(A)
There is imposed a tax on the amounts paid for any intrastate telephone services by every person in the town other than a telephone corporation using the services. The tax imposed by this section shall not be greater than five percent of the charges made for the service and shall be paid by the person paying for the services.
(B) For the purpose of this section, the following definitions shall apply unless the context clearly indicates or requires a different meaning.
CHARGES. Shall not include charges for services paid for by inserting coins in coin-operated telephones, except that where the coin-operated service is furnished for a guaranteed amount, the amounts paid under the guarantee, plus any fixed month or other periodic charge shall be included in the base for computing the amount of tax due; nor shall the term CHARGES include charges for any type of service equipment furnished by a service supplier subject to Public Utility regulation during any period in which the same or similar services or equipment are also available for sale or lease from persons other than a service supplier subject to Public Utility regulation; nor shall the words TELEPHONE COMMUNICATION SERVICES include land mobile services or maritime mobile services as defined in 47 C.F.R. § 2.1, as the section existed on January 1, 1970.
TELEPHONE COMMUNICATION SERVICES. The service which provides access to a telephone system and the privilege of telephonic quality communication with substantially all persons having telephone stations which are part of such telephone system. The telephone user tax is intended to, and does, apply to all charges billed to a telephone account having a situs in the town, irrespective of whether a particular communication service originates and/or terminates within the town.
(C) (1) The tax imposed by this section shall be collected from the service user by the person providing the intrastate telephone communication services, or the person receiving payment for the services.
(2) The amount of the tax collected in one month shall be remitted to the Tax Administrator on or before the last day of the following month; or at the option of the person required to collect and remit the tax, an estimated amount of tax collected, measured by the tax billed in the previous month, shall be remitted to the Tax Administrator on or before the last day of each month.
(D) Notwithstanding the provisions of division (A) above, the tax imposed under this section shall not be imposed upon any person for using intrastate telephone communication services to the extent that the amounts paid for the services are exempt from or not subject to the tax imposed under Cal. Revenue and Taxation Code Division 2, Part 20, or the tax imposed under I.R.C. § 4251.
