Chapter 3.08
ADMISSIONS TAX
Sections:
3.08.030 Admission tickets—Required specifications.
3.08.040 Collection and remittance regulations—Violations designated.
3.08.050 Certificate of registration—Required—Fee—Posting—Duration.
3.08.060 Certificate of registration—Temporary entertainment liability with owner.
3.08.070 Rules and regulations—Promulgation—Availability to Public—Noncompliance.
3.08.010 Definitions.
For the purpose of this chapter, words and phrases shall have the following meanings:
A. “Admission charge,” in addition to its usual and ordinary meaning, shall include a charge made for season tickets or subscriptions.
B. “Person” means any individual, receiver, assignee, firm, copartnership, corporation, association, society or group of individuals acting as a unit, whether mutual, cooperative, fraternal, nonprofit or otherwise.
C. “Place” includes, but is not restricted to, theaters, dancehalls, amphitheaters, auditoriums, stadiums, athletic pavilions and fields, baseball and athletic parks, circuses, sideshows and such attractions as merry-go-rounds and ferris wheels. (Ord. 119 § 1, 1943)
3.08.020 Tax levied—Amount.
There is levied and imposed upon every person who pays an admission charge to any place in the city, a tax in the amount of three percent on the admission charge paid by them. (Ord. 175 § 1, 1953: Ord. 119 § 2, 1943)
3.08.030 Admission tickets—Required specifications.
The price (exclusive of the tax to be paid by the person paying for admission) at which every admission ticket or card is sold shall be conspicuously and indelibly printed or written on the face or back of that part of the ticket which is to be taken up by the management of the place to which admission is gained, and it is unlawful for any person to sell an admission ticket or card on which the name of the vendor or the price is not so printed, stamped or written or to sell an admission ticket, or card at a price in excess of the price printed, stamped or written thereon. (Ord. 119 § 3, 1943)
3.08.040 Collection and remittance regulations—Violations designated.
Every person receiving any payment for admission on which a tax is levied under this chapter shall collect the amount of the tax imposed from the person making the admission payment. The tax required to be collected under this chapter shall be deemed to be held in trust by the person required to collect the same until paid to the city clerk/treasurer as provided in this chapter. Any person required to collect the tax imposed under this chapter who fails to collect the same, or, having collected the same, fails to remit the same to the city clerk/treasurer in the manner prescribed in this chapter, whether such failure is the result of his own act or the result of acts or conditions beyond his control, shall nevertheless be personally liable to the city for the amount of such tax, and shall, unless the remittance be made as required in this chapter, be guilty of a violation of this chapter. The tax imposed under this chapter shall be collected at the time the admission charge is paid by the person seeking admission to any place and shall be reported and remitted by the person receiving the tax to the clerk/treasurer in bimonthly installments and remittances therefor on or before the fifteenth day of the month next succeeding the end of the bimonthly period in which the tax is collected or received; provided, that the first return and remittance under this chapter shall be made on or before the fifteenth day of November, 1943, and shall cover the period from the time when the ordinance codified in this chapter becomes effective, to and including October 31, 1943. Payment or remittance of the tax may be made to the city clerk/treasurer by check, unless payment or remittance is otherwise required by the city clerk/treasurer. Payment by check shall not relieve the person collecting the tax from liability unless the check is honored and is for the full and correct amount. The person receiving any payment for admissions shall make out a return upon such form and setting forth such information as the city clerk/treasurer may require, showing the amount of the tax upon admissions for which he is liable for the preceding bimonthly period, and shall sign and transmit the same to the town clerk-treasurer with a remittance for such amount. Whenever any theater, circus, show, exhibition, entertainment or amusement makes an admission charge which is subject to the tax levied in this chapter, and the same is of a temporary or transitory nature, of which the town clerk-treasurer shall be the judge, the town clerk-treasurer may require the report and remittance of the admission tax immediately upon the collection of the same at the conclusion of the performance or exhibition, or at the conclusion of the series of performances or exhibitions or at such other times as the town clerk-treasurer shall determine; and failure to comply with any requirement of the town clerk-treasurer as to report and remittance of the tax as required shall be a violation of this chapter. The books, records and accounts of any person collecting a tax levied in this chapter shall, as to admission charges and collections, be at all reasonable times subject to examination and audit by the town clerk-treasurer. (Ord. 119 § 4, 1943)
3.08.050 Certificate of registration—Required—Fee—Posting—Duration.
Any person conducting or operating a place for entrance to which an admission charge is made shall, on a form prescribed by the town clerk-treasurer, make application to and procure from the town clerk-treasurer a certificate of registration, the fee for which shall be one dollar, which certificate shall continue valid until the thirty-first day of December of the year in which the same is issued. Such a certificate of registration, or duplicate original copies thereof to be issued by the town clerk-treasurer without additional charge, shall be posted in a conspicuous place in each ticket or box office where tickets of admission are sold. (Ord. 119 § 5, 1943)
3.08.060 Certificate of registration—Temporary entertainment liability with owner.
Whenever a certificate of registration is obtained for the purpose of operating or conducting a temporary or transitory amusement, entertainment by persons who are not the owners, lessees or custodians of the building or lots where the amusement is to be conducted, the tax imposed by this chapter shall be reported and remitted pursuant to Section 3.08.040 by such owner, lessee or custodian, unless paid by the person conducting the place. The applicant for a certificate of registration for such purpose shall furnish with the application therefor the name and address of the owner, lessee or custodian of the premises upon which the amusement is to be conducted, and such owner, lessee or custodian shall be notified by the town clerk-treasurer of the issuance of such certificate and the joint liability for collection and remittance of such tax. (Ord. 119 § 6, 1943)
3.08.070 Rules and regulations—Promulgation—Availability to Public—Noncompliance.
The town clerk-treasurer shall have power to adopt rules and regulations not inconsistent with the terms of this chapter for carrying out and enforcing payment, collection and remittance of the tax levied in this chapter and a copy of such rules and regulations shall be on file and available for public examination in the office of the town clerk-treasurer. Failure or refusal to comply with any such rules and regulations shall be deemed a violation of this chapter. (Ord. 119 § 7, 1943)
3.08.080 Payable when.
The tax levied and imposed by this chapter shall be collected and paid on and after the effective date of the ordinance codified in this chapter. (Ord. 119 § 8, 1943)
3.08.090 Violation—Penalty.
Each violation of or failure to comply with the provisions of this chapter shall constitute a separate offense and shall subject the offender to a fine of not to exceed three hundred dollars or to imprisonment in the jail for not to exceed ninety days, or to both fine and imprisonment. (Ord. 119 § 10, 1943)