§45-9-243. Annual license or privilege fees.

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

(b) As used in this section, the following words and terms shall have the meanings hereby ascribed to them: "the county" means Chambers County, Alabama; "person" includes any natural person, partnership, corporation, firm, association, trust, estate, or other entity; "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 purpose of this section is to equalize the burden of taxation by authorizing the county commission 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 and 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.

(d) The county commission 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 county commission on any person for engaging in any business shall be at a rate of from ten dollars ($10) to one hundred dollars ($100) for each business conducted in the county. The county commission 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 county commission 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 number of employees of the business and/or such other reasonable criteria as the county commission shall determine.

(g) The county commission 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.

(Act 89-505, p. 1043, 1-8.)