A BILL TO BE ENTITLED
AN ACT to clarify the definition of farmer for purposes of applying the sales and use tax to purchases made by farmers.
The General Assembly of North Carolina enacts:
SECTION 1.  G.S. 105‑164.3 is amended by adding a new subdivision to read:
"(9a)	Farmer. – A dairy operator, poultry farmer, egg producer, farmer who raises fish or water plants, livestock farmer, crop farmer, nursery operator, greenhouse operator, orchardist, lessor of farmland responsible for upkeep and maintenance of the farmland, a farmer of an aquatic species as defined in G.S. 106‑758, and any other person coming within the generally accepted definition of the word. Farmer does not include a person who merely cultivates a garden for personal use."
SECTION 2.  G.S. 105‑164.4A(1) reads as rewritten:
"(1)	Farm machinery. – Sales to a farmer of machines and machinery, and parts and accessories for these machines and machinery, for use by the farmer in the planting, cultivating, harvesting, or curing of farm crops or in the production of dairy products, eggs, or animals. Items that are exempt from tax under G.S. 105‑164.13(4c) are not subject to tax under G.S. 105‑164.4.
The term 'machines and machinery' as used in this subdivision is defined as follows:
The term shall include all vehicular implements, designed and sold for any use defined in this subdivision, which are operated, drawn or propelled by motor or animal power, but shall not include vehicular implements which are operated wholly by hand, and shall not include any motor vehicles required to be registered under Chapter 20 of the General Statutes.
The term shall include all nonvehicular implements and mechanical devices designed and sold for any use defined in this subdivision, which have moving parts, or which require the use of any motor or animal power, fuel, or electricity in their operation but shall not include nonvehicular implements which have no moving parts and are operated wholly by hand.
The term shall also include metal flues sold for use in curing tobacco, whether such flues are attached to handfired furnaces or used in connection with mechanical burners."
SECTION 3.  This act becomes effective October 1, 2005, and applies to sales made on or after that date.