For the purposes of this article, the following words shall have the following meanings:
(A) ANNIVERSARY MONTH - The month in which a business first applied for a business tax certificate from the city. For those businesses in which the original anniversary month cannot be determined, the city shall assign an anniversary month and that date shall be the anniversary month for purposes of this article.
(B) BRANCH ESTABLISHMENT - A separate location of the same business for which a business tax certificate is obtained.
(C) BUSINESS - Professions, trades and occupations and every kind of calling, whether or not carried on for profit, not including the performance of a governmental function by a public agency.
(D) BUSINESS TAX SCHEDULE - The schedule of taxes and fees applied to businesses pursuant to this chapter, enacted or revised by resolution of the city council.
(E) CITY - The City of Oxnard.
(F) COLLECTOR - The assistant city treasurer or designee.
(G) COST OF OPERATIONS - The total amount expended for conducting a business within the city, including, but not limited to, wages, salaries, benefits, bonuses, leases and rentals for equipment and facilities, utilities, telephone, maintenance and general overhead expenses.
(H) EMPLOYEE - Any person engaged in conducting any business and earning regular wages or salary or directly participating in the profits of the business, including, but not limited to, owners, any member of an owner's family, proprietors, officers, directors, partners, managers, operators, trustees, trustors, beneficiaries, associates, salespeople, solicitors and joint venturers, but not including independent contractors.
(I) FIXED PLACE OF BUSINESS - A store, office or place, with a person or persons who are regularly in charge, where business is regularly conducted from day to day, week to week, for a period of six months or more, not including lodging rooms or places used temporarily, or not equipped with furniture, equipment and stock in trade customary to the particular business, but including a residence if the business is conducted from such residence in compliance with the city code and other laws.
(J) GROSS RECEIPTS - The total of amounts actually received or receivable from sales or for the performance of any act or service for which a charge is made or credit allowed, whether or not such act or service is done as a part of or in connection with the sale of materials, goods, wares or merchandise, including all receipts, cash, credits and property of any kind or nature, without any deduction therefrom on account of the cost of the property sold, the cost of materials used, labor or service costs, interest paid or payable, or losses or other expenses whatsoever, but not including the following:
(1) Cash discounts allowed and taken on sales;
(2) Credits allowed on property accepted as part of the purchase price and which property may later be sold;
(3) Any tax required by law to be included in or added to the purchase price and collected from the consumer or purchaser;
(4) Such part of the sale price of property returned by purchasers upon rescission of the contract of sale as is refunded either in cash or by credit;
(5) Amounts collected for others where the business is acting as an agent or trustee to the extent that such amounts are paid to those for whom collected and the agent or trustee has furnished the collector with the names and addresses of such persons and the amounts paid to them;
(6) That portion of the receipts of a general contractor which represent payments to subcontractors, provided that such subcontractors that do business in the city are licensed and the general contractor furnishes the collector with the names and addresses of the subcontractors and the amounts paid each subcontractor;
(7) Receipts of refundable deposits other than refundable deposits forfeited and taken into income of the business;
(8) As to a real estate agent or broker, the sales price of real estate sold for the account of others except that portion that represents commission or other income to the agent or broker;
(9) As to a retail gasoline dealer, a portion of receipts from the sale of motor vehicle fuels to the motor vehicle license tax imposed by and previously paid under the Cal. Rev. and Tax. Code; and
(10) As to a retail gasoline dealer, the special motor fuel tax imposed by federal law if paid by the dealer or collected by the dealer from the consumer or purchaser.
(K) INDEPENDENT CONTRACTOR - Any person engaged to aid in the business of another person and compensated through commission or in any manner other than regular wages or salary or direct participation in the profits of the business.
(L) PERSON - Any agent, receiver, administrator, executor, assignee, trustee in bankruptcy, trust, estate, firm, partnership, joint venture, club, association, company, joint stock company, business trust, domestic or foreign corporation, syndicate, society, any group of individuals acting as a unit, whether mutual, cooperative, fraternal, non-profit or otherwise, and an individual or natural person who is 18 years of age or older, not including an employee, and not including the city.
(M) PUBLIC AGENCY - The United States, the State, a county, a city, a county and a city, a public authority, a public district, and any other political subdivision of the State.
(N) SALE - The transfer, in any manner or by any means, of title to real or personal property for consideration, or the serving, supplying, or furnishing for consideration of any property, including a transaction whereby the possession of property is transferred and the seller retains the title as security for the payment of the price, including any transaction that is or that, in effect, results in a sale within the law.
(O) SWORN STATEMENT - An affidavit sworn to before a person authorized to take oaths, or a declaration or certification made under penalty of perjury.
(`64 Code, Sec. 16-1) (Ord. No. 2456, 2804, 2838, 2977)