San Jose Municipal Code Part 2 Imposition of Tax

A. There is hereby imposed a tax on every person who subscribes to telephone service within the City of San José.

B. For purposes of this chapter, with respect to wireless telephone services, a person shall be construed to subscribe to telephone service within the City of San José if he or she has a "place of primary use," as such term is defined in the Mobile Telecommunications Sourcing Act, 4 U.S.C. § 124(8), within the geographic boundaries of the city.

C. Only one payment of the tax herein imposed shall be required for any single access line or trunk line, notwithstanding that access lines of more than one Telephone corporation are used in furnishing telephone service to a telephone subscriber.

(Measure J (Ord. 2008.1), adopted by electorate, 12-9-08)

A. The amount of the tax imposed by this chapter shall be one dollar fifty-seven cents ($1.57) per month per access line and eleven dollars and eighty-two cents ($11.82) per month per trunk line.

B. The tax imposed by this chapter shall be paid, on a per line basis, by the person paying for such telephone service.

C. No telephone subscriber shall be required to pay a tax in excess of twenty-two thousand one hundred thirty-two dollars ($22,132.00) per account per service location in any calendar year. For the first year of operation of this chapter, payments made through December 2009 will use a prorated annual limit based on the number of months that payments were billed by the service suppliers. The cost of wireless telephone services shall not be considered for purposes of the tax cap established by this subsection, regardless of whether the service location is also a primary place of use for a wireless line. The amount of the tax cap established by this subsection shall be adjusted annually, commencing January 1, 2010, if the cost of living in the City of San José has increased over the preceding base period as shown by the Consumer Price Index - All Urban Consumers for All Items (with a base period of 1982-1984=100) for the San Francisco-Oakland-San José Area published by the United States Department of Labor Bureau of Labor Statistics (CPI Index), but in no event shall the adjustment exceed three percent (3%) per annum. The base period for the first adjustment period (January 1, 2010), shall be the CPI Index reported for the months of April 2009 and October 2009. For the second adjustment period (January 1, 2011), the base period shall be the CPI Index reported for the months of October 2009 and October 2010. The Base Period for subsequent adjustment periods shall be October to October. In the event the CPI Index is no longer published, the city council shall use as a reference, another index published by either the State of California or a federal department or agency that is charged with the responsibility of measuring the cost of living in the geographical area that includes the City of San José.

(Measure J (Ord. 2008.1), adopted by electorate, 12-9-08)

Nothing in this chapter shall be construed as imposing a tax upon the access lines of:

A. A lifeline service customer of a service supplier; or

B. A telephone corporation; or

C. Coin-operated telephones; or

D. A nonprofit hospital which is exempt from federal income tax under Section 501(a) of the United States Code; or

E. A nonprofit educational organization which is exempt from income tax under Section 501(a) of the United States Code; or

F. Any person when imposition of such tax upon that person would violate the Constitution of the United States or that of the State of California or preemptive federal or state law; or

G. City of San José, County of Santa Clara, State of California and United States Government offices.

(Measure J (Ord. 2008.1), adopted by electorate, 12-9-08)