§ 30.053 SCHEDULE OF LICENSE TAXES.

   The city adopts the State of North Carolina maximum tax privilege rate for each business the state regulates. The following schedule will be automatically updated from time to time to conform to changes in the state privilege tax rates. Any business not described in the following schedule is considered a general business and is taxed on the basis of gross receipts.

 

Category of business	Description of business (where applicable)	Tax rate
ABATTOIR OR SLAUGHTERHOUSE		$25
ADULT ENTERTAINMENT ESTABLISHMENT	Includes videos, books, bars, nightclubs, and massage parlors	GROSS RECEIPTS
ADVERTISING (G.S. § 105-86)	Every person, firm, or corporation, who or which is engaged in the business of outdoor advertising by means of signboards, posterboards, or printed bulletins or any other outdoor advertising devices erected upon grounds, walls or roofs of buildings, and/or other outdoor advertising.	$35
ANTIQUE DEALERS	Every person, firm, or corporation engaged in the business of selling antique furniture or other articles of antique property.	GROSS RECEIPTS
AUTOMOTIVE SERVICE STATION AND/OR REPAIR GARAGE (G.S. § 105-89)	Engaging in the business of servicing, storing, painting, repairing, welding, or upholstering motor vehicles, trailers, semi-trailers or retail selling or delivering of any tires, tools, batteries, electrical equipment, automotive accessories, radios designed for exclusive use in automobiles, supplies, motor fuels, lubricants, or any such commodities.	$12.50

 

Category of business	Description of business (where applicable)	Tax rate
AUTOMOTIVE EQUIPMENT AND SUPPLIES AT WHOLESALE (G.S. § 105-89)	Engaging is the business of buying, selling, distributing, exchanging, or delivering automotive accessories, including radios designed for exclusive use in automobiles, parts, tires, tools, batteries, other automotive equipment or supplies, or any such commodities at wholesale (applies to manufacturers, jobbers, and others who sell to retail dealers, except manufacturers of batteries).	$37.50
AUTOMOTIVE DEALERS (G.S. § 105-89)	Engaging in the business of buying, selling, distributing, servicing, storing, or exchanging motor vehicles, trailers, semi-trailers, tires, tools, batteries, electrical equipment, lubricants, or automotive equipment, radios designed for exclusive use in automobiles, and supplies.	$25
BAKERIES	Engaging in the business of making and baking breads or cakes or other like articles.	$37.50
BARBER SHOPS AND BEAUTY SALONS (G.S. § 105-75.1)	Engaging in the business of conducting a barbershop, beauty salon or parlor, manicurist, or other shop of like kind.	$2.50 per booth
BEER AND WINE (G.S. § 105-113.77)	Engaging in the sale of beer or wine
BICYCLES (G.S. § 105-102.5)	Selling bicycles, bicycle supplies, or bicycle accessories.	$25
BOWLING ALLEYS (G.S. § 105-102.5)	Operating a bowling alley or alleys of like kind.	$10 per alley
CABINET MAKER	Engaging in the business of making or manufacturing cabinets.	$30

 

 

Category of business	Description of business (where applicable)	Tax rate
CHAIN OR BRANCH STORES (G.S. § 105-98)	Engaging in the business of operating or maintaining in this state, (a) two or more stores or mercantile establishments under the same general management, supervision, or ownership where goods, wares, or merchandise are sold or offered for sale, or from which such goods, wares, or merchandise are sold or distributed at wholesale or retail; or (b) controlling by lease, either as lessor or lessee, or by contract, the manner in which any such store or stores are operated, or the varieties, character, or brands of merchandise which are sold therein. EXEMPTIONS: Retail or wholesale dealers in motor vehicles and automotive equipment and supply dealers at wholesale who do not sell other items taxable under the chain store tax; retail stores of nonprofit organizations engaged exclusively in the sale of merchandise processed by handicapped persons employed by nonprofit organizations in North Carolina.	$50
CHECK CASHING BUSINESS (G.S. § 105-88)		$100
CHILD CARE CENTERS (G.S. § 105-60)	Operating a day-care facility as defined in G.S. § 110-86(3), which defines such a facility, as "any child day-care center or child care arrangement which provides day care for more than five children, not including the operator’s after-school children, under the age of 13, on a regular basis of at least once per week for more than four hours but less than 24 hours per day."

 

Category of business	Description of business (where applicable)	Tax rate
CHRISTMAS TREES	Dealers in Christmas trees and perishable Christmas decorations. Each lot. Not prorated. EXEMPTION: religious, charitable, and civic organizations.	$50
CIRCUSES (G.S. § 105-38)	Exhibiting performances, such as a circus, menagerie, wild west show, dog or pony shows, or any other similar show, exhibition, or performance not taxed in other sections of this schedule.	$25 per day
COLLECTION AGENCIES (G.S. § 105-45)	Engaging in the business of operation a collecting agency defined as collecting for a profit, claims, accounts, bills, notes, or other money obligations for others.	$50
CONTRACTORS (G.S. § 105-54)	Offering or bidding for a fixed price, commission, fee, or wage to construct any building, highway, street, sidewalk, bridge, culvert, sewer or water system, drainage or dredging system, electric or steam railway, reservoir or dam, hydraulic or power plant, transmission line, tower, dock, wharf, excavation, grading, or other improvement or structure.	$10
COUPON BOOKS		$200
DANCES (G.S. § 105-37.1)	Giving or managing any dance or athletic contest of any kind that charges an admission fee in excess of $.50. EXEMPTION: High school and elementary school athletic contests, dances promoted and managed by civic organizations; by private and public secondary schools; offered or given on the Cherokee Indian reservation, authorized to be given there, and paying the tribal gross receipts levy to the tribal council; teen centers exempt from the state income tax; and centers for the performing arts (see G.S. § 105-37 for definition).	$25 per location
DIRECTORIES	Engaging in preparing or publishing a directory for the City of Locust.	$50

 

 

Category of business	Description of business (where applicable)	Tax rate
ELECTRICIANS (G.S. § 105-91)	Engaging in the business of an electrician, installing electrical equipment, or offering to perform such services. EXEMPTION: A person engaged exclusively in a business licensed under this section is not liable for a license tax levied under G.S. § 105-54 (contractors) or G.S. § 105-55 (installing elevators and sprinkler systems).	$50
ELECTRONIC VIDEO GAMES (G.S. § 105-66.1)	Owning or operating machines that play electronic video games when a coin or other thing of value is deposited in the machine. The license is not transferable from one machine to another.	$5 per machine
ELEVATORS AND SPRINKLER SYSTEMS (G.S. § 105-55)	Engaging in the business of selling or installing elevators or automatic sprinkler systems. EXEMPTION: A person engaged in a business taxed by this section if the person does not maintain an established place of business in the city.	$100
ENTERTAINMENT (G.S. § 105-37.1)	Giving, offering, or managing any form of entertainment or amusement for which an admission is charged and that is not otherwise taxed or specifically exempted in this schedule. EXEMPTION: Highschool and elementary school athletic contests, dances promoted and managed by civic organizations; by private and public secondary schools; offered or given on the Cherokee Indian reservation, authorized to be given there, and paying the tribal gross receipts levy to the tribal council; teen centers exempt from the state income tax; and centers for the performing arts (see G.S. § 105-37 for definition)	$25

 

Category of business	Description of business (where applicable)	Tax rate
FIREARMS AND OTHER WEAPONS (G.S. § 105-80)
FIREARMS	Engaging in the business of selling or offering for sale firearms. EXEMPTIONS: Dealers in antique firearms and weapons of mass death and destruction (G.S. § 14-409.11 and G.S. § 14-288.8) and persons who make occasional sales, purchases, or exchanges for the enhancement of a personal collection of firearms.	$50
OTHER WEAPONS	Engaging in the business of selling or offering for sale bowie knives, dirks, daggers, leaded canes, iron or metallic knuckles, or similar weapons.	$200
FISH AND OYSTER DEALERS	Engaging in the business of selling fish or oysters.	$25
FITNESS, TANNING BEDS AND RELATED BUSINESS		GROSS RECEIPTS
FLORIST	Every person, firm, or corporation doing a florist business in the city.	GROSS RECEIPTS
FORTUNE-TELLERS (G.S. § 105-58)	Engaging in the business of telling or pretending to tell fortunes, practicing the art of palmistry, clairvoyance, and other crafts of a similar kind for a reward.	$500
FUNERAL SERVICES (G.S. § 105-46)	Engaging in the business of burying the dead or the retail sale of coffins. EXEMPTION: Cabinetmaker who is not in the funeral service business but makes coffins to order.	$50
GUNSMITH		$50
HEALTH MASSAGE/BODY WORKS THERAPIST		$50

 

 

Category of business	Description of business (where applicable)	Tax rate
HEATING CONTRACTORS (G.S. § 105-91)	Engaging in the business of a heating contractor, installing steam or gas fitter, or hot air heating systems, or offering to perform such services. EXEMPTION: A person engaged exclusively in a business licensed under this section is not liable for a license tax levied under G.S. § 105-54 (contractors) or G.S. § 105-55 (installing elevators and sprinkler systems).	$50
HOTELS (G.S. § 05-61)	Operating a hotel, motel, tourist court, tourist home, or similar place advertising in any manner or soliciting for transient patronage. A HOTEL is defined as a building of group of buildings providing lodging and usually meals, entertainment, and various personal services for the public. A MOTEL is a building or group of buildings where rooms usually are directly accessible from an outdoor parking area and are used primarily as lodging for the public. In computing the number of rooms, the lobby, the clubroom, the office, the dinning room, the kitchen, and the rooms occupied by the owner or lessee of the business for his or her private use or the use of his or her family shall not be counted. Any tax on the sale of food by a hotel or motel under G.S. § 105-62 is separate from and in addition to the tax levied under this section.	$1 per room, $25 minimum
ICE CREAM DEALERS AT RETAIL (G.S. § 105-102.5)	Selling at retail ice cream, including frozen custards, sherbets, water ices, yogurt, and similar frozen products.	$2.50
ICE CREAM VENDORS	Retail from a cart or vehicle, per vehicle fee.	$75

 

Category of business	Description of business (where applicable)	Tax rate
ITINERANT MERCHANT (G.S. 105-53)	Engaging in the business of ITINERANT MERCHANT, defined as a “merchant, other than a merchant with an established retail store in the city, who transports an inventory of goods to a building, vacant lot, or other location in a city and who, at that location, displays the goods for sale and sells the goods at retail or offers the goods for sale at retail.” A merchant who sells goods, other than farm products, in the city for less than six consecutive months, is considered an itinerant merchant unless he or she stopped selling goods in the city because of his or her death or disablement, the insolvency of his or her business, or destruction of his or her inventory by fire or other catastrophe.	$100
	EXEMPTIONS:
	a)    Sellers of farm or nursery products they produced;
	b)    Sellers of crafts or goods they or their household produced;
	c)    Nonprofit charitable, educational, religious, scientific, or civic organizations;
	d)    Sellers of printed material, wood for fuel, ice, seafood, meat, poultry, livestock, eggs, dairy products, bread, cakes, or pies;
	e)    Licensed automobile dealers;
	f)    A specialty market vendor at a licensed specialty or at a specialty market operated by the state or local government;
	g)    A merchant who locates at a farmers market;
	h)    A merchant who is part of the state fair or an agricultural fair licensed by the commissioner of agriculture; or
	i)    A merchant who sells goods at an auction conducted by an auctioneer licensed in compliance with G.S. Ch. 85B.

 

Category of business	Description of business (where applicable)	Tax rate
INTERIOR DECORATORS		$50
JANITORIAL SERVICE	Washing or cleaning windows or cleaning buildings.	$50
JEWELRY STORES	Buying and selling jewelry or trinkets.	GROSS RECEIPTS
LAUNDRIES (G.S. § 105-85)	Engaging in the business of operating a laundry, including wet or damp wash laundries and businesses known as launderettes, launderalls, and similar types of businesses; or engaging in the business of supplying or renting clean linen or towels or wearing apparel.	$50
LOAN AGENCIES (G.S. 105-88)	Engaging in the regular business of making loans or lending money. EXEMPTIONS: banks, industrial credit unions, installment paper dealers (G.S. § 105-83), pawnbrokers, insurance premium finance companies, the negotiation of loans on real estate, and real estate mortgage brokers.	$100
MANUFACTURERS	Engaging in the business of manufacturing any type of product(s) in the city.	GROSS RECEIPTS
MARBLE YARDS	Dealers in tombstones and monuments.	$50
MERCHANTS RETAIL	Doing any kind of business at retail. Shall pay for each store or place of business.	GROSS RECEIPTS
MERCHANTS WHOLESALE	Doing any kind of business at wholesale. Shall pay for each store or place of business.	GROSS RECEIPTS
MISCELLANEOUS	In those cases where the privilege license tax amount cannot be determined by any other means, the City Finance Officer shall determine the tax amount due using the following basis:

 

Category of business	Description of business (where applicable)	Tax rate
MOBILE HOME PARKS		$50
MOTORCYCLE DEALERS (G.S. § 105-89)	Engaging in the business of buying, selling, distributing, or exchanging motorcycles, motorcycle supplies, or any of such commodities.	$12.50
MUSIC BOX OR MACHINES (G.S. § 105-65)	Operating, maintaining, or placing on location any machine or machines that play records or produce music. If the city tax, interest, or penalty is not paid or the license is not attached to the machine, local officials are authorized to seize, remove, and hold such machines until all such defaults have been remedied.	$5 per machine
NEWSPAPERS	Engaging in the business of selling newspapers or selling advertising.	GROSS RECEIPTS
NIGHTCLUBS	SEE ADULT ENTERTAINMENT
PACKING HOUSES (G.S. § 105-70)	Operators of meat packinghouses, and wholesale dealers in meat packinghouse products who own, lease, or operate a cold-storage room or warehouse in connection with the wholesale business.	$100
PAWN SHOPS (G.S. § 105-50)	Engaging; in the business of pawnbroker, defined as lending or advancing money or other things of value for a profit, and taking as a pledge for such loans specific articles of personal property to be forfeited if payment is not make within a definite time.	$275

 

Category of business	Description of business (where applicable)	Tax rate
PEDDLERS (G.S. § 105-53)	Engaging in the business of PEDDLER, defined as: a person who travels from place to place with an inventory of goods, who sells the goods at retail or offers the goods for sale at retail, and who delivers the identical goods he or she carries with him or her.
	The following persons and firms are exempt from the peddler’s tax:
	a)    Sellers of farm or nursery products they produced;
	b)    Sellers of crafts or goods they or their household produced;
	c)    Nonprofit charitable, educational, religious, scientific, or civic organizations;
	d)    Sellers of printed material, wood for fuel, ice, seafood, meat, poultry, livestock, eggs, dairy products, bread, cakes, or pies;
	e)    Licensed automobile dealers;
	f)    Peddlers who maintain a fixed permanent location from which they make at least 90% of their sales; and
	g)   Peddlers who comply with G.S. § 25a-38 through G.S. § 25a-42 (consumer credit sales at residences with right to cancel) or G.S. § 14-401.13 (off-premises sales of consumer goods or services of $25 or more).
PIANOS AND ORGANS (G.S. § 105-102.5)	Selling, offering or ordering for sale, repairing or servicing pianos, organs, record players, records, tape players, tape cartridges designed for use in tape players, television sets, television accessories and repair parts, radios (including radios designed for exclusive use in motor vehicles), and radio accessories and repair parts.	$5

 

Category of business	Description of business (where applicable)	Tax rate
PINBALL MACHINES AND SIMILAR AMUSEMENTS (G.S. § 105-102.5)	Operating a bagatelle table, merry-go-round, or other riding device; hobbyhorse; switchback railway; shooting gallery; other amusements of a like kind; or a place for other games or play with or without name, at a permanent location.	$25
PLUMBERS (G.S. § 105-91)	Engaging in the business of a plumber, installing plumbing fixtures, piping or equipment, or offering to perform such services. EXEMPTION: a person engaged exclusively in a business licensed under this section is not liable for a license tax levied under G.S. § 105-54 (contractors) or G.S. § 105-55 (installing elevators and sprinkler systems).	$50
POOL TABLES (G.S. § 105-102.5) (REQUIRES COUNCIL APPROVAL)	Operating billiard or pool tables, whether by slot (coin) or otherwise. EXEMPTION: The following organizations with tables:	$25
	Fraternal organizations having a national charter, American legion posts and posts of other local veteran’s organizations chartered by congress or organized and operating on a statewide or national basis; YMCAs; YWCAs; and nonstock, nonprofit, charitable recreational corporations, foundations, or centers to which a city or county contributes any portion of the operating funds.
PRINTING ESTABLISHMENT/LITHOGRAPH		GROSS RECEIPTS
PRESSING CLUBS (G.S. § 105-74)	Engaging in the business of operating a cleaning plant, pressing club, or hat-blocking establishment. EXEMPTIONS: bona fide college students who operate a pressing or dry-cleaning business at their college during the school term.	$50
PROMOTIONS, EXHIBITS, SHOWS		$100

 

Category of business	Description of business (where applicable)	Tax rate
RADIOS, RECORD PLAYERS, AND/OR TV ACCESSORIES (G.S. § 105-102.5)	Selling, offering or ordering for sale, repairing or servicing pianos, organs, record players, records, tape players, tape cartridges designed for use in tape players, television sets, television accessories and repair parts, radios (including radios designed for exclusive use in motor vehicles), and radio accessories and repair parts.	$5
RESTAURANTS (G.S. § 105-62)	Operating a restaurant, café, cafeteria, and hotel with dining service on the European plan, drugstore, or other place where prepared food is sold. EXEMPTIONS: cafes or cafeterias in industrial plants that are maintained for the convenience of employees and are nonprofit.
SERVICE BUSINESS	Operating a business where a service is offered.	$100
SHOE REPAIR AND/OR SHINE SHOPS	Engaging in the business of repairing shoes.	$25
SKATING RINKS/SWIMMING POOLS (G.S. § 105-102.5)	Operating a swimming pool or skating rink or other like amusement.	$25
SPECIAL EVENT LICENSE	Operating a business in the city for a time period of one weekend or less.	$30
SPECIALTY MARKET OPERATORS (G.S. § 105-53)	Engaging in the business of operating a SPECIALTY MARKET defined as: a person who rents space, at a location other than a permanent retail store, to others for the purpose of selling goods at retail or offering goods for sale at retails.	$200

 

 

Category of business	Description of business (where applicable)	Tax rate
SUNDRIES (G.S. § 105-102.5)	(a) The sale of sandwiches in drugstores or other stands or places not licensed and taxed as a restaurant under G.S. § 105-62; (b) operating, maintaining, or placing on location fewer than five of the following types of dispensers or machines: cigarettes or other tobacco products, soft drinks, food or other merchandise or weighing machines; (c) retailing soft drinks; or (d) retailing or jobbing cigarettes or other tobacco products.	$4
TAXICABS (REQUIRES COUNCIL APPROVAL)	Owners and drivers of for hire vehicles. Approval by police department; license runs January 1 through December 31; penalty begins January 2; Taxicab Company responsible for tax if not paid by January 23.	$15 per car
TELEGRAPH COMPANIES	Operation of a telegraph company in the city.	$20
THEATERS
VIDEO RENTAL OR SALE (G.S. § 105-102.5)	Selling, leasing, furnishing, and/or distributing movies, including video movies, for use in places where no admission fee is charged or in schools of other institutions of learning.	$25
WATCH AND JEWELRY REPAIR	Engaging in the business of repairing jewelry or watches.	$25

 

Category of business	Description of business (where applicable)	Tax rate
YARD SALES	RESTRICTION: No person, firm, or corporation shall conduct more than four yard or garage sales at any given address in one fiscal year.	$5
	ENFORCEMENT: Police officers are empowered to enforce this section, including the issuance of citations.
	PENALTIES:
	1st offense: $25 citation
	2nd offense: $50 citation
	3rd or any subsequent offense: $100 citation
	If the citation is unpaid, it may be enforced by a criminal summons or a civil action suit. The use of citations shall not preclude the city from exercising any other remedy by the immediate issuance of a criminal summons or the securing of an injunction, nor shall it prohibit a police officer from exercising any of his or her lawful authority.

 

(Ord. -, passed 6-15-2004)