shall be automatically added thereto a penalty equal to
twenty-five per centum (25%) of the said tax, to be paid by such
dealer. Thereafter said tax and penalty shall bear interest at the rate
of one per centum (1%) per month until the said tax is paid.

If any such dealer shall fail to pay such tax, penalty and interest
within thirty (30) days after the said tax shall be due, the Attorney
General or the director shall bring appropriate action for the recovery
of such tax, penalty and interest, and judgment shall be rendered for
the amount so found to be due together with costs, provided, however,
that if it shall be found as a fact such failure to pay was wilful on
the part of such dealer, judgment shall be rendered for double the
amount of the tax found to be due, with costs. All remedies now, or
which may hereafter be, given by the laws of this State for the collec-
tion or enforcement of taxes are hereby expressly given for the collec-
tion and enforcement of judgments recovered under this section, and
the director may, employ an attorney at law to institute and prosecute
proper proceedings to enforce payment of the taxes, penalty and in-
terest, provided for by this act and fix the compensation for the services
of said attorney at law, which in no case shall exceed twenty per centum
(20% ) of the amount recovered, if any, and shall be paid only out of
any such recovery.

Z. An emergency existing, this act shall be in force from its passage.