No person shall operate or cause to be operated a taxicab or proffer the services of any vehicle as a taxicab unless the owner of such vehicle has obtained a taxicab license as herein provided covering such vehicle.
Every such taxicab license shall expire on December 31 for the year in which it is issued. Licenses issued on or after July 1 of any year shall be issued at one-half the annual fee herein provided.
The annual license fee for each taxicab shall be twenty-five dollars ($25.00) for the first cab owned by any person applying therefor, ten dollars ($10.00) for the second cab, ten dollars ($10.00) for the third cab and five dollars ($5.00) for all additional cabs owned by any person applying therefor. Such license fee shall be paid at the time of the application for a license and in the event a license is denied, fifty percent of the license fee paid shall be refunded to the applicant.