[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:
GROSS VOLUME OF BUSINESS
Includes cash and credit transactions and mail order business.
LICENSE YEAR
The calendar year from January 1 to December 31, and to continue thereafter on a January-to-December basis.
[Amended 11-22-1976]
PERSON, WHOLESALE DEALER, WHOLESALE VENDOR, RETAIL DEALER and RETAIL VENDOR
A. 
PERSONAny individual, partnership, limited partnership, association or corporation.
B. 
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.
C. 
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.
D. 
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.
PLACE OF AMUSEMENT
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.
TAX COLLECTOR
The Tax Collector appointed by the Supervisors of Richland Township for the purpose of collecting this tax.
TEMPORARY, SEASONAL OR ITINERANT BUSINESS
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.
[1]
Editor's Note: Amended at time of adoption of Code (see Ch. 1, General Provisions, Art. I).
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.