Every person engaged in or continuing within this city in the business for which a
license or privilege tax is required by sections 5-40 and 5-41 of this article shall add to the sales price, and collect from the purchaser, on
all sales upon the gross receipts of which there is levied by this article a sales
tax, a sales tax at the rate of three and one-half (3½) per cent, three and one-half
cents ($0.035) tax for each whole dollar of sales price; provided, that on that part
of the sales price which is a fractional part of a dollar, in addition to whole dollars,
and on sales of less than a dollar ($1.00), there shall be collected, in addition
to the tax collected on whole dollars, no tax on one cent ($0.01) to and including
sixteen cents ($0.16) of sales price, one cent ($0.01) tax on seventeen cents ($0.17)
to and including forty-nine cents ($0.49) of sales price, two cents ($0.02) tax on
fifty cents ($0.50) to and including eighty-three cents ($0.83) of sales price and
three and one-half cents ($0.035) tax on eighty-four cents ($0.84) to and including
ninety-nine cents ($0.99) of sales price. Upon sales the gross receipts of which are
taxed by this division at a rate less than three and one-half (3½) per cent, there
shall be added to the sales price and collected from the purchaser by such person
an amount equal to the prescribed percentage of such sales price.
It shall be unlawful for any person to fail or refuse to add to the sales price and
collect from the purchaser the amount required by this section to be so added to the
sales price and collected from the purchaser; and it shall likewise be unlawful to
refund or offer to refund all or any part of the sales tax collected, or to absorb
or advertise, directly or indirectly, the absorption or refund of the amount required
to be added to the sales price and collected from the purchaser, or any portion of
such amount. Any person violating any of the provisions of this section shall be guilty
of a misdemeanor, and, upon conviction, shall be fined in an amount of not less than
one hundred dollars ($100.00) nor more than five hundred dollars ($500.00), or may
be imprisoned in the city jail for not more than six (6) months, or may be punished
by both such fine and imprisonment, and each act in violation of the provisions of
this article shall constitute a separate offense. The provisions of this section that
there shall be added to the sales price and collected from the purchaser the amounts
provided in this article shall in no way relieve any person of the tax levied by this
article; nor shall the inability, impracticability, refusal or failure to add to the
sales price, and collect from the purchaser, the amounts provided herein relieve such
person from the tax levied by this article. All taxes paid pursuant to this article
or any other ordinance enacted with respect to the subject matter of this article
shall conclusively be presumed to be a direct tax on the retail consumer, precollected
for the purpose of convenience and facility only. If any sum is collected from a consumer
that purports to be collected because of this article, whether or not the amount is
actually provided for hereunder, then any such sum, except such as is collected solely
because of rounding the correct amount of tax upward to the nearest cent, shall be
paid to the city.
