MS Code § 27-25-705 (2020)
2020 Mississippi Code|Title 27 - Taxation and Finance|Chapter 25 - Severance Taxes|Article 7 - Natural Gas Severed or Produced in State|§ 27-25-705. Distribution of tax

 [With regard to any county which is exempt from the provisions of Section 19-2-3, this section shall read as follows:]    All taxes levied in this article and collected by the department shall be paid into the State Treasury on the same day in which the taxes are collected.   Except as otherwise provided in this section, the commissioner shall apportion all the tax collections made pursuant to this article to the state and to the county in which the gas was produced, in the proportion of sixty-six and two-thirds percent (66-2/3%) to the state and thirty-three and one-third percent (33-1/3%) to the county.   The commissioner shall apportion all the tax collections made pursuant to Section 27-25-703(1)(b) to the county in which the gas is produced.   When the producer of gas subject to the tax levied in this article increases the price of the gas sold and such increase is subject to approval by a federal regulatory board or commission, and when the producer of the gas so requests, the State Treasurer is hereby authorized to hold the severance tax collected on the price increase in escrow until such time as the price increase or a portion thereof is finally granted or approved. The severance tax thus held in escrow shall be deposited by the State Treasurer to an account in a state depository to be invested in an interest-bearing account in the manner provided by law. When the price increase in question or a portion thereof is granted or approved, the commissioner shall compute the correct severance tax due on the increase and certify the amount of tax thus computed. This amount and interest earned from the depository shall be distributed to the General Fund and to the county or counties proportionately as provided in this subsection. The balance, if any, of the tax and interest held in escrow on the price increase shall be returned to the taxpayer.   The state's share of all gas severance taxes collected pursuant to this section shall be deposited as provided for in Section 27-25-506.   The commissioner shall certify at the end of each month the apportionment to each county to the State Treasurer, who shall remit the county's share of the funds on or before the twentieth day of the month next succeeding the month in which the collections were made for division among the municipalities and taxing districts of the county. The commissioner shall submit a report to the State Treasurer for distribution to each county receiving the funds showing from whom the tax and interest, if any, were collected. Upon receipt of the funds, the board of supervisors of the county shall allocate the funds to the municipalities and to the various maintenance and bond and interest funds of the county, school districts, supervisors districts and road districts, as provided in this subsection.  When there are any gas producing properties within the corporate limits of any municipality, then the municipality shall participate in the division of the tax and interest, if any, returned to the county in which the municipality is located in the proportion which the tax on production of gas from properties located within the municipal corporate limits bears to the tax on total production of gas in the county. In no event, however, shall the amount allocated to the municipalities exceed one-third (1/3) of the tax and interest produced in the municipality and returned to the county. Any amount received by any municipality as a result of the allocation provided for in this subsection shall be used for such purposes as are authorized by law.   The balance remaining of any funds returned to the county after the allocation to municipalities shall be divided among the various maintenance and bond and interest funds of the county, school districts, supervisors districts and road districts, in the discretion of the board of supervisors, and the board shall make the division in consideration of the needs of the various taxing districts. The funds so allocated shall be used only for such purposes as are authorized by law.