§ 615. Refunds of tax; exemptions from tax; compensating tax; compensating tax on foreign goods; covering into Treasury
(a)
If at any time the Secretary of Agriculture finds, upon investigation and after due notice and opportunity for hearing to interested parties, that any class of products of any commodity is of such low value, considering the quantity of the commodity used for their manufacture, that the imposition of the processing tax would prevent in whole or in large part the use of the commodity in the manufacture of such products and thereby substantially reduce consumption and increase the surplus of the commodity, then the Secretary of Agriculture shall so certify to the Secretary of the Treasury, specifying whether such results will in his judgment most effectively be prevented by a suspension of the imposition of the processing tax or a refund of the tax paid, with respect to such amount of the commodity or any product thereof as is used in the manufacture of such products, and thereafter, as shall be specified in such certification,
(1)
the imposition of the processing tax shall be suspended with respect to such amount of the commodity as is used in the manufacture of such products, and thereafter, as shall be specified in such certification,
(2)
the imposition of the processing tax shall be suspended with respect to such amount of the commodity as is used in the manufacture of such products until such time as the Secretary of Agriculture, after further investigation and due notice and opportunity for hearing to interested parties, revokes his certification to the Secretary of the Treasury, or
(3)
the Secretary of the Treasury shall refund (in accordance with the provisions of, to such persons and in such manner as shall be specified in, such certification) the amount of any tax paid (prior to the date of any revocation by the Secretary of Agriculture of his certification to the Secretary of the Treasury, upon further investigation and after due notice and opportunity for hearing to interested parties) under this chapter with respect to such amount of the commodity or any product thereof as is used after the date of such certification in the manufacture of such products, or shall credit against any tax due and payable under this chapter the amount of tax which would be refundable. During the period in which any certificate under this section is effective, the provisions of subsection (e) of this section shall be suspended with respect to all imported articles of the kind described in such certificate; and notwithstanding the provisions of section
623 of this title, any compensating taxes, which have heretofore, during the period in which any certificate under this section has been effective, become due and payable upon imported articles of the kind described in such certificate, shall be refunded by the Secretary of the Treasury if the same have been paid, or, if the same have not been paid the amount thereof shall be abated. Notwithstanding the provisions of section
623 of this title, the Secretary of the Treasury shall refund or credit any processing tax paid on or before June 12, 1934, with respect to such amount of cotton as was used in the manufacture of large cotton bags (as defined in the Certificate of the Secretary of Agriculture, dated June 12, 1934) between June 13, and July 7, 1934, both inclusive.
(b)
No tax shall be required to be paid on the processing of any commodity by or for the producer thereof for consumption by his own family, employees, or household; and the Secretary of Agriculture is authorized, by regulations, to exempt from the payment of the processing tax the processing of commodities by or for the producer thereof for sale by him where, in the judgment of the Secretary, the imposition of a processing tax with respect thereto is unnecessary to effectuate the declared policy.
(b–1)
The Secretary of Agriculture is authorized and directed to issue tax-payment warrants, with respect to rough rice produced in 1933 and 1934 (provided the processing of such rice is not exempt from the tax, and provided no tax payment warrant has been previously issued with respect thereto or previously applied for by application then pending, sufficient to cover the tax with respect to the processing thereof at the rate in effect at the time of such issuance, to any processor with respect to any such rice which he had in his possession on March 31, 1935, and to, or at the direction of any other person with respect to any such rice which, on or after April 1, 1935, he delivers for processing or sells to a processor: Provided, That in case any such processor or other person is the producer of such rice (or has received such rice by gift, bequest, or descent from the producer thereof) that such processor or other person is, if eligible, a cooperating producer: And provided further, That in case such processor or other person is not the producer thereof (nor a person who has received such rice by gift, bequest, or descent from the producer thereof),
(a)
that, if the title to such rice was transferred from the producer thereof, whether by operation of law or otherwise, prior to April 1, 1935, such producer received the price prescribed in any marketing agreement, license, regulation, or administrative ruling, pursuant to this chapter, applicable to the sale of such rice by the producer, and
(b)
that, if the title to such rice was transferred from the producer thereof, whether by operation of law or otherwise, on or after April 1, 1935, such producer received at least the full market price therefor plus an amount equal to 99 per centum of the face value of tax-payment warrants sufficient to cover the tax on the processing of such rice at rate in effect at the time title was so transferred, and was, if eligible, a cooperating producer.
(b–2)
The warrants authorized and directed to be issued by subsection (b–1) of this section—
(1)
shall be issued by the Secretary of Agriculture or his duly authorized agent in such manner, at such time or times, at such place or places, in such form, and subject to such terms and conditions with reference to the transfer thereof or the voiding of warrants fraudulently obtained and/or erroneously issued, as the Secretary of Agriculture may prescribe, and the Secretary of Agriculture is authorized to discontinue the further issuance of tax-payment warrants at any time or times and in any region or regions when he shall determine that the rice in any such region or regions can no longer be identified adequately as rice grown in 1933 or 1934; and
(b–3)
(1)
Any person who deals or traffics in, or purchases any such tax-payment warrant or the right of any person thereto at less than 99 per centum of its face value shall be guilty of a misdemeanor and upon conviction thereof shall be fined not more than $1,000 or imprisoned for not more than one year or both.
(2)
Any person who, with intent to defraud, secures or attempts to secure, or aids or assists in or procures, counsels, or advises, the securing or attempting to secure any tax-payment warrant with respect to rice as to which any tax-payment warrant has been theretofore issued shall be guilty of a misdemeanor and upon conviction thereof shall be fined not more than $1,000 or imprisoned for not more than one year, or both.
(3)
Any person who with intent to defraud forges, makes, alters, or counterfeits any tax-payment warrant or any stamp, tag, or other means of identification provided for by this chapter or any regulation issued pursuant thereto, or makes any false entry upon such warrant or any false statement in any application for the issuance of such warrant, or who uses, sells, lends, or has in his possession any such altered, forged, or counterfeited warrant or stamp, tag, or other means of identification, or who makes, uses, sells, or has in his possession any material in imitation of the material used in the manufacture of such warrants or stamps, tags, or other means of identification, shall, upon conviction thereof, be punished by a fine not exceeding $5,000 or by imprisonment not exceeding five years, or both.
(4)
All producers, warehousemen, processors, and common carriers, having information with respect to rice produced in the years 1933 or 1934, may be required to furnish to the Secretary of Agriculture such information as he shall, by order, prescribe as necessary to safeguard the issuance, transfer, and/or use of tax-payment warrants.
(c)
Any person, including any State or Federal organization or institution, delivering any product to any organization for charitable distribution or use, including any State or Federal welfare organization, for its own use, whether the product is delivered as merchandise, or as a container for merchandise, or otherwise, shall, if such product or the commodity from which processed is under this chapter subject to tax, be entitled to a refund of the amount of any tax due and paid under this chapter with respect to such product so delivered, or to a credit against any tax due and payable under this chapter of the amount of tax which would be refundable under this section with respect to such product so delivered: Provided, however, That no tax shall be refunded or credited under this section, unless the person claiming the refund or credit establishes, in accordance with regulations prescribed by the Commissioner of Internal Revenue, with the approval of the Secretary of the Treasury
(1)
that he has not included the tax in the price of the product so delivered or collected the amount of the tax from the said organization, or
(2)
that he has repaid, or has agreed in writing to repay, the amount of the tax to the said organization. The word “State” as used in this section shall include a State and any political subdivision thereof.
(d)
The Secretary of Agriculture shall ascertain from time to time whether the payment of the processing tax upon any basic agricultural commodity is causing or will cause to the processors or producers thereof disadvantages in competition from competing commodities by reason of excessive shifts in consumption between such commodities or products thereof. If the Secretary of Agriculture finds, after investigation and due notice and opportunity for hearing to interested parties, that such disadvantages in competition exist, or will exist, he shall proclaim such finding. The Secretary shall specify in this proclamation the competing commodity and the compensating rate of tax on the processing thereof necessary to prevent such disadvantages in competition. Thereafter there shall be levied, assessed, and collected upon the first domestic processing of such competing commodity a tax, to be paid by the processor, at the rate specified, until such rate is altered pursuant to a further finding under this section, or the tax or rate thereof on the basic agricultural commodity is altered or terminated. In no case shall the tax imposed upon such competing commodity exceed that imposed per equivalent unit, as determined by the Secretary, upon the basic agricultural commodity.
(e)
During any period for which a processing tax is in effect with respect to any commodity there shall be levied, assessed, collected, and paid upon any article processed or manufactured wholly or partly from such commodity and imported into the United States or any possession thereof to which this chapter applies, from any foreign country or from any possession of the United States to which this chapter does not apply, whether imported as merchandise, or as a container of merchandise, or otherwise, a compensating tax equal to the amount of the processing tax in effect with respect to domestic processing of such commodity into such an article at the time of importation: Provided,
(1)
That in the event any of the provisions of this chapter have been or are hereafter made applicable to any possession of the United States in the case of any particular commodity or commodities, but not generally, this chapter, for the purposes of this subsection, shall be deemed applicable to such possession with respect to such commodity or commodities but shall not be deemed applicable to such possession with respect to other commodities; and
(2)
That all taxes collected under this subsection upon articles coming from the possessions of the United States to which this chapter does not apply shall not be covered into the general fund of the Treasury of the United States but shall be held as a separate fund and paid into the Treasury of the said possessions, respectively, to be used and expended by the governments thereof for the benefit of agriculture. Such tax shall be paid prior to the release of the article from customs custody or control.
(f)
The President, in his discretion, is authorized by proclamation to decree that all or part of the taxes collected from the processing of sugar beets or sugarcane in Puerto Rico, the Territory of Hawaii, the Virgin Islands, American Samoa, the Canal Zone, and/or the island of Guam (if the provisions of this chapter are made applicable thereto), and/or upon the processing in continental United States of sugar produced in, or coming from, said areas, shall not be covered into the general fund of the Treasury of the United States but shall be held as a separate fund, in the name of the respective area to which related, to be used and expended for the benefit of agriculture and/or paid as rental or benefit payments in connection with the reduction in the acreage, or reduction in the production for market, or both, of sugar beets and/or sugarcane, and/or used and expended for expansion of markets and for removal of surplus agricultural products in such areas, respectively, as the Secretary of Agriculture, with the approval of the President, shall direct.