[1]
Cross Reference — As to taxation and finance, ch. 130.
State Law References — Power to regulate, license and tax merchants of all kinds, §94.270, RSMo.; merchant's licenses and taxes, §§150.010 et seq., RSMo.
[R.O. 2009 §12-16; Ord. No. 350 §1, 10-11-1977; Ord. No. 355 §1, 2-14-1978]
Any person engaged in or carrying on the business of selling of any goods, wares or merchandise at any store, stand or place occupied for that purpose within the City is hereby declared to be a retail or wholesale merchant. The term "retail merchant" and "wholesale merchant", as used in this Article, includes not only any person who sells goods, wares and merchandise at retail or wholesale to customers, but shall also include any person conducting any business to customers in connection with contracts for services of any kind, except as is or may be otherwise provided by this Article.
[1]
Cross Reference — As to definitions and rules of construction generally, §100.080.
State Law Reference — Similar provisions, §§150.010, 150.020, RSMo.
[R.O. 2009 §12-17; Ord. No. 350 §2, 10-11-1977]
Every person coming within the definitions of a merchant shall before doing or offering to do business procure from the City Clerk a license in conformity with the provisions of this Article. He/she shall not sell or offer for sale any goods, wares or merchandise without first complying with the provisions of this Article.
[R.O. 2009 §12-18; Ord. No. 350 §13, 10-11-1977]
In the event any merchant shall fail or refuse to deliver the statements herein required to the City Clerk or his/her deputies and to pay the merchant's license tax levied by this Article on or before the first (1st) day of March of each year and in the event such merchant shall continue after the first (1st) day of March to operate his/her business and to sell goods, wares and merchandise in the City, upon conviction, such merchant shall be punished by fine as provided in Section 100.220. Each day of sales of goods, wares and merchandise hereunder in violation of the provisions of this Article shall constitute a separate offense. The City Clerk shall report all violations of this Article from time to time to the Board of Aldermen and to the City Attorney.
[R.O. 2009 §12-19; Ord. No. 350 §15, 10-11-1977]
In addition to any other penalties, any person who is required to take out a license or any person whose license has expired under the provisions of this Article and notice has been given by the City Clerk shall, if not paid within ten (10) days after such a notice has been given, pay a penalty of ten dollars ($10.00) and for every ten (10) days thereafter ten dollars ($10.00) shall be added as a penalty until the party required to take out such license shall have complied with the provisions regulating licenses in this Article. This penalty shall be collected with the license tax by the City Clerk and paid into the Treasury. In addition to any other penalties, any person who is required by Section 605.070 of this Article to file statements of the aggregate amount of all sales made by such person during the preceding calendar year and who does not file the statements by February fifteenth (15th) of each calendar year shall pay a late filing penalty of two dollars ($2.00) for each day beyond February fifteenth (15th) of each calendar year that the statement is filed. This penalty shall be collected by the City Clerk with the license tax.
[R.O. 2009 §§12-21, 12-29; Ord. No. 350 §§4, 17, 10-11-1977; Ord. No. 1064 §1, 4-27-2004]
A. 
License Fee For Merchants. All merchants, and except as otherwise provided by ordinance, shall pay to the City Clerk one dollar twenty-five cents ($1.25) per each one thousand dollars ($1,000.00) or part thereof of annual gross receipts as an annual merchant license tax or fee. The minimum merchant license tax or fee shall be fifteen dollars ($15.00).
B. 
New Merchants. When any person commences business in the City as a retail merchant, he/she shall make application to the City Clerk for a merchant's license and pay a minimum license tax of fifty dollars ($50.00). Thereafter on or before February fifteenth (15th) of the following year, such merchant shall file with the City Clerk a statement of the annual gross sales during the preceding calendar year and pay the additional license tax for such year, if any.
C. 
Statement Under Oath. The statements required under this Section shall be in writing, on forms furnished by the City Clerk and verified by affidavit of the merchant or his/her authorized agent.
[R.O. 2009 §12-22; Ord. No. 350 §5, 10-11-1977]
It shall be unlawful for the City Clerk or any other person or officer of the City to reveal, divulge, give out or impart to any other person any information relative to or the contents of any merchant's license tax return filed under this Article or to permit any other person to see, inspect or examine or copy the same. This provision shall not prohibit the City Clerk or any other City employee, official, officer or auditor from proceeding in the discharge of their official duties in the administration of the merchant's tax law, nor from giving evidence in any court or before any lawfully constituted administrative tribunal in any proceeding brought to collect any merchant's license tax due or to question or determine the validity or correctness of the contents of any return under this Article or to punish any person for making false or fraudulent returns.
[R.O. 2009 §12-24; Ord. No. 350 §10, 10-11-1977]
It shall be the duty of each merchant to keep proper books or records in which shall be entered, in ink, an account of all gross sales made by such merchant which books or records shall always be open to the inspection by the City Clerk or a duly authorized representative of the City Clerk at all reasonable times to verify the returns made by each merchant. A failure on the part of any merchant to permit the inspection of his/her books or records after the City Clerk has given ten (10) days' notice of intention to inspect said books and records shall be grounds for revocation of any merchant's license then in existence and for refusal to grant any license applied for. The refusal after notice as called for herein shall also constitute a misdemeanor punishable as provided in Section 100.220 hereof.
[R.O. 2009 §12-25; Ord. No. 350 §11, 10-11-1977]
Any person who makes or files a false statement with the City Clerk or his/her deputies under the provisions of this Chapter upon conviction shall forfeit his/her license and be deemed guilty of a misdemeanor. It shall be the duty of the City Clerk or his/her deputies to carefully examine all statements filed with him/her and to initiate prosecution of all violations of this Chapter according to law. Before instituting any such prosecution he/she shall give the merchant an opportunity to explain the statement and to correct it if inadvertently made. If it appears to the City Clerk that such false statement was willfully made, he/she shall report all the facts to the City Attorney.
[R.O. 2009 §12-26; Ord. No. 350 §12, 10-11-1977]
Each licensee or applicant for license under the provision of this Article who was required to file a sales tax return with the State of Missouri shall upon demand by the City Clerk or his/her duly authorized deputies file with the City Clerk or his/her duly authorized deputies a verified copy of any Missouri sales tax return made by such licensee or applicant within a period of three (3) years preceding such demand. Refusal or failure to comply with the provisions of this Section shall be deemed cause for revocation of any license previously issued or for refusal to grant any license.
[R.O. 2009 §12-31; Ord. No. 350 §25, 10-11-1977; Ord. No. 462 §1, 3-9-1982]
A. 
Any merchant's license issued hereunder may be revoked for any of the following reasons:
1. 
Failure or refusal to pay any tax due the State of Missouri or the City including, but not limited to, real estate tax, personal property tax, sales tax, use tax, merchant's and manufacturer's tax;
2. 
Revocation, suspension, loss or failure to obtain any special licensing required by the City of Cool Valley and/or the State of Missouri.
B. 
In the event it shall come to the attention of any agent, officer or employee of the City that any licensee under this Article may be in violation of this Section, notice shall be given in writing by the City Clerk to the licensee, which notice shall be served personally or by certified mail. The notice shall set forth the matters complained of and the action required to be taken by the licensee and shall fix a time and place for a hearing before the Board of Aldermen, in the event that the licensee wishes to have a hearing at the hearing, evidence shall be submitted to the Board of Aldermen by the City Attorney and may be submitted by the licensee. A transcript shall be made of such hearing and the Board of Aldermen shall issue its findings of fact, conclusions of law and decision, which shall be promptly mailed to said licensee to the address shown on the license. Any appeal shall be taken to the St. Louis County Circuit Court pursuant to Chapter 536, RSMo.
[R.O. 2009 §12-32; Ord. No. 350 §14, 10-11-1977]
This Article and the merchant's license issued hereunder shall not be construed to authorize any merchants to operate a dram shop or sell intoxicating liquors. The statements of merchants required by this Article shall not include intoxicating liquors as the same is described by other ordinances of the City.