[Adopted 6-16-1992 by Ord. No. 948; amended 12-20-2005 by Ord. No. 1043]
This article is enacted under authority of the
Local Tax Enabling Act, P.L. 1257, No. 511, December 31, 1965, 53
P.S. § 6901 et seq., as hereafter amended, supplemented,
modified or reenacted by the General Assembly of Pennsylvania.
As used in this article, the following terms
shall have the meanings indicated, unless a different meaning clearly
appears from the context:
Salaries, wages, commissions, tips, bonuses, fees, gross
receipts or any other earned income.
Any person, partnership, limited partnership, unincorporated
association, institution, trust, corporation, governmental agency,
or any other body engaged in business or situated in Brookville Borough,
employing one or more employees engaged in any occupation other than
domestic servants.
The twelve-month period beginning January 1 and ending December
31 in any tax year.
Any livelihood, job, trade, profession, business or enterprise
of any kind, including services, domestic or other, for which monetary
compensation is received or charged.
The Emergency and Municipal Services Tax Ordinance.
The Tax Collector of the Borough of Brookville.
Any natural person liable for the tax levied by this article.
The person designated by the Borough of Brookville for the
collection of the emergency and municipal services tax imposed by
this article.
For purposes of road construction and/or maintenance;
police, fire and/or emergency services; and/or reduction of property
taxes, the Borough of Brookville hereby levies a tax upon the privilege
of engaging in an occupation during the fiscal year. Each individual
who exercises such privilege shall pay the tax in the amount of $52
in accordance with this article. This tax is in addition to all other
taxes of any kind or nature heretofore levied by the Borough of Brookville;
provided, however, that there is hereby exempted from this tax any
person whose total income from all sources is less than $12,000 per
annum.
Each employer within the Borough of Brookville,
as well as each employer outside the Borough of Brookville but engaging
in business within the Borough of Brookville, is hereby charged with
the duty of collecting said tax of $52 per year, in accordance with
the terms of this article, from each employee who engaged in an occupation,
as herein defined, for the benefit of said employer or in the service
of said employer within the Borough of Brookville during the fiscal
year. Such employer shall make a return and payment of said tax to
the Tax Receiver, and each such employer is hereby authorized to deduct
said tax from each such employee, whether or not such employee is
paid by salary, wages, commission, and whether or not part or all
of such services are performed within the Borough of Brookville.
Every taxpayer who is self-employed or whose tax for any other reason is not collected under § 202-29 of this article shall file a return on a form prescribed by the Tax Collector and shall pay the tax directly to said Collector. Each such taxpayer who first becomes subject to the tax after the effective date of this article, and on or before March 31 of the current tax year, shall file the return and pay the tax on or before April 30 of the current tax year, and each such taxpayer who first becomes subject to the tax after March 31 of the current tax year, shall file the return and pay the tax on or before July 31 or October 31 of the current tax year, or January 31 of the following year, whichever of such payment dates first occurs at least 30 days after the taxpayer becomes subject to the tax.
Both residents and nonresident taxpayers shall,
by virtue of engaging in an occupation within the Borough of Brookville,
be subject to the tax and the provisions of this article.
The Tax Collector shall collect and receive
the taxes, interest, fines and penalties imposed by this article,
and shall maintain records showing the amounts received and the dates
such amounts were received. The Tax Collector shall prescribe and
issue all forms necessary for the administration of the tax and may
adopt and enforce regulations relating to any matter pertaining to
the administration of this article. The Tax Collector and agents designated
by him may examine the records of any employer and/or supposed employer
or of any taxpayer in order to ascertain the tax due or verify the
accuracy of any return. Every employer or supposed employer and every
taxpayer or supposed taxpayer shall give the Tax Collector and any
agent designated by him all means, facilities and opportunity for
the examinations hereby authorized.
The Tax Collector shall collect, by suit or
otherwise, all taxes, interest, costs, fines and penalties due under
this article and unpaid. If for any reason any tax is not paid when
due, interest at the rate of 6% per year on the amount of unpaid taxes
and an additional penalty of 1/2 of 1% of the amount of the unpaid
tax for each month or fraction of month during which the tax remains
unpaid shall be added and collected. Whenever suit is brought for
the recovery of unpaid tax, the taxpayer shall, in addition, be liable
for the costs of collection as well as for interest and penalties.
The Tax Collector may accept payment under protest of the tax claimed
by the Borough of Brookville in any case where any person disputes
the Borough of Brookville's claim for the tax. If a court of competent
jurisdiction thereafter decides that there has been overpayment to
the Tax Collector, the Tax Collector shall refund the amount of the
overpayment to the person who paid under protest. Any action instituted
for such judicial determination shall be instituted within two years
of the last day of the period for which the tax is disputed or claim
made. All refunds shall be made in conformity with the procedure prescribed
by the Borough Council.
An employer or taxpayer who makes a false or
untrue statement on any return required by this article, who refuses
inspection of his records in his custody and control setting forth
his employees subject to this tax, who fails or refuses to file a
return required by this article, or who violates any other provisions
of this article, shall, upon conviction thereof, be sentenced to pay
a fine not more than $600, plus costs of prosecution, and, in default
of payment of such fine and costs, to imprisonment for a term not
to exceed 30 days.
This article shall become effective on January
1, 1993, and shall continue on a calendar year basis without annual
reenactment.[1]
[1]
Editor's Note: Ordinance No. 1043, adopted
12-20-2005, amended former Art. IV, Occupational Privilege Tax, to
be redesignated as Art. IV, Emergency and Municipal Services Tax.
Said ordinance also provided for an effective date of 1-1-2006, to
be in effect for fiscal year 2006 and each fiscal year thereafter
until revised, amended or revoked.
