§ 3-1

This chapter shall be known, and may be cited, as the "Business License Tax Ordinance." (Ord. 543, § 3)

This chapter is enacted for the purposes of raising revenue for general municipal purposes and ensuring that businesses that intend to operate in the City meet certain minimum zoning, building and safety, and other requirements of the Artesia Municipal Code prior to and during operation. The payment of a business license tax required by this chapter, its receipt by the City, and the issuance of a business license to any person shall not entitle the holder thereof to conduct any business unless such person has complied with all requirements of this Code and all other applicable laws, nor to conduct any business in any building or on any premises designated in such business license if such building or premises are a zone or locality in which the conduct of such business is in violation of any statute or ordinance. (Ord. 543, § 3)

For purposes of this chapter, the following terms shall have the following meanings unless it is apparent from their context that a different meaning is intended:

"Agent" shall mean a person who acts for, on behalf of, or in the place of another person and who receives compensation, either directly or indirectly, for services rendered.

"Average number of employees" shall mean the number of employees of a business earning wages during the pay period ending nearest the fifteenth day of each month, as shown by Form DE3 of the Employment Development Department of the State, or other form which may be used for reporting payments due under the Unemployment Insurance Act of the State, for each month of the previous calendar year, adding the same, and dividing by 12. If the employer has been in business for less than one year, he or she may use the average number of employees as shown by the business for the last calendar quarter. If the employer has not previously engaged in business, he or she may estimate the average number of employees who will be employed during the remainder of the calendar year, pay the license tax due for such number, and, within 30 days after the end of the license period, file a verified statement of the actual number of employees and pay any additional amount due. The owners of the business active therein shall be included in the computation of the number of employees.

"Broker" shall mean a person who acts as an independent contractor in the purchase or sale of insurance, real or personal property, stocks, bonds, certificates, notes or other items of value.

"Brokerage" shall mean a business involving the purchase or sale of insurance, real or personal property, stocks, bonds, certificates, notes or other items of value.

"Business" shall mean all commercial, industrial and entrepreneurial activities engaged in or caused to be engaged in within the City, including any trade, profession, occupation, vocation, calling or livelihood, and the activities of independent contractors, but excluding the services rendered by an employee to his or her employer.

"Business license" shall mean the license issued to a person under this chapter which evidences payment of the applicable tax prescribed or authorized by this chapter.

"City" shall mean the City of Artesia, a municipal corporation of the State of California.

"Contractor" shall mean a person who, individually or by or through others, undertakes to construct, alter, repair, add to, subtract from, improve, remove or demolish any building or structure, or portion thereof or who is otherwise required to obtain a license from the Contractors' State License Board to engage in the activity. The following shall not be included within this definition:

• (1) A person acting solely in the capacity of an architect or civil engineer;

• (2) An owner-builder as defined in this section;

• (3) Employees of a contractor.

"Employee" shall mean any person engaged in the operation or conduct of any business, whether as owner, member of the family of the owner, partner, agent, manager, or solicitor, and any or all other persons employed or working in such business.

"Engage in business" shall mean to commence, operate, manage or carry on a business, or to exercise corporate or franchise powers, whether as an owner or by means of one or more officers, agents, managers, employees, servants or otherwise, within the boundaries of the City, regardless of whether the business is operated from a fixed location within the boundaries of the City. The use of signs, circulars, cards or any other advertising media including, without limitation, the use of telephone solicitation, or any other means by which a person may hold him or herself out as or represent that he or she is engaged in business in the City may be used as evidence that a person is engaged in business in the City.

"Entertainment" as used in this section shall mean any act, play, revue, pantomime, burlesque show, scene, song, dance act, song and dance act, or poetry recitation conducted or participated in by one or more persons. "Entertainment" shall also include the following:

• (1) Fashion shows wherein persons, whether as owners, proprietors, managers, receptionists, waiters or waitresses, dancers, models, bartenders, employees, or agents, are directed, authorized, employed, or retained by any owner, proprietor, licensee or permittee, or by the agent thereof, to display, or who engage in the act of displaying, while visible to any customer or person on the premises of any such owner, proprietor, manager, licensee, or permittee, clothes or fashion or clothes styles of any nature whatsoever; and

• (2) The use or display of nude or semi-nude persons, whether as owners, proprietors, managers, receptionists, waiters or waitresses, dancers, models, bartenders, employees, or agents, where directed, authorized, employed, or retained by any owner, proprietor, licensee, or permittee, or by the agent thereof, to appear nude or semi-nude, or who engage in the act of appearing nude or semi-nude, while visible to any customer or person on the premises of any such owner, proprietor, manager, licensee, or permittee. "Nude," as used in this subsection, shall mean appearing with less clothing than included in the definition of seminudity. "Semi-nudity," as used in this subsection, shall mean that degree of nudity of any female, where the pubic area, private parts, and the crease of the buttocks are completely covered by nontransparent material and are not visible to the human eye while visible to any customer or person on such premises, who exposes any portion of either breast below a straight line so drawn that both nipples and all portions of both breasts which have a different pigmentation than that of the main portion of the breast areas below such straight line, or the wearing of any type of clothing so that such may be observed.

"Gross receipts" shall mean the total amount charged and received during an annual license period for the performance of any act or service, or for the sale of any product or commodity, whether for cash, credit or property of any kind; provided, however, that the following shall be excluded in determining gross receipts:

• (1)

  • Cash discounts allowed or taken on sales;

• (2) Any transaction for which the general laws or Constitution of the State of California or the United States prohibit the imposition of a business license tax upon;

• (3) Any tax required by law to be added to a purchase price and collected from the purchaser or consumer;

• (4) Such portion of any payment previously received which is refunded upon the return of property by a purchaser to a seller;

• (5) Credit allowance on property accepted as part of the purchase price and which property may later be sold;

• (6) That portion of the receipts of a general contractor which represent payments to subcontractors provided such subcontractors are licensed pursuant to the provisions of this chapter and provided the general contractor furnishes the Tax Collector with the names and addresses of the subcontractors and the amounts paid to each subcontractor.

"Independent contractor" shall mean a person who is engaged to aid in the business of any other person, whether as a professional, as defined herein, or whether pursuant to any license, certificate or registration authorized by the California Business and Professions Code, as the same now exists or as may hereafter be amended, and who receives remuneration either through commission or pursuant to any contract of employment not involving the payment of regular wages or salary.

"Mailing address only" shall mean the maintenance by a person, at any location in the City, of a mailing address for any business, and at which location no business activities are conducted, no employees are engaged, and no stock-in-trade, supplies or equipment are kept or maintained.

"Manufacturing business" shall mean all activities of a commercial or industrial nature wherein labor or skill is applied to materials, by hand or machinery, so that, as a result thereof, a new, different or useful article of tangible personal property or article of trade or commerce is produced. Said term includes the production or fabrication of specially-made or custom-made articles for sale or distribution.

"Owner-builder" shall mean any person engaging in the construction of a single-family dwelling, including the construction of accessory structures or additions thereto, which single-family dwelling is or will be occupied by such person. An owner-builder shall not be required to obtain any business license or pay any business license tax; provided, however, that any subcontractor engaged by an owner-builder shall be subject to all applicable provisions of this chapter.

"Person" shall mean any individual, domestic or foreign corporation, firm, association, syndicate, joint-stock company, partnership, joint venture, club, business or common law trust, society, estate, receiver, retirement plan, trustee, or any other group or combination of individuals or entities acting as a unit.

"Professional" shall mean any person, including any professional corporation, wherever located, engaged in or carrying on within the City, any profession requiring satisfactory compliance with written or oral examination standards adopted by a branch of the State or Federal government. Such professions include, but are not limited to, architects, attorneys, accountants, auditors, audiologists, chiropractors, clinical social workers, dentists, electrologists, engineers, geologists, gemologists, herbalists, marriage, family and child counselors, morticians, naturopaths, nurses (registered), oculists, opticians, optometrists, osteopaths, physicians, podiatrists, psychologists, speech pathologists, surveyors and veterinarians.

"Public dance hall" shall mean a place where dancing is conducted, whether for a profit or not, and to which the public is admitted, either with or without charge, or at which the public is allowed to participate in the dancing, either with or without charge.

"Retail business" shall mean the business of selling goods, wares, merchandise or other products to the ultimate consumer and not solely for resale by another person and which is subject to the payment of sales taxes thereon.

"Service business" shall mean a business engaged in providing or performing labor for the benefit of another within the City; or supplying some service for the benefit of another within the City which does not produce a tangible commodity; or an activity in which any person performs any personal service for another; or services pursuant to which real or personal property, stocks, bonds, or other financial instruments, evidences of debt, contracts of insurance, or any money or credits are exchanged, leased, transferred, or loaned. Said term also includes every business engaged in maintaining, storing, cleaning, improving or repairing tangible commodities within the City, whether or not such business is conducted from fixed premises, a vehicle, or a mobile location within or outside the City. Said term shall not be deemed to include theatrical performances, exhibitions, or temporary amusements, nor professional services, nor telephone services.

"Tax collector" shall mean the City Manager of the City or such other person as the City Manager shall designate.

"Taxpayer" shall mean a person required to pay a tax imposed by this chapter.

"Video game" shall mean all coin and token operated entertainment games of skill, including, but not limited to, pinball machines.

"Wholesale business" shall mean the business of selling goods, wares, merchandise or other products for the purpose of resale and not to the ultimate consumer.

The definitions set forth in Chapter 2 of this Title as they relate to words, terms and phrases utilized in this chapter, shall be applicable in interpreting and construing such words, terms and phrases, but only to the extent such term is not already defined in this chapter.

(Ord. 543, § 3)