(a) (1) A person who owns a telephone line for the reception, transmission or communication of messages by telephone, or leases, licenses, or sells telephonic communication in the County must pay a tax on the following services furnished to customers with a billing address or fixed service address in the County:
(A) each residence, business, or PBX local exchange access line or trunk line (except telephone lifeline service customers);
(B) each wireless telephone line; and
(C) each Centrex local exchange access line or trunk line.
(2) The Council must by resolution adopted after advertisement and public hearing in accordance with Section 52-17(c) set the monthly tax rate for each type of line listed in paragraph (1). A person subject to the tax imposed under this section must pay a tax equal to the sum of each line multiplied by the tax rate for that line.
(b) In this section:
(1) Line means a connection to the local telephone exchange through a unique telephone number.
(2) Person means any individual, corporation, company, association, firm, or co- partnership, or any group of individuals acting as a unit, and includes any trustee, receiver, assignee or personal representative.
(3) Wireless telephone means any equipment or instrument that transmits:
(A) cellular telephone service;
(B) personal communication service; or
(C) any other commercial mobile radio service as defined by the Federal Communications Commission.
(c) Every person liable for the tax must pay the tax and must report upon such forms and set forth such information as the director of finance may prescribe. The report and payment of the tax must be made on or before the fifteenth day of each month, covering the immediate preceding calendar month. Any person liable for the tax may, upon written application to and with the consent of the Director of Finance, make reports and remittances on a quarterly basis instead of the monthly basis. Quarterly reports and remittance must be made on or before the fifteenth day of April, July, October and January in each year, and must cover the three (3) immediately preceding months.
(d) If any person fails or refuses to remit the tax required to be paid or to make a proper return to the director of finance, within the time and in the amount specified, that person is liable for:
(1) Interest on the amount of tax due at the rate of one (1) percent per month for each month or part of a month after the date upon which the tax is due; and
(2) A penalty of five (5) percent of the amount of the tax per month or part of a month, not to exceed a total of twenty-five (25) percent of the tax. The interest and penalty is collected as a part of the tax.
(e) If any person fails or refuses to make any report and remittance required within the time provided, the Director of Finance must obtain information on which to base the Director's estimate of the tax due. As soon as the Director obtains sufficient information upon which to base the assessment of any tax due, the Director must assess against the person the tax and penalties. The Director must notify the person by mail sent to the person's last-known place of address of the total amount of the tax, interest and penalties. The total amount is payable within ten (10) days after the date of the notice.
(f) Every person liable for the payment of any tax must keep and preserve, for two (2) years, suitable records necessary to determine the amount of the tax as that person may have been liable for to the County. The Director of Finance may inspect the records at all reasonable times.
(g) Whenever any person subject to tax stops doing business or otherwise disposes of the business, any tax payable to the County is immediately due and payable and the person must immediately make a report and pay any tax due.
(h) A person is entitled to a refund, under procedures in State law, of the tax paid on any wireless telephone line billed to an address in the County for wireless telephone service that is not available in the County.
(i) Any violation or failure to comply with this section is a class A violation. Each violation is a separate offense. A conviction does not relieve any person from the payment, collection or remittance of the tax. (1971 L.M.C., ch. 51, §§ 1, 2; Res. No. 8-239; 1983 L.M.C., ch. 22, § 56; 1989 L.M.C., ch. 18, § 1; Res. No. 12-193; 1996 L.M.C., ch. 17, § 2.)
Editor's note-Section 1 of 1989 L.M.C., ch. 18, amended § 52-15 in its entirety. Section 2 of the act reads as follows: Sec. 2. Rate of Tax. The rate of the tax levied under section 52-15 from January 1, 1984 until the effective date of this act [January 23, 1989] is 62 cents per month on each residence, business or PBX local exchange access line or trunk line furnished to customers within the County, and 6.2 cents per month on each Centrex local exchange access line or trunk line furnished to customers within the County.
Resolution No. 12-193, adopted May 8, 1991, effective May 1, 1991, amended the rates of the telephone tax levied under Section 52-15 as follows: $1.25 per month on each residence, business or PBX local exchange access line or trunk line furnished to customers (except telephone lifeline services customers) in the County; and 12.5 cents per month on each Centrex local exchange access line or trunk line furnished to customers in the County. This resolution expired on June 30, 1995.