Ordinance - 422ORDINANCE NO.422
AN ORDINANCE OF THE CITY COUNCIL OF THE CITY OF WEST COVINA,
CALIFORNIA, IMPOSING AN EXCISE TAX ON THE USE OR OTHER CONSUMPTION
OF TANGIBLE PERSONAL PROPERTY.
THE CITY COUNCIL OF THE CITY OF 'WEST COVINA DOES ORDAIN AS FOLLOWS:
.SECTION 1. "USE" DEFINED. "Use" includes the exercise•of
any right or power over tangible personal property incident to the
• ownership of that property, subject, however, to the following
exemptions;
(a) It does not include the sale of that property in the
regular course of business;
(b) It does not include the keeping, retaining or exercising
of any right or power over tangible personal property shipped or
brought into this City and which is thereafter transported outside
the City for principal use or consumption outside the City, and which
property is actually so used or consumed;
(c) It does not include the use of such property for the pur-
pose of being processed, fabricated, or manufactured into, attached
to or incorporated into, other tangible personal property which is to
be transported outside the City and thereafter used principally
. outside the City, or which is to be subsequently sold or resold in
the regular course of business;
(d) It does not include the exercise of any right or power
over tangible personal property incident to ownership of that property
if such property was purchased for principal use or consumption
outside the City and is so used or consumed;
(e) It does not include the use of tangible personal property
actually employed in the transportation or transmission of per
property, gas, electricity or communications in intra-state, f
interstate, or foreign commerce by public utilities regulated by
the Public Utilities Commission of the State of California.
SECTION 2. IMPOSITION AND RATE OF TAX. An excise tax is
hereby imposed on the use or other consumption in the City of West
Covina of tangible personal property purchased from any retailer
• on or after the effective date of this ordinance for use or other
consumption in said City at the rate of one (1) per cent of the
sales price of the property.
SECTION 3. USE TAX LEVIED IN SAME MANNER AS STATE TAX. The
tax hereby levied, except as otherwise herein provided, is levied
in the same manner, to the same extent and under the same conditions
as use taxes are levied pursuant to Part I of Division 2 of the
California Revenue and Taxation Code, known as the "Sales and Use
Tax Law" as amended and in force and effect on October 1, 1951.
SECTION 4. ADOPTION OF STATE USE TAX LAW BY REFERENCE.
EXCEPTIONS. All of the provisions of the "Sales and Use Tax Law"
as amended and in force and effect on October 1, 1951, except the
. provisions thereof pertaining solely to the "Sales Tax' and Sections
.6008, 6201 to 6204, inclusive, 6207, 62267 6241 to 6246, inclusive,
6403, 6453, 7052, 7056, 7057, 7101, 7102, 71511 7152 and 7153, are
hereby adopted and made a.,part of this ordinance as though fully set
forth 14.erein, and all provisions of any other ordinance in conflict
therewith are inapplicable to this ordinance and the tax hereby
imposed; provided that the term "sales price" shall not include the
amount of any California State sales tax or use tax, and that the
word "storage" shall for the purposes of this ordinance be deemed
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deleted from those provisions of the California Revenue and Taxation
Code adopted by reference, it being the intent of the Council that
the tax imposed by this ordinance shall not apply to the storage of
tangible personal property.
All of the provisions of the "Sales and Use Tax Law" hereby
adopted providing for the adoption of rules and regulations and for
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hearings
on the
part of
the
State Board
of Equalization shall be
performed
by the
Council
of
the City of
West Covina. All other pro-
visions of the State "Sales and Use Tax Law" hereby adopted providing
for the performance of official action on the part of the State
Board of 'Equalization shall be performed by the City Clerk.
The City of West Covina shall be deemed substituted for the
State of California whenever the State is referred to in said "Sales
and Use Tax Law".
The City Attorney of the City of West Covina shall be deemed
substituted for the Attorney General whenever the Attorney General is
referred to in said "Sales and Use Tax Law"'.
The City Clerk shall be deemed substituted for the State
Controller and State Board of Control whenever the State Controller
or State Board of Control are referred to in said "Sales and Use Tax
Law11
The County of Los Angeles shall be deemed substituted for the
County of Sacramento whenever the County of Sacramento is referred
to in said "Sales and Use Tax Law".
SECTION 5. ADOPTION OF RULES AND REGULATIONS BY REFERENCE.
The rules and regulations of the State Board of Equalization pertaining
to the interpretation, administration and enforcement of the "Sales
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and Use Tax Law", insofar as applicable, shall apply to the inter-
pretation of this ordinance until specifically abandoned by the rules
and regulations adopted by the City Council pursuant to this ordinance.
SECTION 6. INTERPRETATION. The inclusion of any clause, por-
tion or part of the "Sales and Use Tax Law', Part I, Division 2 of
the Revenue and Taxation Code of the State of California, verbatim
• in this ordinance shall not in or of itself be deemed to exclude any
of the remaining provisions of said "Sales and Use Tax Law" that are
made a part hereof by reference only.
SECTION 7. DUTY TO COLLECT TAX. Every retailer maintaining a
place of business in this City shall apply to the City Clerk for
authorization to collect the tax imposed by this ordinance. Any re-
tailer not maintaining a place of business in this City may apply to
the City Clerk for authorization to collect the tax hereby imposed.
Upon receipt of any application in such form as required by him, the
City Clerk, in the case of a retailer maintaining a place of business
in the City, shall authorize, and in the case of a retailer not main-
taining a place of business in the City, may authorize the applicant
to make such collections and to forward the same to the City Clerk.
. SECTION 8. PERSONS LIABLE TO TAX. Every person using or other-
wise consuming in this City tangible personal property purchased from
a retailer, is liable for the tax; provided, however, no tax shall
be due hereunder if the tax imposed by Ordinance No.369 (Sales Tax)
of the City of West Covina has been paid on the sale of such property.
The liability of such person is not extinguished until the tax has,
been paid -to the City of West Covina except that a receipt from a
retailer authorized pursuant to Section 7 hereof to collect the tax,
given to the purchaser pursuant to Section 9 hereof, is sufficient
to relieve the purchaser from further liability for the tax to which
the receipt refers.
SECTION 9. COLLECTION OF TAX BY RETAILER. •Every retailer who
is authorized by the City Clerk to collect the tax imposed by this
• ordinance and who makes sales of tangible personal property for use
or other consumption in this City, not exempted under the provisions
of this ordinance, shall collect the tax from the purchaser at the
time of making the sale, or, if the use or other consumption of the
tangible personal property is not then taxable hereunder, at the
time the use or other consumption becomes taxable. Upon collecting
the tax, the retailer, on demand, shall give to the purchaser a
receipt therefor in the manner and form prescribed by the City Clerk.
The tax so collected by the retailer shall be held in trust by him
for the City and shall be paid to the City by the retailer in the
manner and at the times elsewhere provided in this ordinance.
SECTION 10. SEPARATE DISPLAY OF TAX FROM LIST OR OTHER PRICE.
The tax so collected by the retailer from the purchaser shall be
0 displayed separately from the list price, the price advertised in the
premises, the marked price or other price on the sales check or other
proof of sale.
SECTION ll. PERSONAL PROPERTY TO WHICH TAX APPLIES. Except as
otherwise specifically exempted, the tax hereby imposed applies to
-all tangible personal property located in this City and purchased
from a retailer; provided, however, that if the retailer in good faith
takes from the purchaser a certificate that the property was purchased
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prior to the effective date of this ordinance or was not purchased
for use or consumption in this City and has not been nor will be
so used or consumed, he shall be relieved of liability to collect
and pay the tax. The certificate shall be signed by and bear the
name of the purchaser, shall indicate the address of the purchaser
and the place where such tangible personal property will be used or
. consumed, the date of purchase, and shall be substantially in such
form as the City Clerk may prescribe.
SECTION 12. EXalPTIONS. In addition to those exemptions con-
tained in Part 1, of Division 2, of the California Revenue and
Taxation Code which are incorporated into this ordinance by reference,
there shall be excluded from the computation of the tax the sales
price of':
(a) Purchases made by the State of California or by any agency,
department, political subdivision, district or municipal corporation
thereof;
(b) Purchases of tangible personal property to be used in
connection with the erection, construction, repair or alteration of
either public works or buildings belonging to or being constructed
. by or on behalf of or for the use of the United States Government,
the State of California or any agency, department, political subdi-
vision, district or public or municipal corporation of the State;
(c) Purchases made pursuant to contracts actually executed
in good faith prior to September 1, 1955;
(d) Purchases of property upon which a sales tax, purchase
tax, use tax, purchase and use tax, or any of them, has been legally
imposed by and paid on the same transaction to any city of the
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State of California.
SECTION 13. REGISTRATION OF RETAILERS. Every retailer
selling tangible personal property for use or other consumption in
the City of West Covina and which retailer maintains a. place of
business in said city or acts through agents located in said city
and.which retailer is not licensed under the provisions of Ordinance
No.369, (Sales Tax) shall register with the City Clerk and give the
name and address of such agent or agents and office or other place
of business in the city.
SECTION 14. DUE DATE OF TAXES. Taxes imposed by this ordinance
are due and payable to the City Clerk on or before the last day of
the month next succeeding each quarterly period, the first quarterly
payment to be due and payable under this ordinance on or before the
last day of November, 1955. The City Clerk may require returns and
payment of the amount of taxes for quarterly periods other than calendar
quarters depending upon the principal place of or the nature of the
business of the seller or retailer or may require returns and payment
of the amount of taxes for other than quarterly periods.
SECTION 15. RETURNS. Each return filed by a retailer shall
show the total sale price of the property sold by him during the
reporting period in respect of which he collected the tax hereby
imposed. Each return filed by a purchaser shall show the total sale
price of the property purchased by him during the reporting period,
in respect of which a tax is due under this ordinance. All returns
shall also show the amount of the taxes for the period covered by
the return and such other information as the City Clerk deems necessary
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to the proper administration of this ordinance.
SECTION 16. EXTUTSION OF TIME, WAIVER OR COMPROMISE. The
City Clerk shall have power, for good cause shown, to extend for
a period of not to exceed thirty-one (31) days the time for making
any return or paying any amount required to be paid under this
ordinance, when requested so to do in writing, before the same becomes
delinquent. The City Clerk may, with the written approval of the
City Attorney, waive or compromise any penalty or interest that would
otherwise accrue under the provisions of the ordinance. The City
Clerk shall make and transmit to the Council quarterly, a detailed
report of any sums so waived or compromised with the reasons therefor.
SECTION 17. SCHEDULES FOR PAYMENT OF TAX. The Council, by
resolution, shall adopt rules prescribing methods and schedules for
the collection and payment of the tax. Such schedules shall be so
determined as to facilitate collection of this tax at the same time
that the retailer collects the tax imposed under the California Sales
and Use Tax Law and so as to produce an average tax return of one (1)
per cent on all purchases subject to the use tax.
SECTION 18. SUIT FOR TAX. All taxes hereby levied shall be
payable to the City Clerk and any civil suit for the collection
thereof may be filed in any court of competent jurisdiction in the
State of California, and the City Attorney of said City shall prosecute
the action.
SECTION 19. RESALE CERTIFICATE. The City Clerk may at his
option accept a State of California Resale Certificate as evidence
that any sale is not a sale for use or consumption in the City of
West Covina, or he may in his discretion require an affidavit from
the seller setting forth such information respecting such sale as he
deems necessary to determine the nature of such sale.
SECTION 20. DISPOSITION OF PROCEEDS. All monies collected
under and pursuant to the provisions of this ordinance shall be
deposited and paid into the General Fund of the City of West Covina.
• SECTION 21. DIVULGING OF INFOR31ATION FORBIDDEN. No officer
or employee of the City of West Covina having an administrative
duty under this ordinance shall make known in any manner whatever
the business affairs, operations, or information obtained by an
investigation of records and equipment of any retailer or any other
person visited or examined in the discharge of official duty, or
the,amount or source of income, profits, losses, expenditures, or
any particular thereof, set forth or disclosed in any return, or
permit any return or copy thereof or any book containing any abstract
or particulars thereof to be seen or examined by any person. However,
the Council may, by resolution, authorize examination of the returns
by Federal or State officers or employees or by the tax officers of
this or any other city if a reciprocal arrangement exists. Successors,
. receivers, trustees, executors, administrators, assignees, and guaran-
tors, if directly interested, may be given information as to the items
included in the measure and amounts of any unpaid tax or amounts of
tax required to be collected, interest and penalties.
SECTION 22. FALSE AND FRAUDULENT RETURNS. No person required
to make, render, sign or verify any report under the provisions of
this ordinance, shall make any false or fraudulent return, with intent
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to defeat or evade the determination of an amount due and required
to be paid hereunder.
SECTION 23. FAILURE TO MAKE RETURN OR FURNISH DATA. No
retailer or other person shall fail or refuse to furnish any return
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required to be made or fail or refuse to furnish a supplemental
return or other data required by the City Clerk, or render a false
or fraudulent return.
SECTION 24. PENAL PROVISIONS. Any person violating any
provision of this ordinance shall be guilty of a misdemeanor, and
upon conviction thereof shall be punishable by a fine of not more
than Five Hundred Dollars ($500.00), or by imprisonment in the
County Jail of the County of Los Angeles for a period of not more
than six (6) months, or by both such fine and such imprisonment.
SECTION 25. VALIDITY. If any section, subsection, sentence,
clause, phrase, or portion of this ordinance is for any reason held
,to be invalid or unconstitutional by the decision of any court of
competent jurisdiction, such decision shall not affect the validity
of the remaining portions of this ordinance. The Council of this
City hereby declares that it would have adopted this ordinance and
each section, subsection, sentence, clause, phrase, or portion
thereof, irrespective of the fact that any one or more sections,
subsections, sentences, clauses, phrases or portions be declared
invalid or unconstitutional.
SECTION 26. EFFECTIVE DATE. This ordinance, inasmuch as it
provides for a fax levy for the usual current expenses of the city,
shall, under the provisions of Section 1 of Article IV of the
Constitution, take effect immediately.
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SECTION 27. The City Clerk shall certify to the adoption
of this Ordinance and shall cause the same to be published once
in the West Covina Tribune, a newspaper of general circulation pub-
lished and circulated in the City of West Covina.
Mayor -'of th`e City of west uovina
ATTEST
ly Clerk
I, ROBERT FLOTTEN, City Clerk of the City of West Covina,
hereby certify that the foregoing Ordinance was adopted by the City
Council of the City of West Covina, at a regular meeting of the
City Council held on the 22nd day of August, 1955, by the affirmative
vote of at least three Councilmen, to wit:
AYES: Councilmen TAMES W. j�Ay JAY D. BROWN J. CAL SPE-'7-,; JOE HURST, IJAYOR
NOES: AId11/�
ABSENT: BER,T C. VAN 110tIN
City Clerk of the Cityof WestCov
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