[Adopted 2-19-1987 as Part 3, Art.
327, of the 1987 Codified Ordinances]
A.
GROSS VOLUME OF BUSINESS
LICENSE YEAR
PERSON
RETAIL DEALER or RETAIL VENDOR
TEMPORARY, SEASONAL OR ITINERANT BUSINESS
TREASURER
WHOLESALE DEALER or WHOLESALE VENDOR
For the purpose of this article, the following words
and phrases shall have the meanings ascribed to them in this section,
unless the context clearly indicates a different meaning:
The actual total amount of business transacted, including
both cash and credit transactions, but not including the dollar volume
of business transacted by retail dealers derived from the resale of
goods, wares and merchandise taken by a retail dealer as a trade-in
or as part payment for other goods, wares and merchandise, except
to the extent that the resale price exceeds the trade-in allowance
and further not including the dollar volume of business transacted
by retail dealers derived from the sale or transfer of goods, wares
and merchandise to another retail dealer as an accommodation to the
transferee, except to this extent that the sale or transfer exceeds
the transferor's cost.
[Amended 3-19-2001 by Ord. No. 1501]
The calendar year 1983 beginning at 12:01 a.m., January 1,
1983, and ending at 12:00 midnight, December 31, 1983, and each year
thereafter.
[Amended 2-20-1999 by Ord. No. 1430]
Any individual, partnership, limited partnership, association
or corporation.
Any person who is a dealer in or vendor of goods, wares and
merchandise, who is not a wholesale dealer or vendor.
Any business that is conducted at one location for less than
60 consecutive calendar days.
The City Treasurer.
Any person who sells to dealers in or vendors of goods, wares
and merchandise and to no other persons.
B.
"Person," "wholesale dealer," "wholesale vendor,"
"retail dealer" and "retail vendor" do not include nonprofit corporations
or associations organized for religious, charitable or educational
purposes; agencies of the government of the United States or of Pennsylvania,
or any person vending or disposing of articles of his own growth,
production or manufacture for shipment or delivery from the place
of growth, production or manufacture thereof.
For the license year, as herein defined, the
City hereby imposes a mercantile license tax in the manner and at
the rates herein set forth.
[Amended 2-20-1997 by Ord. No. 1430]
Every person desiring to continue to engage
in, or hereafter to begin to engage in, the business of wholesale
or retail vendor or dealer in goods, wares and merchandise, and any
person desiring to continue to engage in or hereafter to begin to
engage in the business of conducting a restaurant or other place where
food, drink or refreshments are sold in the City, whether or not the
same is incidental to some other business or occupation shall, on
or before July 1, 1983, or prior to commencing business, procure a
mercantile license for his place of business, or if more than one,
for each of his places of business in the City, from the Treasurer
or his duly authorized representative, who shall issue the same upon
the payment of a fee as set forth in the City of Butler Fee Schedule,
adopted from time to time by resolution of the City Council,[1] for his place of business or if more than one for each of his places of business in the City, such license shall cover the period of the license year; provided, however, that any person who has procured a mercantile license and paid the tax under Chapter 173, Article II, Mercantile Licenses, for the then calendar year shall not be required to pay the fee imposed by this article, but shall procure the license as herein provided which shall be conspicuously posted at the place of business or each of the places of business of every person at all times.
Every person engaging in any of the following
occupations or businesses in the City shall pay a mercantile license
tax for the license year, as herein defined, at the rate set forth:
A.
Wholesale vendors or dealers in goods, wares and merchandise, at the rate of one mill on each dollar of the gross volume, as herein defined, of the wholesale business transacted by him during the calendar year 1982 as computed under § 235-38.
B.
Retail vendors or dealers in goods, wares and merchandise and/or persons engaged in conducting restaurants or other places where food, drink or refreshments are sold, at the rate of 1 1/2 mills on each dollar of the gross volume, as herein defined, of the retail business transacted by him during the calendar year 1982 as computed under § 235-38.
C.
Wholesale and retail vendors or dealers in goods, wares and merchandise at the rate of one mill on each dollar of the gross volume, as herein defined, of the wholesale business transacted by him during the calendar year 1982 as computed under § 235-38 hereof and at the rate of 1 1/2 mills on each dollar of the gross volume, as herein defined, of the retail business transacted by him during the calendar year 1982 as computed under § 235-38.
A.
Every person subject to the payment of the tax hereby
imposed who has commenced his business at least one full year prior
to the beginning of the license year shall compute his annual gross
volume of business upon the actual gross amount of business transacted
by him during the preceding calendar year.
B.
Every person subject to the payment of the tax hereby
imposed who has commenced or who commences his business less than
one full year prior to the beginning of the license year shall compute
his annual gross volume of business for such license year upon the
gross volume of business transacted by him during the first month
he engages in business multiplied by 12.
C.
Every person subject to the payment of the tax hereby
imposed who commences his business subsequent to the beginning of
the license year shall compute his annual gross volume of business
for such license year upon the gross volume of business transacted
by him during the first month he is engaged in business multiplied
by the number of months he engages in business in such license year.
D.
Every person subject to the payment of the tax hereby
imposed who engages in a business temporary, seasonal or itinerant
by its nature, shall compute his annual gross volume of business upon
the actual gross amount of business transacted by him during such
license year.
E.
Every person who discontinues business during any
license year, after having paid the mercantile tax imposed by this
article for the entire year, upon making proper application to the
City Treasurer shall be entitled to receive a refund of the pro rata
amount of the tax paid, based upon the period of time he was not in
business during such license year.
A.
Every return shall be made upon a form furnished by
the Treasurer. Every person making a return shall certify the correctness
thereof by affidavit.
B.
Every person subject to the tax imposed by this article,
who has commenced his business at least one full year prior to the
beginning of the license year shall, on or before June 1, 2002, and
annually thereafter, file with the City Treasurer a return setting
forth his name, his business, his business address and such other
information as may be necessary in arriving at the actual gross amount
of business transacted by him during the preceding calendar year and
the amount of tax due.
[Amended 2-2-1995 by Ord. No. 1404; 6-21-2001 by Ord. No. 1505]
C.
Every person subject to the tax imposed by this article,
who has commenced his business less than one full year prior to the
beginning of tax year 2002 shall, on or before June 1, 2002, file
with the City Treasurer a return setting forth his name, his business,
his business address and such other information as may be necessary
in arriving at the actual gross amount of business transacted by him
during his first months of business and the amount of tax due.
[Amended 2-2-1995 by Ord. No. 1404; 6-21-2001 by Ord. No. 1505]
D.
Every person subject to the tax imposed by this article,
who commences business subsequent to the beginning of the license
year, shall, within 40 days from the date of commencing such business,
file a return with the Treasurer setting forth his name, his business
and business address and such information as may be necessary in arriving
at the actual gross amount of business transacted by him during his
first month of business and the amount of the tax due.
E.
Every person subject to the payment of the tax imposed
by this article, who engages in a business temporary, seasonal or
itinerant by its nature, shall, within seven days from the date he
completes such business, file a return with the Treasurer setting
forth his name, his business and business address and such information
as may be necessary in arriving at the actual gross amount of business
transacted by him during such period and the amount of the tax due.
At the time of filing the return, the taxpayer
shall pay the amount of tax shown as due to the Treasurer.
A.
It shall be the duty of the City Treasurer to collect
and receive the taxes, fines and penalties imposed by this article.
It shall also be his duty to keep a record showing the amount received
by him from each person paying the tax and the date of such receipt.
B.
The Treasurer is hereby charged with the administration
and enforcement of the provisions of this article, and is hereby empowered
to prescribe, adopt, promulgate and enforce rules and regulations
relating to any matter pertaining to its administration and enforcement,
including provisions for the reexamination and correction of returns
and payments alleged or found to be incorrect or to which an overpayment
is claimed or found to have occurred. Any person aggrieved by any
decision of the Treasurer shall have the right to appeal to the Court
of Common Pleas as provided for in other cases.
C.
The Treasurer is hereby authorized to examine the
books, papers and records of any taxpayer or supposed taxpayer in
order to verify the accuracy of any return made or, if no return was
made, to ascertain the tax due. Every such taxpayer or supposed taxpayer
is hereby directed and required to give to the Treasurer the means,
facilities and opportunities for such examinations and investigations
as are hereby authorized.
A.
The Treasurer may sue for the recovery of taxes due
and unpaid under this article in the name of the City.
B.
If for any reason the tax is not paid when due each
year, interest at the rate of 6% per annum on the amount of such tax
and an additional penalty of one-half of one percent (1/2 of 1%) of
the amount of the unpaid tax for each month or fraction thereof during
which the tax remains unpaid, shall be added and collected. Where
suit is brought for the recovery of any such tax, the person liable
therefor shall, in addition, be liable for the costs of collection
and the interest and penalties herein imposed.
A.
Nothing contained in this article shall be construed
to empower the City to levy and collect the taxes hereby imposed on
any person or any business or any portion of any business not within
the taxing power of the City under the Constitution of the United
States and the laws and Constitution of Pennsylvania.
B.
If the tax, or any portion thereof, imposed upon any
person under the provisions of this article is held by any court of
competent jurisdiction to be in violation of the Constitution of the
United States or of Pennsylvania, the decision of the court shall
not affect or impair the right to impose the taxes or the validity
of the taxes so imposed upon other persons as herein provided.
The terms and provisions of this article shall not in any way alter or change any mercantile tax now imposed and levied upon persons engaged in occupations, businesses, vehicles, etc., included under the provisions of Chapter 173, Article II, Mercantile Licenses, except as specifically provided under § 235-36 with respect to the payment of the license fee by any person who has procured a mercantile license and paid the tax under Chapter 173, Article II, Mercantile Licenses, for the calendar year, nor shall the provisions of this article change, alter or repeal any special license imposed under the police power of the City; otherwise, all ordinances or parts of ordinances conflicting with the provisions of this article are hereby repealed insofar as they are inconsistent with this article.
This article is enacted under the authority
of the Act of December 31, 1965, P.L. 1257, as amended, and known
as the "Local Tax Enabling Act"[1] and is subject to the provisions for the collection of
the maximum tax as therein provided.
[1]
Editor's Note: See 53 P.S. § 6924.101
et seq.
A.
Whoever makes any false or untrue statement on his
return or refuses to permit inspection of the books, records or accounts
of any business in his custody or control when such inspection is
requested by the Treasurer or his duly authorized representative and
whoever fails or refuses to file a return or procure a mercantile
license as required by this article or who fails to keep his license
conspicuously posted at his place of business as required herein,
shall be guilty of a summary offense and, upon conviction, shall be
fined not more than $300 and costs for each offense and, upon failure
to pay the fine and costs, shall be imprisoned for not more than 30
days.
[Amended 2-20-1997 by Ord. No. 1430]
B.
The failure of any person required to file a return
to receive or procure the form on which the same is required to be
filed shall not excuse him from making a return or from paying the
tax.
