6.01.010 Definitions.
For purposes of this chapter, the following terms shall be defined as follows:
A. "Business" means all activities engaged in or caused to be engaged in the city, with the object of attaining direct or indirect gain, benefit or advantage. This includes but is not limited to: a business, commercial enterprise, trade, calling, vocation, profession, occupation, or means of livelihood. This term does not include services rendered by an employee to an employer.
B. "Business tax certificate" means the document issued as evidence of payment of a business tax or exemption from payment as provided in this chapter.
C. "City" means the city of Petaluma, Sonoma County, California, including all of the territory and jurisdiction thereof as presently constituted, and any and all of the same which shall later come into existence by any manner or means whatsoever.
D. "Cost of operations" means the total amount expended for engaging in business within the city. This includes but is not limited to, salaries and benefits, operating leases/rentals for equipment and facilities, utilities, services and supplies, maintenance, and general overhead expenditures. This term shall not include non-cash expenditures for depreciation and amortization.
E. "Engaging in business" means commencing, conducting or continuing in business. Proof of engaging in business includes but is not limited to:
1. Use of signs, circulars, cards, telephone books, newspapers, or trade publications to advertise, hold out or represent that a person is in business in the city.
2. An active license or permit issued by a governmental agency indicating that such person transacts business in the city.
3. Any other evidence of engaging in business and the failure to deny in a sworn statement given to the tax collector upon request that a person is not engaged in business within the city.
Failure to make a profit or complete a transaction does not negate a finding of engaging in business.
F. "Fixed place of business" means a place of business in the city which is regularly kept open with someone in charge thereof for the transaction of business during customary business hours.
G. "Gross receipts" means the total amount actually received or receivable from sales and/or the performance of any act, service or employment for which a charge is made or credit allowed. Gross receipts include but are not limited to, all receipts, cash received, credits, commissions or fees earned, sales on time, cost of materials, labor or services provided, value of property taken in lieu of cash payments, and interest paid or payable. Excluded from gross receipts are:
1. Cash and jobber discounts which reduce selling price and ultimate receipts from sale.
2. Any tax including but not limited to, sales tax, use tax, gas tax, transient occupancy tax and real property transfer tax, which is measured by the sales price and is included in the purchase price and collected from the consumer or purchaser.
3. Any refund that is granted, either in cash or credit, to a purchaser who returns property upon the rescission of a contract of sale.
4. Amounts received by persons acting as agents, brokers or trustees, where such amounts have been collected for and are paid to another party. This includes but is not limited to, amounts collected by salesmen and transmitted to manufacturer or distributor; trust funds received and transmitted by trustee; fees separately itemized on statements and forwarded to a subcontractor or consultant as payment for services rendered, provided that a list of subcontractors or consultants and amount paid is reported to the tax collector; and receipts collected and subsequently repaid to a lessee, provided that the name of the lessee and the amount paid is reported to the tax collector.
5. Amounts received as refundable deposits, except those amounts that are forfeited and subsequently taken as business income.
6. Any credit that is granted for property provided by the consumer or purchaser as part of the purchase price (trade-in merchandise), provided that the value of property taken is reported in gross receipts when sold to someone else.
7. Bad debts, when credits are reported in total in the first year and prove uncollectible in a subsequent year.
8. Passive income including interest on investments, dividends, occasional sale of property or surplus equipment.
9. Receipts not taxable by virtue of the Constitution or laws of the United States or the state of California.
I. "Person" includes all domestic and foreign corporations, associations, syndicates, joint stock corporations, partnerships of every kind, clubs, business or common law trusts, societies, and individuals transacting or carrying on any business in the city, other than as an employee.
J. "Tax collector" means the director of finance of the city of Petaluma or the authorized designee of said director.
(Ord. 1921 NCS §2 (part), 1993.)