§ 15-38. Same—Application; issuance of stickers; when tax due; renewal; proration of tax scope; transfer; refunds.

(a)

Every person engaged in the business of owning or placing on location for the purpose of operation any amusement machine shall file an application for a license required by this article with the officer collecting the tax on forms furnished by him for that purpose. The application shall contain such information as may be required by such officer and shall be accompanied by remittance for the amount of tax and any penalty required. Persons owning or placing on location more than one (1) machine may apply for a license authorizing the operation of the machines at the various locations in the city, and such license, when issued, shall show the total number of each type of machine for which the license was issued and the amount of tax paid by the applicant. The officer shall then issue to the licensee individual stickers for the number of machines applied for, which shall be evidence of payment of the tax.

(b)

The tax levied shall be due and payable annually on January first, and all licenses issued under the provisions of this article shall expire annually on December thirty-first. A license may be renewed and stickers affixed to the machine without penalty during the month of January. The amount of the license tax to be paid for a period of less than twelve (12) months shall be that proportionate amount of the annual license tax that the number of months, or fractional part thereof, remaining until January first next bears to twelve (12) months.

(c)

The officer collecting the tax shall issue a license on a form or sticker to be prescribed by him. There shall be printed on each license form or sticker at the bottom thereof, the words "This license shall not make lawful any act or thing declared to be unlawful by the State of Mississippi." They shall be imprinted with the fiscal year for which the blanks are to be issued and shall be numbered consecutively beginning with number one (1) of each fiscal year and shall be made in duplicate, the original and duplicate to bear the same serial number and be alike in all respects except that they be marked "Original" and "Duplicate" and shall be of different colors. Such license or sticker shall be securely affixed or attached conspicuously to the machine to which it applies in such manner as to be readily visible and shall be affixed before the machine is operated or played. The absence of a proper license or sticker affixed to a machine shall be prima facie evidence of failure to pay the tax levied for operation of the machine.

(d)

The license shall entitle the owner or the person placing the machine on location for the purpose of operation to operate a machine of the type specified until December thirty-first next. If a machine for which a license has been issued should be destroyed or traded, the privilege of operation for the remaining time covered by the license may be transferred to another machine of the same type by procedure to be specified by the officer collecting the tax.

(e)

When ownership of a machine upon which a valid license or sticker is attached is transferred to another person, no additional tax shall be required.

(f)

No refunds shall be allowed for failure or inability to exercise the privilege granted after the license has been issued.

(Ord. of 4-6-82, § 3)

State law reference

Similar provisions, MCA 1972, § 27-27-7.