[Adopted 12-29-1989 by Ord. No. 189B (Ch. 24, Part 6, of the 2003 Code
of Ordinances)]
The following words or phrases, when used in this article, shall
have the meaning ascribed to them in this section, except when the
context indicates a different meaning:
Engage in business within the City of Lock Haven.
The City of Lock Haven's fiscal year, beginning the first
day of January.
Both cash and credit transactions occurring within the City
of Lock Haven, excepting that the tax shall not be levied on the dollar
volume of business transacted by wholesale and retail dealers derived
from the resale of goods, wares and merchandise taken by any dealer
as a trade-in or as part payment for other goods, wares and merchandise,
except to the extent that the resale price exceeds the trade-in allowance.
Natural persons, corporations, partnerships, associations,
firms and fiduciaries. Whenever used in any clause prescribing 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. The term "person" shall not include those corporations
or associations organized for religious, charitable or educational
purposes, nor agencies of the government of the United States or of
the Commonwealth of Pennsylvania.
One of the four periods into which the fiscal year is divided,
namely as follows:
Any person who is a dealer in, or a vendor of, goods, wares
and merchandise, who is not a wholesale dealer or wholesale vendor.
The person, whether an individual, partnership, association
or any other entity, appointed by the City of Lock Haven to collect
the tax hereinafter imposed.
Any business that is conducted at one location for less than
60 consecutive calendar days.
Any person who sells to dealers in, or vendors of, goods,
wares and merchandise, and shall include any merchandise broker, factor
or commission merchant.
A tax for general revenue purposes is hereby imposed upon the
privilege of doing business within the City of Lock Haven, according
to the following schedule:
A.
Wholesale vendors or dealers in goods, wares and merchandise at the
rate of one mill on each dollar or whole or gross volume of business
transacted.
B.
Retail vendors or dealers and such businesses which may not be said
to be wholesale or retail, including all theaters and moving picture
houses; morticians; tombstone and monument dealers; meat dealers;
grocers; druggists, confectioners; restaurants or other places where
food, drink or refreshments are sold; produce and merchandise vendors;
stationers; jewelers; lumber dealers, including commission men and
all persons who make a business of buying lumber for sale; persons
engaged in the development or improvement of real estate for profit;
new and used furniture dealers; merchants offering for sale goods,
wares or merchandise at public auction; and those who engage in or
conduct any of the several trades, businesses or occupations herein
enumerated with the use of vending machines; and dealers and/or collectors
of salvage, rags, junk, ashes or refuse, at the rate of 1 1/2
mills on each dollar of gross volume of business transacted.
C.
Persons who are engaged in a business which is both wholesale and
retail, or in both types of business, at the rate of one mill on each
dollar of the annual gross volume of wholesale business transacted
and at the rate of 1 1/2 mills on the gross volume of retail
business transacted.
D.
Persons who are engaged in a business, temporary, seasonal or itinerant
by its nature, if at wholesale at the rate of one mill on each dollar
of the whole volume gross of business transacted within the territorial
limits of the City of Lock Haven and, if at retail, at the rate of
1 1/2 mills on each dollar of the whole volume gross of business
transacted by him within the territorial limits of the City of Lock
Haven.
A.
Every person subject to the tax herein imposed by this article shall
make a quarterly return to the Tax Collector upon a form provided
by the Tax Collector, which form shall include the computed quarterly
gross volume of business, the classification of the business, the
rate of the tax and such other pertinent information as the Tax Collector
may require. Every return shall be given under oath as to the facts
appearing thereon or may be certified to as a true and correct and
complete return given under penalty of perjury. The return for a quarter
as required in this section shall be filed on or before the 15th day
of the quarter next succeeding the quarter for which the return is
to be filed; that is, the return for the quarter from July 1 to September
30 shall be filed on or before October 15, and likewise for the following
quarters on the 15th day of January, April and July, respectively.
No person, however, shall be considered to have failed to have filed
a return under this section until 15 days after the date for filing
the return.
B.
Those temporary, season or itinerant persons who shall engage in
business for a period of less than 60 consecutive days shall file
their return on the day they conclude their business, but the Tax
Collector, in his discretion, may extend the time of filing an additional
15 days before the person will be considered to have failed to file
a return.
A.
If the Tax Collector is of the opinion that any person shall have
made a return that is not true and correct or shall have failed to
file a return, the Tax Collector shall assess the said person for
such gross volume of business and at such rate and in such classification
as shall be proper. The Tax Collector may make an assessment at any
time after the returns have been filed, or after the returns have
not been filed.
B.
If the Tax Collector shall make an assessment, the Tax Collector
shall give notice of the assessment to the person affected. Such notice
shall set forth the fact of the assessment, the classification of
the business, the rate of tax and the tax due according to the assessment.
Any person aggrieved by any decision of the Tax Collector shall have
the right to appeal to the appropriate court as in other cases provided.
A.
Payment of the tax imposed by this article for a quarter shall be
made on or before the 15th day of the quarter next succeeding the
quarter for which the tax is to be paid, but no tax imposed by this
article shall be considered overdue until 15 days after the date for
paying the tax.
B.
An assessment or appeal shall not affect the day payment is due,
but any amounts imposed by an assessment shall be considered due as
above, that is, retroactively from the final assessment.
The Tax Collector shall issue a receipt upon payment of the
tax imposed by this article. If an additional sum is found due under
an assessment, the Tax Collector shall issue a supplemental receipt
upon payment of the additional sum.
Every person who shall have received a receipt issued in accord with § 365-18, above, shall retain the same and exhibit it upon request during a period of one year after the time when the tax which is receipted shall have become due.
No person shall conduct any business subject to the payment
of the tax imposed by this article after the payment of the tax shall
have become overdue and remain unpaid.
[Amended 2-24-2003 by Ord. No. 670]
Any person or any officer, agent, employee, employer or servant
who knowingly makes any incomplete, false or fraudulent return or
application required in this article or who fails, neglects, or refuses
to file a return required by this article shall, upon conviction thereof,
be sentenced to pay a fine of not more than $600 plus costs and, in
default of payment of said fine and costs, to a term of imprisonment
not to exceed 30 days. Each day that a violation of this article continues
shall constitute a separate offense.
The Tax Collector may sue for the recovery of taxes due and
unpaid under this article. 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% per annum on 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 penalties
herein imposed.
