(A) Revenue Measure. The provisions of this section are enacted solely as a revenue measure of the City.
(B) Telephone Companies and Telecommunications Companies. An occupation tax is hereby levied and imposed on every person who engages in the business of providing local exchange telephone service, intrastate message toll telephone service and mobile telecommunications services for revenue in the City.
(C) Mobile Telecommunications Services, Defined. As used in this section, MOBILE COMMUNICATIONS SERVICES shall mean a wireless communication service carried on between mobile stations or receivers and land stations, and by mobile stations communicating among themselves, and includes:
(1) Both one-way and two-way wireless communications services;
(2) A mobile service which provides a regularly interacting group of base, mobile, portable, and associated control and relay stations, whether on an individual, cooperative, or multiple basis for private one- way or two-way land mobile radio communications by eligible users over designated areas of operation; and
(3) Any personal communications services.
(D) Amount of Tax.
(1) The occupations tax levied and imposed by the provisions of this section shall be a percentage, as set by the City Fees Ordinance, of the gross income received from furnishing local exchange telephone service and intrastate message toll telephone service, other than mobile telecommunications services as defined in this section, from subscribers within the corporate limits of the City.
(2) If the telecommunications services provided are mobile telecommunication services as defined in this section, the tax shall be a percentage, as set by the City Fees Ordinance, of the gross income received from furnishing mobile telecommunications service that originates and terminates in the same state to a customer with a place of primary use within the corporate limits of the City. Gross receipts shall not mean:
(a) The gross income, including division of revenue, settlements, or carrier access charges received on or after January 1, 1984, from the sale of a telephone communication service to a communication service provider for purposes of furnishing a telephone communication service; or
(b) The gross income attributable to services rendered using a prepaid telephone calling arrangement.
(E) Quarterly Payments; Due Dates. The payment of any occupation tax levied and imposed by the provisions of this Article shall be made in quarterly payments using the calendar quarter year as a basis for determining the due date. Each quarterly payment shall be due thirty (30) days immediately following the termination of each calendar quarter year.
(F) Statement to be Filed. Every person coming within the provisions of this Article shall, on or before the fifteenth (15th) day of the month immediately following the termination of each calendar year, file with the City Clerk, in the case of those persons taxed by this section, a full, complete and detailed statement of the income and gross receipts of said person for the preceding three (3) calendar months, omitting therefrom the appropriate exceptions and exemptions, if any. All statements shall be duly verified as true and correct and sworn to by the manager or managing officer of such person.
(G) City’s Right to Inspect. The City shall have the right at any and all times during business hours to inspect, through the comptroller or some other officer appointed by the City Council, the books and records of any person coming under the provisions of this Article for the purpose of ascertaining the correctness of the required statement.
(H) Failure to File Statement; Interest and Penalty. In the event any person coming under the provisions of this Article shall refuse, fail or neglect to furnish or file the required statement at the time or times specified, the occupation tax for the preceding three (3) calendar months calendar months shall draw interest at the rate of one percent (1%) per month after due and payable and, in addition thereto, a penalty of five percent (5%) for the failure to file.
(I) Interest and Penalty on Delinquent Payments. All delinquent payments shall draw interest at the rate of one percent (1%) per month; and, if delinquent for six (6) months or more, a penalty of five percent (5%) shall be added thereto in addition to the interest charge.
(J) Collection of Tax by Civil Action. In case any person shall fail to make payment of the occupation tax as required by this Article, the City shall have the right and may sue any such person or persons in any court of competent jurisdiction for the amount of the occupation tax due and payable and may recover judgment against such person for the amount so due, together with interest and penalties, and may have execution thereon.
(K) Disposition of Receipts. The occupation taxes paid under the provisions of this Article shall be credited to the General Fund of the City.
(L) The calculation of the amount of occupation tax due under subsection (D) above shall commence October 1, 2003. (Ord. No. 621, 9/2/03)