(1) Definitions. In this section the following definitions shall apply:

(a) Commissioner. School Revenue Commissioner.

(b) Landlord. Any person who grants the right to use or occupy real estate or any part thereof to any lessee, sub-lessee, licensee or concessionaire, whether or not he is the owner of the real estate.

(c) Port of Philadelphia. Piers, wharves and marine terminal facilities entering into or abutting either the Delaware or Schuylkill Rivers which are within the confines of the City of Philadelphia.^[301]
(d) Port Related Activities. Loading or discharging cargo to or from vessels conducted on piers, wharves or marine terminal facilities in the Port of Philadelphia and activities related thereto such as furnishing dockage, wharfage, truck and/or railroad car loading and unloading and storage of cargo which is to be loaded or has been discharged from vessels at a pier wharf or marine terminal facility in the Port of Philadelphia.^[302]

(e) Tax Year. July first of any calendar year through June 30 of the following calendar year.^[303]

(f) Square Feet Available for Use or Occupancy. The whole portion of any real estate, any structure thereon and space therein exclusive of service, utility and common areas controlled by the landlord or owner thereof.^[304]

(2) Imposition of the Tax.

(a) The Board of Education of the School District of Philadelphia is authorized to impose a tax for general school purposes on the use or occupancy of real estate within the School District of Philadelphia during the tax year beginning July 1, 1988 for the purpose of carrying on any business, trade, occupation, profession, vocation, or any other commercial or industrial activity. This tax is imposed on the user or occupier of real estate.^[305]

(b) The Board of Education of the School District of Philadelphia is authorized to impose a tax for general school purposes on the use or occupancy of real estate within the School District of Philadelphia during the tax year beginning July 1, 2001 and July 1, 2002, for the purpose of carrying on any business, trade, occupation, profession, vocation, or any other commercial or industrial activity. This tax is imposed on the user or occupier of real estate.^[306]

(3) Exclusions.

(a) This authorization shall not include the authority to levy a tax on the use or occupancy of real estate to the extent that the real estate is used or occupied as the dwelling or principal place of residence of the user or occupier or its use or occupancy is subject to tax by the Commonwealth of Pennsylvania under the Tax Act of 1963 for Education.

(b) This authorization shall not authorize this tax to be imposed upon any person exempt from real estate taxes in the City of Philadelphia.

(c) This authorization shall not include the authority to levy a tax on the use or occupancy of facilities used in or occupied by those engaged in Port related activities.^[307]

(4) Rate and Computation of Tax.^[308]

(a) Rate.

(i) The tax authorized by this Section shall be measured by the assessed value of the real estate, for the tax year beginning July 1, 1988, at the rate not to exceed three dollars and eighty-five cents ($3.85) per one hundred ($100) dollars of the assessed value of the real estate as most recently returned by the Board of Revision of Taxes. In the event that a court of competent jurisdiction enters a final order from which all appeals have been exhausted, determining that City Council lacked the authority to impose this rate effective July 1, 1988, the rate shall revert to three dollars and twenty-five cents ($3.25) per one hundred ($100) dollars of the assessed value of the real estate as most recently returned by the Board of Revision of Taxes.

(ii) The tax authorized by this Section shall be measured by the assessed value of the real estate, for the tax year beginning July 1, 2001 and July 1, 2002, at the rate each year not to exceed four dollars and sixty-two cents ($4.62) per one hundred dollars ($100) of the assessed value of the real estate as most recently returned by the Board of Revision of Taxes.^[309]

(b) Computation.

The tax to be paid by the user or occupier shall be computed as follows:

(5) Collection and Payment of the Tax.^[310]

(a) Each owner of real estate used or occupied solely by such owner, which use or occupancy is subject to the tax under this Section, shall make a return and pay the total tax due to the Commissioner at monthly, quarterly or semi-annual intervals, as the Commissioner shall establish by regulation. In the case of persons required to file returns and pay the tax due at monthly intervals, the returns shall be filed and the tax due shall be paid by the twenty-fifth day of the month for which the tax is due. In the case of persons required to file returns and pay the tax due at quarterly or semi-annual intervals, the returns shall be filed and the tax due shall be paid by the twenty-fifth day of the last month of the quarterly or semi-annual period, as the case may be.

(b) Each landlord or other person authorized to collect rentals on premises, the use or occupancy of which is subject to tax under this Section, shall collect as agent for the School District of Philadelphia, from each user or occupier the proper proportion of the user's or occupier's tax, at monthly, quarterly or semi-annual intervals, as the Commissioner shall establish by regulation and shall make a return and pay the total tax due from such user or occupier together with any tax for which the landlord or other person is liable, to the Commissioner at monthly, quarterly, or semi-annual intervals, as the Commissioner shall establish by regulation. In the case of persons required to file returns and pay the tax due at monthly intervals, the returns shall be filed and the tax due shall be paid by the twenty-fifth day of the month for which the tax is due. In the case of persons required to file returns and pay the tax due at quarterly or semi-annual intervals, the returns shall be filed and the tax due shall be paid by the twenty-fifth day of the last month of the quarterly or semi-annual period, as the case may be.^[311]

The return shall be on forms furnished by the Commissioner. The failure of any person to procure or receive any report form shall not excuse him from making a return and paying the tax due.

Any person required under this Section to collect the tax from a user or occupier, who shall fail to collect the proper amount of such tax, shall be liable for the full amount of the tax which is due from such user or occupier, provided, however, that if the person required by this section to collect the tax shall notify the Commissioner, concurrently with the timely filing of a tax return for the period for which the tax is due, of such information as the Commissioner may require concerning the identity of such user or occupier who has not paid the tax, and the amount of tax not paid for the taxable period by each user or occupier, then said person required to collect the tax shall be excused from said liability.

(c) Any person required by this Section to collect the tax from a user or occupier, who shall remit the tax due by the twenty-fifth day of the month in which the tax is due, shall be entitled to apply against the tax due a discount of one percent (1%), as compensation for the expenses of collecting and remitting the tax and as a consideration for the prompt payment thereof.^[312]

(d) The Commissioner shall cause to be publicized, by means most reasonably effective, the names of the forty users or occupiers most grossly in arrears regarding the nonpayment of this tax, on a periodic basis of not less than once each calendar month.^[313]