The following words and phrases, when used in this article,
shall have the meanings ascribed to them in this section, unless the
context clearly indicates a different meaning:
BROKER
Merchandise broker, factor or commission merchant.
LICENSE YEAR
The period beginning January 1, 1978, and ending December
31, 1978, and thereafter each following fiscal year, or any part thereof.
PERSON
An individual, partnership, limited partnership, association
or corporation. Whenever used in any section proscribing and imposing
a penalty, the term "person," as applied to associations, shall mean
the partners or members thereof and, as applied to corporations, the
officers thereof.
RETAIL DEALER or RETAIL VENDOR
Any person who is a dealer in or vendor of goods, wares or
merchandise other than a wholesale dealer, wholesale vendor or broker.
"Retail dealer" or "retail vendor" shall not include nonprofit corporations
or associations, or agencies and political subdivisions of the Government
of the United States or of the Commonwealth of Pennsylvania.
TAX COLLECTOR
That person, firm or corporation appointed by the Town Council
of the Borough of West View who shall be responsible for the collection
of the tax herein imposed.
WHOLESALE DEALER or WHOLESALE VENDOR
A person who sells goods, wares or merchandise for resale
to dealers in, or vendors of, goods, wares or merchandise, whether
or not the goods, wares or merchandise are resold in the same form
or in an altered or changed form or are consumed directly in the manufacturing,
processing or fabricating of tangible personal property which is then
sold.
Every person desiring to continue to engage in, or hereafter
to begin to engage in, the business of wholesale or retail dealer
in or wholesale or retail vendor of goods, wares and merchandise and
any person conducting a restaurant or other place where food, drink
or refreshments are sold shall, on or before the first Monday of January
of the license year or prior to commencing business in the license
year, procure a mercantile license for the Borough of West View from
the Tax Collector, who shall issue the same upon the payment of $5
for a wholesale or retail license and $5 for each of his places of
business for the license year. Such licenses shall be conspicuously
posted at the place of business, or at each of the places of business,
of every person at all times.
At the time of filing the return, the person making the same
shall pay the amount of tax shown as due thereon to the Tax Collector.
Whoever makes a false or untrue statement on his return or who
refuses to permit inspection of the books, records or accounts in
his custody or control of any business, when the right to make such
inspection by the Tax Collector, or his duly authorized agent, is
requested to be filed by this article, and whoever fails or refuses
to procure a mercantile license when so required under this article
or fails to keep his license conspicuously posted at his place of
business as required herein shall, upon conviction before the Magisterial
District Judge, be sentenced to pay a fine of not more than $300 for
each offense and, in default of payment of said fine, to be imprisoned
in the Allegheny County Jail for a period not exceeding 30 days for
each offense.
The Tax Collector is hereby authorized to accept payment under
protest of the amount of mercantile tax claimed by the Borough of
West View in any case where the taxpayer disputes the validity or
amount of the Borough of West View claim for the tax. If it is thereafter
judicially determined by a court of competent jurisdiction that the
Borough of West View has been overpaid, the amount of the overpayment
shall be refunded to the taxpayer.
The provisions of this article pursuant to a waiver of the North
Hills School District shall become effective January 1, 1978, and
shall remain in effect through December 31, 1978, and thereafter from
year to year on an annual Borough fiscal-year basis.