§359. Businesses where licenses are based on flat fees

The following types of business shall obtain an annual license based on the flat fee designated hereafter. For purposes of this Section, the minimum tax noted in R.S. 47:344 for most new businesses for the first year of commencement or fractional part thereof does not apply.

A. Private banking or investment banking business. (1) For each business of carrying on a private banking house, business or agency, investment banking house, business or agency, a license based on a flat fee of five hundred dollars shall be required.

(2) The term "investment banking" means a business that is carried on through the purchase or underwriting of security issues and their subsequent sale to investors.

B. Repealed by Acts 1988, No. 752, §2, eff. Jan. 1, 1989.

C. Peddlers and itinerant vendors. (1) All peddlers, hawkers, itinerant vendors, and every person who displays samples, models, goods, wares, or merchandise on a temporary basis in any hotel, motel, store, storehouse, house, vehicle, or any other place, for the purpose of securing orders for the retail sale of such goods, wares, or the like kind or quality, either for immediate or future delivery shall obtain a license based on a fee not to exceed two hundred dollars provided that an itinerant vendor of agricultural products purchased directly from farmers or an itinerant vendor of seafood products who has either harvested the seafood himself or has purchased the seafood directly from commercial fishermen or shrimpers shall obtain a license based on a flat fee not to exceed one hundred dollars.

(2) This Section does not apply to the following classes: those persons making house-to-house or personal calls displaying samples and taking orders for shipment directly from the manufacturer; those persons making a business call or visit upon the verbal or written invitation of the inhabitant of the premises; those persons, or their representatives, engaged in the business of selling at wholesale, from a fixed place of business in this state, to licensed retail dealers; and vendors, or their agents or vendors, or their agents or representatives, in the sale or delivery of petroleum products when drawn, conveyed, and distributed from a stock maintained at a warehouse, distributing station, or established place of business.

(3) Parochial and municipal officers shall require all peddlers to exhibit their occupational license. The license shall indicate thereon the motor vehicle license number. They shall seize the merchandise and any vehicle or other conveyance used by the peddler to peddle the same, if the peddler fails or refuses to exhibit his license. All property seized shall be turned over to a court of competent jurisdiction, to be sold according to law, to satisfy the license due and enforce the privilege therefor. The rights of the holder of a chattel mortgage note or any vehicle seized shall not be affected or prejudiced as a result of the seizure.

(4) Whoever shall sell goods, wares, and merchandise as a peddler without first obtaining the license herein required shall be guilty of a misdemeanor and upon conviction shall be fined not less than five hundred dollars or shall be imprisoned not more than sixty days, or both.

D. Mechanical or electronic amusement machines or devices. (1) Every person engaged in the business of operating any coin-operated mechanical or electronic device or who permits to be operated in his place of business any coin-operated mechanical or electronic device to which a certificate of tax payment is not affixed or displayed as provided in R.S. 47:359(E) shall pay a license tax which shall not exceed twenty dollars for each such machine or device, except that the license tax for each electronic pinball machine, flipper machine, or video game shall not exceed fifty dollars for each such device. Only one license tax shall be collected annually by each jurisdiction for any device required to be licensed under this Paragraph.

(2) The provisions of this Subsection shall not apply in cases where the person engaged in the business of operating such mechanical devices are operating same under a written contract with and are solely sponsored by a nonprofit corporation for the purpose of conducting a fair, festival, or trade show which has as one of its objectives the promotion of agricultural and agri-industrial products. For the purposes of this Subsection, the term nonprofit corporation shall be construed to mean only a nonprofit corporation which:

(a) Was organized under the provisions of Chapter 2 of Title 12 of the Louisiana Revised Statutes of 1950 prior to January 1, 1969; and,

(b) Holds membership in good standing in an association organized for the purpose of promoting fairs, festivals, and trade shows in the state of Louisiana.

(3) For the purpose of this Subsection, a "coin-operated mechanical amusement device" is any machine or device operated by depositing a coin, token, slug, or similar object for the placing of the device in readiness of play. This definition includes, but is not limited to the following devices: video games, merry-go-rounds, mechanical hobby horses, juke boxes, pool tables, domino tables, bowling alleys, blood pressure monitors, and pulse rate monitors.

(4) All such mechanical amusement devices subject to tax under this Subsection and which do not return to the operator or player thereof anything but free additional games or plays or, through the exercise of the skill of the operator or player, a merchandise prize, shall not be deemed to be classed as gambling devices, and neither this Section nor any other Act shall be construed to prohibit same. Payment of the tax imposed by this Subsection shall not be held to legalize the operation of any machine or device defined herein which is prohibited by law. This Subsection shall not be held to repeal any provisions of any law prohibiting the operation, possession, or use of any such machine or device.

E. Evidence of payment. The payment of the taxes levied by this Section shall be evidenced by a certificate of tax payment, or a stamp, or similar evidence of tax payment which shall be issued by the collector. The certificate of payment shall be securely affixed or attached to each machine or other device with respect to which a tax has been paid, or if such certificate cannot be affixed, shall be prominently posted in the place in which the machine or device is located and near to such machine or device. If a machine or device is replaced by another, such other machine or device shall not be considered an additional device service. Certificates of tax payment or stamps are not transferable from one taxing jurisdiction to another.

F. Enforcement. The penalties and procedures of this Chapter relating to the enforcement and collection of the taxes levied under the authority of this Chapter shall apply to any person who has in his possession, control, or custody any machine or device on which the license tax is imposed by this Section and which is being operated without having a certificate of payment issued by the collector, as provided in Subsection E of this Section, affixed or attached thereto, or prominently posted in the place in which the machine or device is located and near to such machine or device. However, the penalties and procedures provided by this Chapter shall not apply to lessees of such machines or devices, provided that the lessee can furnish the collector with adequate information regarding the name, address, and business location of the lessor, against whom the penalties and procedures of this Chapter shall apply.

G. Professional sports. For each person owning or carrying on a business known as "professional sports" a license based on a flat fee of one thousand dollars shall be required. By way of extension and not of limitation, the business of "professional sports" shall include football, basketball, and baseball games, where the individual participants are paid for their services. Sporting events that are provided for by special laws are exempt under this Section.

H. Circuses, concerts, carnivals and special events. For each person operating a circus, carnival, or other traveling show, and for each person or organization sponsoring a concert or other special event, including but not limited to gun shows, arts and crafts fairs, and antique shows, a license based on a flat fee of two hundred fifty dollars shall be required. This license shall be issued by the parish or municipality in which the event is located and shall be good for a period of ten days. Should the person or organization move the circus, concert, or other event to another jurisdiction in the state, a new license shall be required by that jurisdiction.

I. Hotels, motels, rooming houses, boarding houses, and nursing homes. Any person operating a hotel, motel, rooming house, boarding house, or nursing home shall pay an annual license tax of two dollars for each sleeping room contained in it; provided that any person operating a nursing home shall pay, in lieu of the additional license tax required of hotels in R.S. 47:346, a license tax in accordance with the provisions of R.S. 47:354 based on one-third of the total gross receipts of the nursing home.

J. All other businesses. For all businesses not otherwise covered by or specifically exempted under this Chapter, including but not limited to printers, lithographers, attorneys at law, accountants, oculists, physicians, osteopaths, dentists, chiropodists, bacteriologists, veterinarians, chemists, architects, and civil, mechanical, chemical, or electrical engineers engaged in the practice of their profession as an individual, or as a firm, partnership, or corporation, the license shall be one-tenth of one percent of the annual gross receipts for professional fees for services rendered by the taxpayer, with a minimum tax of fifty dollars and a maximum tax of two thousand dollars. The tax levied herein shall be levied only on the business and not separately on any individual who is employed by or is a member of the taxpayer which conducts its business as a firm, partnership, or corporation.

K. Pharmacy. For each business licensed by the Louisiana State Board of Pharmacy as a pharmacy and eighty percent of gross revenues of the business comes from the filling of prescription drugs, the license shall be one-tenth of one percent of the gross annual sales of the total business activity, with a minimum tax of fifty dollars and a maximum tax of two thousand dollars. The tax levied herein shall be levied only on the business and not separately on any individual who is employed by or is a member of the taxpayer which conducts its business as a firm, partnership, or corporation.

Acts 1986, No. 1017, §1, eff. Jan. 1, 1987; Acts 1988, No. 638, §1; Acts 1988, No. 752, §2, eff. Jan. 1, 1989; Acts 1989, No. 272, §1, eff. Jan. 1, 1990; Acts 1989, No. 332, §1, eff. Jan 1, 1990; Acts 1991, No. 259, §1; Acts 1992, No. 551, §1, eff. Jan. 1, 1993; Acts 2005, No. 94, §1, eff. July 1, 2005.