(a) Upon every person exercising the privilege of engaging or continuing within the City in the business of serving, extracting, reducing to possession and producing for sale, profit or commercial use any natural resource products, the amount of the tax imposed by this article shall be equal to the value of the articles produced as shown by the gross proceeds derived from the sale thereof by the producer, except as otherwise provided, multiplied by the respective rates as follows: Coal, one percent; limestone or sandstone, quarried or mined, one and five-tenths percent; oil, two and two-tenths percent; natural gas, in excess of the value of five thousand dollars, four and three-tenths percent; blast furnace slag, tow and two-tenths percent; sand, gravel or other mineral products not quarried or mined, two and two-tenths percent; timber, one and one- tenth percent; other natural resource products, one and four-tenths percent. The measure of this tax is the value of the entire production in the City, regardless of the place of sale or the fact that the delivery may be made to points outside the City; provided, that for the purposes of the production of oil classification and the production of natural gas classification, as set forth in this section, multiple co-owners of oil or natural gas, in place, lessees thereof or others being vested with title and ownership to part or all of the oil and gas, as personal property, immediately after severance, extraction, reduction to possession and production, except royalty recipients, in kind, shall be deemed to be a “group or combination acting as a unit” and one “person,” whenever engaged in the business of producing oil or natural gas through common use, by joint or separately executed contracts, of the same independent contractor driller or operator’s services; and notwithstanding provisions of private contracts for separate deposit of gross receipts in separate members’ accounts or for members of such group or combination to take in kind any proportionate part of such natural resources.
(b) Lessees, sublessees or other denominated lessees are considered to be producers of all of the oil or natural gas produced, regardless of any payment, in kind, to lessors, sublessors or other denominated lessors of a part of such natural resources as rents or royalties. Recipients of royalties or rents, in kind, in cash or otherwise, are taxable on their gross income pursuant to the provisions of Section 755.32.
(Ord. 205. Passed 7-19-76.)