Ventura Municipal Code § 4.140.080 Severability

8 Cross reference(s): Public utilities, Title 22.

Except where the context otherwise requires, the definitions given in this section govern the construction of this chapter.

“City” shall mean the city of San Buenaventura.

“Month” shall mean a calendar month.

“Person” shall mean any domestic or foreign corporation, firm, association, syndicate, joint stock company, partnership of any kind, joint venture, club, Massachusetts business or common-law trust, society, individual, or municipal corporation.

“Service supplier” shall mean a person required to collect and remit a tax imposed by this chapter.

“Service user” shall mean a person required to pay a tax imposed by this chapter.

“Tax administrator” shall mean the treasurer-tax collector of the city of San Buenaventura.

“Telephone corporation,” “electrical corporation,” “gas corporation,” “water corporation,” and “cable television corporation” shall have the same meanings as defined in Sections 234, 218, 222, 241, and 215.5, respectively, of the Public Utilities Code of the state of California. “Electrical corporation” and “water corporation” shall be construed to include any municipality or franchised agency engaged in the selling or supplying of electrical power or water to a service user. (Code 1971, § 1581)

A. There is hereby imposed a tax upon every person in the city, other than a telephone corporation, using intrastate telephone communication services in the city. The tax imposed by this section shall be at the rate of five percent of all charges made for such services and shall be paid by the person paying for such services.

B. As used in this section, the term “charges” shall not include charges for services paid for by inserting coins in coin-operated telephones except that where such coin-operated telephone service is furnished for a guaranteed amount, the amounts paid under such guarantee plus any fixed monthly or other periodic charge shall be included in the base for computing the amount of tax due; nor shall the term “telephone communication services” include land mobile services or maritime mobile services as defined in Section 2.1 of Title 47 of the Code of Federal Regulations.

C. Notwithstanding the provisions of subsection A of this section, the tax imposed under this section shall not be imposed upon any person for using intrastate telephone communication services to the extent that the amounts paid for such services are exempt from or not subject to the tax imposed by Section 4251 of Title 26 of the United States Code, without regard to subsection (b) thereof. (Code 1971, § 1582)

A. There is hereby imposed a tax upon every person in the city of San Buenaventura using electrical energy in the city. The tax imposed by this section shall be at the rate of five percent of the charges made for such energy and shall be paid by the person paying for such energy. “Charges,” as used in this section, shall include charges made for (1) metered energy, and (2) minimum charges for service, including customer charges, service charges, demand charges, and annual and monthly charges.

B. As used in this section, the term “using electrical energy” shall not be construed to mean the storage of such energy by a person in a battery owned or possessed by a person for use in an automobile or other machinery or device apart from the premises upon which the energy was received; provided, however, that the term shall include the receiving of such energy for the purpose of using it in the charging of batteries. The term shall not include electricity used in water pumping by water corporations; nor shall the term include the mere receiving of such energy by an electrical corporation at a point within the city for resale. (Code 1971, § 1583)

A. There is hereby imposed a tax upon every person in the city using in the city gas which is delivered through mains or pipes. The tax imposed by this section shall be at the rate of five percent of the charges made for such gas and shall be paid by the person paying for such gas.

B. There shall be excluded from the base on which the tax imposed in this section is computed (1) charges made for gas which is to be resold and delivered through mains or pipes; (2) charges made for gas to be used in the generation of electrical energy by an electrical corporation; and (3) charges made by a gas public utility for gas used and consumed in the conduct of the business of gas public utilities. (Code 1971, § 1584)

There is hereby imposed a tax upon every person in the city using cable television service. The tax imposed by this section shall be at the rate of five percent of the charges made for such service and shall be paid by the person paying for such service. (Code 1971, § 1585)

Nothing in this chapter shall be construed as imposing a tax upon any person if imposition of such tax upon that person would be in violation of the Constitution of the United States or the Constitution of the state of California. (Code 1971, § 1586)

A. Every person receiving payment of charges from a service user shall collect the amount of tax imposed by this chapter from the service user.

B. The tax shall be collected insofar as practicable at the same time as and along with the collection of charges made in accordance with the regular billing practice of the service supplier.

C. The duty to collect tax from a service user shall commence with the beginning of the first regular billing period applicable to that person which starts on or after the effective date of this chapter. Where a person receives more than one billing, one or more being for different periods than another, the duty to collect shall arise separately for each billing period.

1. Reporting and Remitting. Each service supplier shall, on or before the twentieth of each month, make a return to the tax administrator, on forms provided by them, stating the amount of taxes billed by the service supplier during the preceding month. At the time the return is filed, the full amount of the tax collected shall be remitted to the tax administrator. The tax administrator is authorized to require such further information as the administrator deems necessary to properly determine if the tax here imposed is being levied and collected in accordance with this chapter. Returns and remittances are due immediately upon cessation of business for any reason.

2. Penalty.

a. Taxes collected from a service user which are not remitted to the tax administrator on or before the due dates provided in this chapter are delinquent.

b. Penalties for delinquency in remittance of any tax collected or any deficiency determination shall attach and be paid by the person required to collect and remit at the rate of 15 percent of the total tax collected or imposed herein.

c. The tax administrator shall have power to impose additional penalties upon persons required to collect and remit taxes under the provisions of this chapter for fraud or negligence in reporting or remitting at the rate of 15 percent of the amount of the tax collected as recomputed by the tax administrator.

d. Every penalty imposed under the provisions of this section shall become a part of the tax required to be remitted.

3. Actions to Collect. Any tax required to be paid by a service user under the provisions of this chapter shall be deemed a debt owed by the service user to the city. Any such tax collected from a service user which has not been remitted to the tax administrator shall be deemed a debt owed to the city by the person required to collect and remit. Any person owing money to the city under the provisions of this chapter shall be liable to an action brought in the name of the city for the recovery of such amount.

4. Failure to Pay Tax – Administrative Remedy. Whenever the tax administrator determines that a service user has deliberately withheld the amount of the tax owed by the user from the amounts remitted to a service supplier, or that a service user has failed to pay the amount of the tax for a period of two or more billing periods, or whenever the tax administrator deems it in the best interest of the city, the administrator may relieve the service supplier of the obligation to collect taxes due under this chapter from certain named service users for specified billing periods. The tax administrator shall notify the service user that the administrator has assumed responsibility to collect the taxes due for the stated periods and demand payment of such taxes. The notice shall be served on the service user by handing it to the user personally or by deposit of the notice in the United States mail, postage prepaid thereon, addressed to the service user at the address to which billing was made by the service supplier; or should the service user have changed the user’s address, to the user’s last known address. If a service user fails to remit the tax to the tax administrator within 15 days from the date of the service of the notice upon them, which shall be the date of mailing if service is not accomplished in person, a penalty of 25 percent of the amount of the tax set forth in the notice shall be imposed, but not less than $5.00. The penalty shall become part of the tax herein required to be paid.

5. Assessment – Administrative Remedy. The tax administrator may make an assessment for taxes not paid or remitted by a person required to pay or remit. A notice of the assessment which shall refer briefly to the amount of the taxes and penalties imposed and the time and place when such assessment shall be submitted to the city council for confirmation or modification. The tax administrator shall mail a copy of such notice to the person selling the service and to the service user at least 10 days prior to the date of the hearing and shall post such notice at the City Hall for at least five continuous days prior to the date of the hearing. Any interested party having any objections may appear and be heard at the hearing provided the party’s objection is filed in writing with the tax administrator prior to the time set for the hearing. At the time fixed for considering the assessment, the city council shall conduct a hearing and after the hearing may confirm or modify the assessment by motion.

6. Records. It shall be the duty of every person required to collect and remit to the city any tax imposed by this chapter to keep and preserve, for a period of three years, all records as may be necessary to determine the amount of such tax as the person may have been liable for the collection of and remittance to the tax administrator, which records the tax administrator shall have the right to inspect at all reasonable times.

7. Refunds.

a. Whenever the amount of any tax has been overpaid or paid more than once or has been erroneously or illegally collected or received by the tax administrator under this chapter, it may be refunded as provided in this section.

b. A person required to collect and remit taxes imposed under this chapter may claim a refund or take as credit against taxes collected and remitted the amount overpaid, paid more than once or erroneously or illegally collected or received when it is established in a manner prescribed by the tax administrator that the service user from whom the tax has been collected did not owe the tax; provided, however, that neither a refund nor a credit shall be allowed unless the amount of the tax so collected has either been refunded to the service user or credited to charges subsequently payable by the service user to the person required to collect and remit.

c. No refund shall be paid under the provisions of this section unless the claimant establishes the claimant’s right thereto by written records showing entitlement thereto. (Code 1971, § 1587)

If any section, subsection, subdivision, paragraph, sentence, clause or phrase of this chapter or any part thereof is for any reason held to be unconstitutional, such decision shall not affect the validity of the remaining portions of this chapter or any part thereof. The city council hereby declares that it would have passed each section, subsection, subdivision, paragraph, sentence, clause or phrase thereof irrespective of the fact that any one or more sections, subsections, subdivisions, paragraphs, sentences, clauses or phrases be declared unconstitutional. (Code 1971, § 1588)