[Adopted 12-31-1962 by Ord. No. 20]
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:
Includes cash and credit transactions and mail order business.
The calendar year from January 1 to December 31, and to continue
thereafter on a January-to-December basis.
[Amended 11-22-1976]
PERSONAny individual, partnership, limited partnership, association or corporation.
WHOLESALE DEALER or WHOLESALE VENDORAny person who sells to dealers in or vendors of goods, wares and merchandise and defined herein as a retail dealer or retail vendor, and to no other persons.
RETAIL DEALER or RETAIL VENDORAny person who is a dealer in or vendor of goods, wares and merchandise who is not a wholesale dealer or vendor, and who sells to the general public.
The terms "person," "wholesale dealer," "wholesale
vendor," "retail dealer" and "retail vendor" shall not include nonprofit
corporations organized for religious, charitable or educational purposes;
any association organized for such purposes; agencies of the government
of the United States or of the Commonwealth 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.
Any place, indoors or outdoors, where the general public
or a limited or selected number thereof may, upon payment of an established
price, attend or engage in any amusement, contest or recreation, including,
among other places, but not limited to theaters, outdoor motion-picture
theaters, opera houses, motion-picture houses, amusement parks,
stadiums, arenas, baseball or football parks or fields, skating rinks,
circus or carnival tents or grounds, fair grounds, bowling alleys,
billiard or pool rooms, nine- or ten-pin alleys, riding academies,
golf courses, bathing and swimming places, dance halls, tennis courts,
archery, rifle or shotgun ranges, trampoline and go-car courts, and
other like places. The term does not include any exhibition, amusement,
performance or contest conducted by a nonprofit corporation or association
organized for religious, charitable or educational purposes.
The Tax Collector appointed by the Supervisors of Richland
Township for the purpose of collecting this tax.
Any business that is conducted at one location for less than
60 consecutive days.
[Amended 11-22-1976]
For the calendar year from January 1 until December
31, the township hereby imposes an annual mercantile license tax in
the manner and at the rates hereinafter set forth.
[Amended 11-22-1976]
Beginning in the calendar year from January
1 until December 31, 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 conducting
a restaurant or other place where food, drink or refreshments are
sold, or place of amusement, whether or not the same be incidental
to some other business or occupation, shall, on or before the 15th
day of February 1963, procure a mercantile license for his place of
business or, if more than one, for each of his places of business
in the township, from the Tax Collector as required by law. Such license
shall be conspicuously posted at the place of business or each of
the places of business of every person at all times.
[Amended 11-22-1976]
Every person engaged in any of the following
occupations or businesses in the township shall pay an annual mercantile
license tax for the calendar year January 1 to December 31 at the
rate set forth.
[Amended 11-22-1976]
A.
Every person subject to the payment of the tax hereby
imposed who has commenced his business at least one 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.
Computation of the amount due to be due to the township
shall be made on the actual gross volume from commencing of business
until December 31 annually, and/or, upon the termination of a business,
computation is to be made from January 1 to the date of termination
and payment of tax is to be made on the actual gross volume of business.
C.
The business shall report its gross volume of business
on a cash basis.
A.
Every return shall be made upon a form furnished by
the Tax Collector. Every person making a return shall certify the
correctness thereof by affidavit.
B.
Every person subject to the tax imposed by this article
who commenced his business at least one full year prior to the beginning
of any license year shall, on or before the 15th day of April, file
with the Tax Collector a return setting forth his name, his business
and 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 tax year, and the amount of the tax due.
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 any license year shall, on or before the 15th day of
April 1963, file with the Tax Collector a return setting forth his
name, his business, business address and such other information as
may be necessary in arriving at the actual gross amount of business
transacted by him during the first month of business and the amount
of the tax due.
D.
Every person subject to the tax imposed by this article
who commences business subsequent to the beginning of any license
year shall, within 40 days from the date of commencing such business,
file a return with the Tax Collector 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 day he completes such
business, file a return with the Tax Collector setting forth his name,
his 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 person
making the same shall pay the amount of tax shown as due thereon to
the Tax Collector.
A.
It shall be the duty of the Tax Collector 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 each receipt.
The Tax Collector shall receive 3% for all amounts of taxes collected
under the provisions of this article.
B.
The Tax Collector 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 the administration and enforcement
of this article, including provisions for the reexamination and correction
of returns, and payments alleged or found to be incorrect, or as to
which an overpayment is claimed or found to have occurred. Any person
aggrieved by any decision of the Tax Collector shall have the right
to appeal to a court or courts of competent jurisdiction as in other
cases provided.
C.
The Tax Collector 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 Tax Collector
the means, facilities and opportunity for such examinations and investigations
as are hereby authorized.
Any information gained by the Tax Collector
or any other officer, official, agent or employee of the township
as a result of any returns, investigations, hearings or verifications
required or authorized by this article shall be confidential except
in accordance with proper judicial order or as otherwise provided
by law, and divulgence of any information so gained is hereby declared
to be a violation of this article, which may be punished by dismissal
from office or employment.
A.
The Tax Collector may sue for the recovery of taxes
due and unpaid by or under this article.
B.
If for any reason the tax is not paid when due in
each year, interest at the rate of 6% per annum on the amount of said
tax, and an additional penalty 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 interest and penalties herein
imposed.
Whoever makes any false or untrue statement
on his return, or who refuses to permit inspection of the books, records
or accounts of any business in his custody or control, when the right
to make such inspection by the Tax Collector is requested, and whoever
fails or refuses to file a return required 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 herein required, shall, upon being found
liable therefor in a civil enforcement proceeding commenced by the
township before a District Justice, pay a fine of not more than $600,
plus all court costs, including reasonable attorney's fees, incurred
by the township in the enforcement of this article. No judgment shall
be imposed until the date of the determination of the violation by
the District Justice. If the defendant neither pays nor timely appeals
the judgment, the township may enforce the judgment pursuant to the
applicable Rules of Civil Procedure. Each day a violation exists shall
constitute a separate offense. Further, the appropriate officers or
agents of the township are hereby authorized to seek equitable relief,
including injunction, to enforce compliance herewith.
A.
Nothing contained in this article shall be construed
to empower the township 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 township under the Constitution of
the United States and the Laws and Constitution of the Commonwealth
of Pennsylvania.
B.
If the tax or any portion thereof imposed upon any
person under the provisions of this article shall be held by any court
of competent jurisdiction to be in violation of the Constitution of
the United States or of the Commonwealth 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.
