§45-8-241. Purpose; license or privilege fee; enforcement; exemption for religious practices.

(a) This section shall apply only to Calhoun County, Alabama, and to no other county.

(b) As used in this section, the following words and terms shall, except as otherwise provided in this section, have the following meanings hereby ascribed to them: "the county" means Calhoun County, Alabama; "the governing body" means the governing body of Calhoun County, Alabama, whether it be a county commission, board of revenue, or other governing body; "person" includes any natural person, partnership, corporation, firm, association, trust, estate or other entity; and "business" includes all activities engaged in, or caused to be engaged in, by any person with the object of gain, profit, benefit, or advantage, either direct or indirect to such person; "license or privilege fee" shall not include any sales or use tax.

(c) The purposes of this section are to equalize the burden of taxation by authorizing the county to impose a license or privilege fee upon persons now engaging in certain businesses without paying any license fee or tax thereon to either the state or county, to generate additional revenue for the county by imposing an additional license or privilege fee upon persons now engaging or who may hereafter engage in certain businesses and pay license or privilege fees to the state or county, and to generate additional revenue for the county due to urbanization and population creating greater needs and demands for services than can be provided for by revenue generated pursuant to the general laws.

(d) The governing body of the county is hereby authorized to levy an annual license or privilege fee upon any person for engaging in any business in the county. The license or privilege fee hereby authorized shall be in addition to any other license or privilege fee which is currently authorized or may hereafter be authorized.

(e) The fee hereby levied shall be paid annually on October 1 for the succeeding year to that officer or employee of the county chargeable with the duty of collecting license or privilege fees or taxes payable to the county, and shall be deposited in the county general fund for the use of the county.

(f) The license or privilege fee levied by the governing body of the county on any person for engaging in any business, including the business of selling products door-to-door pursuant to Section 45-8-241.01, shall be at a rate of from ten dollars ($10) to one hundred dollars ($100) for each business conducted in the county. The governing body of the county is expressly authorized to set the rate of the license or privilege fee within the limits herein provided for each type or category of business in the county. The rates of the license or privilege fee for each type or category of business shall be uniform throughout the county and shall be set forth in a schedule promulgated by the governing body of the county in which the rate for each type or category of business is dependent on the type, size, gross receipts, and/or number of employees of the business, and/or such other reasonable criteria as the governing body of the county shall determine.

(g) The governing body of the county is hereby expressly authorized to prescribe all necessary or appropriate rules and regulations for the implementation and enforcement of this section, including all rules and regulations as may be necessary by reason of any alteration of law in relation to this section.

(h) Nothing in this section shall be construed to authorize or require a license or privilege fee for practicing the religious tenets of any church.

(i) Any person found by the commissioner of licenses to be engaging in business without having paid the license fee required by this section shall pay a citation fee of seven dollars ($7) in addition to the regular license fee. The citation fee shall be deposited into the county treasury and two dollars ($2) of each citation fee shall be disbursed to the commissioner of licenses for the operation of that office.

(Act 87-426, p. 636, §§1-8; Act 91-348, p. 669, §1; Act 2013-377, p. 1381, §2.)