West Virginia Code 8-13-4 – Municipal license and tax thereon when state license required
(a) Whenever anything, for which a state license is required, is to be done within the corporate limits of any municipality, the governing body shall have plenary power and authority, unless prohibited by general law, to require a municipal license and for the use of the municipality to impose a reasonable tax which may not exceed the amount of the state license tax. Upon proper application for a municipal license and payment of the prescribed reasonable tax by any person who has a valid and subsisting state license, the municipal license shall be issued.
Terms Used In West Virginia Code 8-13-4
- Code: shall mean the Code of West Virginia, 1931, as heretofore and hereafter amended. See West Virginia Code 8-1-2
- Governing body: shall mean the mayor and council together, the council, the board of directors, the commission, or other board or body of any municipality, by whatever name called, as the case may be, charged with the responsibility of enacting ordinances and determining the public policy of such municipality. See West Virginia Code 8-1-2
- Ordinance: shall mean the ordinances and laws enacted by the governing body of a municipality in the exercise of its legislative power, and in one or more articles of this chapter, ordinances enacted by a county commission. See West Virginia Code 8-1-2
- Person: shall mean any individual, firm, partnership, corporation, company, association, joint-stock association, or any other entity or organization of whatever character or description. See West Virginia Code 8-1-2
- State: when applied to a part of the United States and not restricted by the context, includes the District of Columbia and the several territories, and the words "United States" also include the said district and territories. See West Virginia Code 2-2-10
(b) Except where a business license tax or fee has been established by the West Virginia Code, the governing body of a municipality may, in lieu of the provisions of subsection (a), enact an ordinance creating an annual general municipal business license for anything which requires a state license that is done within the corporate limits of a municipality, the tax for which may not exceed twenty dollars.