Chap. 317.—-An ACT to amend and re-enact Section 176 of the Tax Code of
Virginia, as heretofore amended, relating to contractors’, plumbers’ and
steamfitters’ licenses, so as to except certain persons, firms or corporations
dealing in or erecting tombstones from the operation of the said section.

[H B 440]
Approved March 29, 1938

1. Beit enacted by the General Assembly of Virginia, That section
one hundred and seventy-six of the Tax Code of Virginia, as hereto-
fore amended, be amended and re-enacted so as to read as follows:

Section 176. Contractors, plumbers and steamfitters—Any person,
firm or corporation accepting or offering to accept orders or contracts
for doing any work on or in any building or structure, requiring the
use of paint, stone, brick, mortar, wood, cement, structural iron or steel,
sheet iron, galvanized iron, metallic piping, tin, lead, electric wiring or
other metal or any other building material, or who shall accept or offer
to accept contracts to do any paving, curbing or other work on side-
walks, streets, alleys, or highways, public or private property, using
asphalt, brick, stone, cement, concrete, wood or any composition, or
who shall accept or offer to accept an order for or contract to excavate
earth, rock, or other material for foundation or any other purpose, or
who shall accept or offer to accept an order or contract to construct
any sewer of stone, brick, terra cotta or other material, shall be deemed
a contractor; provided, however, that any person, firm or corporation
engaging in the business of plumbing and steamfitting in cities, towns
or counties which have adopted or may hereafter adopt rules and
regulations for the purpose of securing sanitary construction, altera-
tion and inspection of plumbing and sewer connections and drains,
pursuant to section fifteen hundred and forty-four of the Code of
Virginia, shall not be deemed to be a contractor, as defined in this
section, but shall pay for the privilege of conducting the business of
plumbing and steamfitting, the same license as that required of con-
tractors by this section; and provided further, that any person, firm
or corporation engaging in the business of selling and erecting, or
erecting, tombstones shall not be deemed to be a contractor as defined
in this section.

Every contractor and every plumber and steamfitter shall, on the
first day of January in each year, procure from the commissioner of
the revenue for the city or county in which he has his office a license
to carry on the business of a contractor, plumber or steamfitter; pro-
vided, that if such contractor, plumber or steamfitter has no office
in this State, then he shall procure such license from the commissioner
of the revenue for the city or county where he conducts his business.

When a contractor or a plumbing and steamfitting contractor shall
have paid the aforesaid State license and local license required by the
city or town, in which his principal office and any branch office or offices
may be located, no further license shall be required by the State or
other city or town for conducting any such business within the confines
of this State, except that qualifications under section fifteen hundred
and forty-four of the Code may be required of contractors doing
plumbing, and provided that this section shall not apply to contractors,
plumbers and steamfitters the gross amount of whose orders accepted
and executed does not amount to one thousand dollars per annum.

Every such contractor, plumber and steamfitter, for the privilege
of transacting business in this State, shall pay a license, to be ascer-
tained in the following manner:

If the gross amount of all orders or contracts accepted during the
preceding year aggregated as much as one thousand dollars and not
more than five thousand dollars, he shall pay the sum of five dollars;
if the amount of such orders or contracts was more than five thousand
dollars, and did not exceed ten thousand dollars, ten dollars; if the
amount of such orders or contracts exceeded ten thousand dollars,
and did not exceed twenty thousand dollars, fifteen dollars; if the
amount of such orders or contracts exceeded twenty thousand dollars,
and did not exceed fifty thousand dollars, twenty dollars; if the
amount of stch orders or contracts exceeded fifty thousand dollars,
and did not exceed one hundred thousand dollars, fifty dollars; if the
amount of such orders or contracts exceeded one hundred thousand
dollars, and did not exceed one hundred and fifty thousand dollars, one
hundred dollars; if the amount of such orders or contracts exceeded
one hundred and fifty thousand dollars, and did not exceed three hun-
dred thousand dollars, one hundred and fifty dollars; and if the amount
of such contracts or orders exceeded three hundred thousand dollars,
two hundred and fifty dollars.

The license tax on every contractor, plumber and steamfitter begin-
ning business shall be measured in accordance with the foregoing scale
by the gross amount of all orders or contracts which he has accepted
before applying for the license plus the gross amount of all orders or
contracts which he estimates he will accept between the date of the
issuance of his license and the thirty-first of December following.

The councils or other governing bodies of cities and towns may, by
ordinance or ordinances, classify contractors for the purpose of city
or town license taxation and may impose upon each class the same
or different rates of tax.

This section, as hereby amended, shall be in force for the license
year beginning January first, nineteen hundred and thirty-nine, and for
every license year thereafter until otherwise provided by law.