Business License

[Wimblees@aol.com]

In a message dated 97-04-09 00:20:51 EDT, you write:

>I live on the Pennisula, just below San Francisco in California.
>In my service area there are at least 20 incorporated cities.
>Today I got a request from South San Francisco that since I
>operate a business in their town I need a business license.
>$80.00!!!!  I do live in S.S.F.  I live in Pacifica.  Apparently
>since I do work for the S.S.F. Recreation Dept. the City
>Business License Dept. somehow got wind of it.  Now if I had to
>buy a business license for every city I have customers in I
>would be out of business or at least have to jack up my prices
>big time.  Obviously I have a business license in my own city of
>Pacifica, but that was only after I rented a space for my shop.
>Do any of you folks have to pay for multiple business licenses?
>
>David ilvedson, RPT

You said  "I do live in S.S.F.  I live in Pacifica." I presume you don't live
in SSF, and live in Pacifica. It would seem to me that a business has to have
a licence to operate in only the city in which they have a store, office or
shop, even though they have customers in other cities. In the St. Louis area,
I have to have a licence to operate my store in the subburb in which I have
my store.(Rock Hill). This is for sales tax purposes and the city gets a part
of that. I also have to pay a small percentage of my sales to Rock Hill.  I
also have a licence to conduct business in the county in which I work. That
is St. Louis County, which allows me to operate all over the county. However,
the City of St. Louis is not part of the County of St. Louis. The City of St.
Louis levies a "city earnings tax" on all business I do in the City of St.
Louis. Most of the time I can get away with not paying it, but when I work
for a hotel of other business that reports to the City of St. Louis whom they
hired  to do work, I get a tax form to fill out, and then pay a tax on the
money I earned in the city.

It does get confusing, and aggrivating, but I chalk it up to the cost, (and
pain) of being in business. I heard it gets even more complicated in the
Dallas area, where service people have to collect sales tax, and then
distribute it to the various communities. Anyone from the Dallas area want to
respond to that.

Willem Blees  RPT
St. Louis