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HomeMy WebLinkAboutO-247r- ORDINANCE #247 AN ORDINANCE TO LEVY LICENSE TAXES FOR THE SALE, STORAGE OR DELIVERY OF CERTAIN TOBACCO PRODUCTS WITHIN THE CORPORATE LIMITS OF THE CITY OF FAIRHOPE, AND WITHIN THE POLICE JURISDICTION THEREOF. BE IT ORDAINED BY THE CITY COUNCIL OF THE CITY OF FAIRHOPE, ALABAMA SECTION I. DEVINITIONS. Unless the context clearly indicates a different meaning, the following words and phrases wherever used in this ordinance shall have the meanings respectively ascribed to them in this section. "'PERSON". A natural person, firm, corporation, club, association, joint stock company, receiver, estate, trustee or any person acting in a fiduciary capacity. "RETAIL PRICE". The usual retail selling price of the article before adding the amount of the tax assessed herein, or the tobacco tax assesed by the State of Alabama. "WHOLESALE DEALER, AND JOBBER". A person who sells or delivers within the City of Fairhope, or its police jurisdiction any tobacco products as hereinafter defined, and all persons operating under a retail dealers license. "DEALER". Any wholesale or retail dealer as herein defined. "STORER". Any person who ships or causes to be shipped or receives tobacco products into the City of Fairhope, or its police jurisdiction and stores the same in any manner and withdraws or uses the same for any purpose other than for resale or reshipment outside the City and police jurisdiction. "STAMPS". The word stamps as used herein means the stamp or stamps by the use of which the tax levied under this ordinance is paid. "TOBACCO PRODUCTS". This term includes cigarettes and smoking tobacco, and any substitute therefor. "PACKAGE". The individual box or other container from which or in which retaill'sales of the tobacco products mentioned herein are normally made PF intended to be made. "CITY". The City of Fairhope. "CORPORATE LIMITS". Corporate Iimits of the City of Fairhope. "POLICE JURISDICTION". The territory outside of the copporate limits, but within the police jurisdiction of the City of Fairhope as defined and fixed by the statutes of the State of Alabama:. "SALE". Any transfer of title or possession, or both, exchange or barter, conditional or otherwise, in any manner or by any means whatsoever for a consideration, or any agreement therefor, including rewards, prizes or premiums or such tobacco products given as a result of operations on punch boards, shooting galleries and other activities. The masculine gender shall include the feminine and the neuter genders. Wherever the contract requires, the plural shall include the singular, and singular the plural. Any words or phrases used in the ordinance and not herein defined which are defined in the Code of Alabama, 1940, Title 51, Section 744 to 751, inclusive, and amendments thereto, shall have the meaning ascribed to them by statute. SECTION 2, TAX LEVY IN CITY. That in addition to all -other taxes now imposed by law, every person who sells, stores, or delivers any tobacco products within the corporate limits of the City or within the police jurisdiction thereof shall pay a license tax to the City and • license tax is hereby fixed and levied, which license tax shall be in the following amounts for the sale, storage or delivery of the following named tobacco products in the corporate limits of the City of Fairhope: (1) CIGARETTES. All cigarettes made of tobacco or any substitute therefor, two cents ($.02) for each package containing 20 cigarettes or less. (2) CIGARETTES. All cigarettes made of tobacco or any substitute therefor, four cents 0.04) for each package containing more than 20 and not exceeding 40 cigarettes. (3) CIGARETTES. All cigarettes made of tobacco or any substitute therefor, six cents ($.06) on each package containing more than 40 cig- arettes. (4) SMOKING TOBACCO. All smoking tobacco, including, granulated, plug cut, crimp cut, rubbed and other kinds and forms of tobacco pre-r pared in such manner as to be suitable for smoking in a pipe or cigarette, each package retailing for five cents or less, one-half cent ($.005), each package of smoking tobacco retailing for more than five cents each, an additional one-half cent ($.005), for each five cents or fraction thereof the retail selling price in excess of five cents. The tax levied by,-thi$`.ordi6ance shall be paid through the use of stamps herein provided f6rsr. SECTION 3. TAX LEVY IN POLICE JURISDICTION. Every person selling, delivering or storing any of the tobacco products aforesaid in the police jurisdiction of the City shall pay to the City, and a license tax is hereby fixed and levied, which license tax shall be one-half of the license tax levied under the preceding section on each of the tobacco products mentioned therein. SECTION 4. STAMPS. The City Clerk shall keep on hand for sale an adequate quantity of stamps to be affixed to each package of such tobacco products. in denominations as required under this ordinance. Each such stamps shall have inscribed thereon the words "City of Fairhope Tobacco Tax", but said words need not be arranged in the foregoing order and may be al.breviated, Said stamps may be sold to the wholesale dealer only by the City Clerk at a price equal to 90 per cent of the full amount thereof, the remaining ten per cent of such full amount representing compensation to the wholesale dealer for 'the labor of affixing them to the tobacco products enumerated herein. All other persons except wholesale dealers, must pay the full face amount of the stamps; but no person or dealer shall be entitled to purchase any such number of said stamps as would cause the purchase price to include the fraction of a cent. SECTION 5. DEALERS. Before any of the aforesaid tobacco products shall be sold or delivered within the corper ate limits of said City or police jurisdiction by any dealer, such dealer shall affix to each package of said tobacco products, enumerated in Section 2 of this ordinance, a stamp or stamps obtained from the Clerk of the City of Fairhope in the amounts set out in this ordinance in payment of the license taxes imposed by this ordinance. Every dealer shall within one hour after the receipt of any such tobacco products within the city or its police jurisdiction, unless sooner offered for sale, cause stamps to the requisite amount of they tax to be affixed as hereinafter stated and to cause the same to be cancelled by writing or stamping with waterproof ink across the face of each stamp the registered number furnished such dealer by the State Tax Commission. Aftee such stamping has been begun it shall be continued with reasonable diligence by such dealer until all the unstamped tobacco products aforesaid have been stamped and the stamps cancelled as herein provided, but no stamps required to be affixed to any .ackage of the tobacco products aforesaid shall after the same has been affixed as herein provided, be again psed Jndpayment of any part of the tax levied under this ordinance. Such stamp shall be affixed in such manner that their removal will require continued application of water or steam. In the case of cigarettes and smoking tobacco sold in retail in packages the stamps shall be affixed to each individual packages in such a way that such stamps shall be torn in two or mutilated when such package is opened. SECTION 6. RECORDS. Every wholesale dealer shall at the time of selling or delivering any tobacco products enumerated herein into the City or its police jurisdiction, make a true duplicate invoice of the same which shall show, full and complete, details of the sale or delivery of such tobacco products and shall retain the same subject to the use and inspection of the City Clerk or his duly authorized deputy for the period of three years. Wholesale and retail dealers shall also keep a record of the purchase, sale, exchange and receipt of all the aforesaid tobacco products and hold all books, records, cancelled checks, and all other memoranda pertaining to such purchase, sales, exchange and receipts for the period mentioned herein, subject to the inspection of the City Clerk or his duly authorized deputy, who shall have the power and authority to enter upon the premises of any dealer and to examine such books, records and memoranda at all reasonable times. Any person who purchases or receives in any manner whatsoever, any of the tobacco products enumerated herein which does not have affixed the stamps required by this ordinance slsalll within three days after receipt of such articles of tobacco, report the receipt and purchase of said tobacco products to the City Cler}\ giving the date of purchase or receipt, the name and address of the person or firm from whom purchases or received and a list describing the articles, of tobacco purchases or received. Such `report must be made by registered mail or in person. It shall be unlawful for any person to interfere with or obstruct the City Clerk or such deputy in the exercise of the power and authority conferred by this ordinance. SECTION 7. ILLEGAL ACTS. Among others, the following acts and omissions shall be unlawfulz (a) It shall be unlawful for any person required by this ordinance to affix stamps to tobacco products to fail to a6flicxsuch stamps or to cancel such stamps in the manner or within the time required by this ordinance. (b) It shall be unlawful for any person to sell, offer for sale, or deliver within the City or its police jurisdiction any tobacco products to which stamps have not been affixed and cancelled as provided by this ordinance. (c) It shall be unlawful for any dealer to have in his possession or under his control any tobacco products not properly stamped as required by this ordinance for more than six house after receipt of such products on the premises of such person, provided that this subsection shall not apply to tobacco products in the possession of wholesale dealers or jobbers kept for the purpose of resale or reshipment outside the City and its police jurisdiction and which products are actually so resold or reshipped. The possession of each article or commodity not having the proper stamps affixed thereto as required by this ordinance shall be deemed a separate offense. (d) It shall be unlawful to manufacture, buy, sell, offer for sale or possess or attempt to do so any reproduction or counterfeit of the stamps provided for in this ordinance or to possess tools, implements, instruments or any materials of any kind necessary or appropriate to re— produce or counterfeit such stamps or to alter or cause to be altered any stamps herein provided for: (e) It shall be unlawfuli to remove from a package or otherwise prepare any stamps with intent to use or cause the same to be used, or to buy, sell, offer for sale, or give away, any washed, removed, altered or restored stamp to any person or to have in possession any such washed or removed or restored or altered stamp, or for the purpose of indicating the payment of any tax hereunder to re -use any stamp which has heretofore been used for the payment of any tax provided in this ordinance, or, except as to the City Clerk to sell any stamp provided for herein. (f) It shall be unlawfub to re -use or re -fill with any tobacco products any package from which such taxed tobacco products have been removed. SECTION 8. APPLICATION. (a) This ordinance shall not be applied so as to impose any unlawful burden or unlawful tax on interstate commerce or any business of the United States Government or any branch or agency thereof. (b) This ordinance shall not apply to the tobacco products mentioned herein stored by a wholesale dealer for the purpose of resale or re -ship- ment outside the City and its police jurisdiction and which are actually so re -sold or re -shipped. (c) This ordinance shall not repeal any of the provisions of the License Ordinance of the City but shall be held to be cumulative. (d) Whenever the requisite amount of stamps has been affixed to the tobacco products as required herein, this ordinance shall not require additional stamps to be affixed thereto in case of subsequent sales, deliveries, or storages; except where the tobacco products taxed here- under have been stamped with the amount required for the sale in the police jurisdiction and the same are subsequently sold within the corporate limits the required additional amount of stamps shall be attached thereto. SECTION 9. SEVERABILITY. Each and every provision of this ordinance is hereby declared to be an independent provision, and the holding of any provision hereof to be void or invalid shall not affect any other pro- vision hereof, and it is hereby declared that the other provisions of this ordinance would have been enacted regardless of any provision which might be held invalid. SECTION 10. SAVING PROVISION. No fine, penalty, or forfeiture incurred under this ordinance number 247 previous to its repeal, and no proceeding therefor instituted before or after such repeal shall in anyway be affected by such repeal. SECTION II. PENALTY. Any person violating any of the provisions of this ordinance shall, upon conviction be fined not more than $100.00 and may be sentenced to hard labor for the City for not more than 30 days, either or both. SECTION 12. The proceeds from the tax levied by this ordinance when collected shall be and is hereby appropriated to and shall be used for the acquistional of lands, buildings and equipment and facilities for recreational and park purposes and for maintenance, development and operation of recre- ational facilities and public parks, for the City of Fairhope and its people. SECTION 13. EFFECTIVE DATE. This ordinance shall become effective at midnight of May L- I 7, or as soon thereafter as it may under the consti- tution and laws of the State of Alabama. Adopted on the 2 th cay of March, 1957. 2224:a'.' Clerk Approved this the 25th day of March, 1957. Mayor