Chap. 159.—An ACT to amend and reenact Sections 188, 190, 190-a, 197 and
198 of the Tax Code of Virginia, as heretofore amended, in relation to the
taxation of merchants; merchants placing vending machines; optometrists ;
keepers of restaurants, and persons, firms and corporations having any-
where in this State slot machines; which sections are in Chapter 14 of the
Tax Code of Virginia, entitled “Licenses”. {H 25]

Approved March 9, 1948

Be it enacted by the General Assembly of Virginia:

1. That sections one hundred and eighty-cight, one hundred
and ninety, one hundred and ninety-a, one hundred and ninety-
seven, and one hundred and ninety-eight of the Tax Code of Vir-
ginia, as heretofore amended, be amended and reenacted so as to
read as follows:

Section 188. Merchants—Wholesale—Every person, firm and
corporation engaged in the business of a wholesale merchant shall
pay a license tax for the privilege of doing business in this State
to be measured by the amount of purchases made by him or it
during the next preceding year, and all goods, wares and merchan-
dise manufactured by such wholesale merchant and sold or offered
for sale, in this State, as merchandise, shall be considered as pur-
chases within the meaning of this section; provided, that this sec-
tion shall not be construed as applying to manufacturers taxed on
capital by this State, who offer for sale at the place of manufacture,
goods, wares and merchandise manufactured by them.

The term “wholesale merchant”, as used in this section, means
every merchant who sells to other persons for resale only, or who
sells to institutional, commercial or industrial users.

For every license to a person, firm or corporation engaged in
the business of a wholesale merchant, the amount to be paid shall
be as follows:

If the amount of purchases throughout the then next preceding
calendar year did not exceed ten thousand dollars, the amount shall
be fifty dollars; when such purchases exceeded ten thousand dollars,
the amount shall be fifty dollars on the first ten thousand dollars,
and twenty cents on every one hundred dollars upon all in excess
of ten thousand dollars.

To ascertain the amount of purchases it shall be the duty of
such wholesale merchant, on the first day of January of each year,
or within ten days thereafter, to make report in writing, under oath,
to the commissioner of the revenue for the county or city in which
is located his place of business showing purchases as herein defined,
during the next preceding calendar year. The forms of the reports
required by this section shall be prepared by the Department of
Taxation, and furnished to each commissioner of the revenue, and
by him distributed among all wholesale merchants within his
county or city.
For the purpose of ascertaining the tax to be paid by a whole-
sale merchant beginning business, his purchases shall be considered
to be the amount of goods, wares and merchandise bought to com-
mence business with, including goods, wares and merchandise
manufactured by him to be offered for sale at the place at which
he conducts his business as a wholesale merchant, provided such
place is not the place of manufacture, also including an estimate
of purchases which the wholesale merchant will make between the
date of the issuance of his license ‘and the thirty-first of Decem-
ber following, and including an estimate of the amount of goods,
wares and merchandise manufactured by him to be offered for sale
at the place at which he conducts his business as a wholesale
merchant, provided such place is not the place of manufacture.
Every underestimate under this paragraph and the next succeeding
paragraph shall be subject to correction by the Department of
Taxation, whose duty it shall be to assess such wholesale merchant
with such additional taxes as may be found to be due after the
close of the license year on the basis of the true purchases.

The license tax of every wholesale merchant who was licensed
at a definite place of business for only a part of the next preceding
license year shall be computed for the then current license year
on the basis of an estimate of purchases which the wholesale
merchant will make throughout the then current license year,
including an estimate of the amount of goods, wares and merchan-
dise manufactured by him to be offered for sale at the place at
which he conducts his business as a wholesale merchant, provided
such place is not the place of manufacture.

If, after the close of the year for which the license is issued,
the wholesale merchant should elect not to renew it, but desires
the privilege to sell whatever goods, wares and merchandise he may
have on hand at the time, it may be lawful for him to do so upon
the payment of a license tax upon said goods, wares and merchan-
dise to be regarded as purchases for the purpose of computing the
license tax.

A wholesale merchant’s license, the tax on which would be two
hundred dollars or more were it issued for the period of one year,
may be issued quarterly, as provided in section one hundred and
thirty-five; but inasmuch as every wholesale merchant’s license tax
is measured by the purchases, no question of proration can arise.

_ Each wholesale merchant shel keep and preserve his invoices
and a record of all purchases, and from whom made, which record
shall be open to inspection and examination by the tax officers of
the State, and the report of purchases made by the wholesale mer-
chant shall be taken from that record; and he or his agents shall
make oath to the correctness of the report that the same is in
accordance with said record, and that the record has been accurately
kept. It shall be the duty of the commissioner of the revenue to
examine the record of purchases required to be kept by the whole-
sale merchant and to verify the wholesale merchant’s report of
purchases by that record.

Every wholesale merchant who does not keep the record herein
provided for shall be assessed with and pay a penalty of one hun-
dred dollars, in addition to such tax as may be ascertained as here-
inafter provided. Every wholesale merchant who does not keep the
record herein provided for shall be reported by the commissioner
of the revenue to the Department of Taxation, and the Depart-
ment of Taxation, upon receiving such report, or in any case when
it comes to the knowledge of the Department of Taxation in any
way that a wholesale merchant has not kept, or is not keeping and
preserving, the record herein provided for, the Department of
Taxation shall ascertain the correct purchases of such wholesale
merchant and assess such wholesale merchant with the State
license tax provided by law upon the purchases so ascertained, in
addition to the penalty of one hundred dollars, hereinbefore pro-
vided for. Such penalty shall in every such case be added to the
license tax, and shall become a part thereof, and shall be collected
in the same manner as taxes are collected; provided, however, that
any wholesale merchant who shall continue to violate the law
requiring such report to be kept, after receiving written notice from
the commissioner of the revenue or the Department of Taxation,
shall be subject to a further penalty of one hundred dollars for
each month such violation of the law shall continue after the giving
of such notice, which penalty shall be assessed and collected in the
same manner as taxes are assessed and collected.

The word “purchases”, as used in this section shall be construed
to include all goods, wares and merchandise received for sale at
each definite place of business of every wholesale merchant. The
word “purchases”, as so used shall not be construed to exclude any
goods, wares and merchandise otherwise coming within the mean-
ing of the said word. Every wholesale merchant shall keep at his
each definite place of business in this State the invoices and
records required by this section to be kept in this State; and the
failure of any such wholesale merchant to keep such invoices and
records at his each definite place of business in this State shall
constitute a violation of the provisions of this section in relation
to the keeping of such invoices and records.

A manufacturer engaged in business in this State may, without
a wholesale merchant’s license, sell at the place of manufacture,
the goods, wares and merchandise manufactured by him. If a manu-
facturer desires to sell, at a definite place or store, other than the
place of manufacture, to other persons for resale, or to institutional,
commercial or industrial users, the goods, wares and merchandise
manufactured by him, then such manufacturer must take out a
wholesale merchant’s license, though this definite place or store
be located in the same county, city or town in which his place of
manufacture is established. When a manufacturer establishes a
place or store for the sale of his goods, other than at his place of
manufacture, to other persons for resale, or to institutional, com-
mercial or industrial users, the amount of the State license tax is
to be measured not only by the amount of purchases made by such
manufacturer from others, but also by the goods, wares and mer-
chandise manufactured by him and sent from the place of manu-
facture to his store for sale; and he is required to report not only
the amount of goods purchased by him from others and offered
for sale, but also the amount of goods manufactured by him either
within or without this State and offered for sale by him at his store
or definite place in this State other than the place of manufacture.
The cost of manufacture shall be taken as the purchase price of
the goods, wares and merchandise in the case of a manufacturer
who is also a wholesale merchant within the meaning of the law.

A manufacturer taxable on capital by the State may, except
as in this section provided, sell and deliver at the same time to
licensed dealers or retailers, but not to consumers, anywhere in the
State, without the payment of any license tax of any kind for such
privilege to the State, or to any city, town or county.

A wholesale merchant, who has been duly licensed by the
State, and duly licensed by the city or town, if his place of business
be in a city or town, or in lieu of a license tax to the city or town,
has been taxed by the city or town on the capital employed in
business, may, other than at a definite place of business, sell and
deliver at the same time to licensed dealers or retailers, but not
to consumers, anywhere in the State, without the payment of any
additional license tax of any kind for such privilege to the State,
unless otherwise provided by law.

For every distributing house or place in this State (other than
the house or place of manufacture) operated by any person, firm
or corporation engaged in the business of a merchant in this State,
for the purpose of distributing goods, wares and merchandise
among his or its retail stores, a separate license shall be required,
and the goods, wares and merchandise distributed through such
distributing house or place shall be regarded as purchases for the
purpose of measuring the license tax, which tax shall be the same
as the license tax imposed hereby on a wholesale merchant.

Merchants—Retail——Every person, firm and corporation en-

aged in the business of a retail merchant shall pay a license tax
for the privilege of doing business in this State to be measured by
the amount of sales made by him or it during the next preceding
year, and all goods, wares and merchandise manufactured by such
merchant and sold in this State, as merchandise, shall be considered
as sales within the meaning of this section; provided, that this
section shall not be construed as applying to manufacturers taxed
on capital by this State, who sell at the place of manufacture,
goods, wares and merchandise manufactured by them.
The term “retail merchant”, as used in this section, means every
merchant who sells at retail only and not for resale.

For every license to a person, firm or corporation engaged in the
business of a retail merchant, the amount to be paid shall be as
follows:

If the amount of sales throughout the then next preceding calen-
dar year did not exceed one thousand dollars, the amount shall be
ten dollars; when such sales exceeded one thousand dollars and
did not exceed two thousand dollars, the amount shall be twenty
dollars ; when such sales exceeded two thousand dollars the amount
shall be twenty dollars on the first two thousand dollars, and
twenty cents on every one hundred dollars upon all in excess of
two thousand dollars.

To ascertain the amount of sales it shall be the duty of such
retail merchant on the first day of January of each year, or within
ten days thereafter, to make report in writing, under oath, to the
commissioner of the revenue for the county or city in which is
located his place of business, showing sales as herein defined,
during the next preceding calendar year. The forms of the reports
required by this section shall be prepared by the Department of
Taxation, and furnished to each commissioner of the revenue, and
by him distributed among all retail merchants within his county
or city.

For the purpose of ascertaining the tax to be paid by a retail
merchant beginning business, he shall estimate the sales which he
will make between the date of.the issuance of his license and the
thirty-first of December following, including an estimate of the
sales of goods, wares and merchandise manufactured by him to be
offered for sale at the place at which he conducts his business as a
retail merchant, provided such place is not the place of manu-
facture. Every under-estimate under this paragraph and the second
paragraph following shall be subject to correction by the Depart-
ment of Taxation, whose duty it shall be to assess such retail
merchant with such additional taxes as may be found to be due
after the close of the license year on the basis of the true sales.

If the freight paid by a retail merchant on any article sold by
him shall exceed twenty-five per centum of the price paid by him
for the article itself, the amount of such freight in excess of twenty-
five per centum of the said purchase price of the article shall be
eliminated from consideration in ascertaining the amount of sales
of such merchant and the tax to be paid thereon.

The license tax of every retail merchant who was licensed at a
definite place of business for only a part of the next preceding
license year shall be computed for the then current license year
on the basis of an estimate of sales which the retail merchant will
make throughout. the then current license year, including an esti-
mate of the sales of goods, wares and merchandise manufactured
by him to be offered for sale at the place at which he conducts his
business as a retail merchant, provided such place is not the place
of manufacture.

If, after the close of the year for which the license is issued,
the retail merchant should elect not to renew it, but desires the
privilege to sell whatever goods, wares and merchandise he may
have on hand at the time, it may be lawful for him to do so upon
the payment of a license tak measured by the retail sales value of
such goods, wares and merchandise, which value shall be estimated
by the commissioner of the revenue issuing the license, subject to
review and revision by the Department of Taxation.

A retail merchant’s license, the tax on which would be fifty
dollars or more were it issued for the period of one year, may be
issued quarterly, as provided in section one hundred and thirty-five ;
but inasmuch as every retail merchant's license tax is measured by
sales, no question of proration can arise.

Each retail merchant shall keep and preserve his invoices and
a record of all purchases, and from whom made, and each retail
merchant shall keep and preserve an accurate record of all sales
made by him, which records shall be open to inspection and exam-
ination by the tax officers of the State, and the report of sales made
by the retail merchant shall be taken from that record; and he or
his agents shall make oath to the correctness of the report that
the same is in accordance with said record, and that the record
has been accurately kept. It shall be the duty of the commissioner
of the revenue to examine the record of sales required to be kept
by the merchant and to verify the merchant’s report of sales by
that record.

Every retail merchant who does not keep the records herein
provided for shall be assessed with and pay a penalty of twenty-
five dollars, in addition to such tax as may be ascertained as here-
inafter provided. Every retail merchant who does not keep the
records herein provided for shall be reported by the commissioner
of the revenue to the Department of Taxation and the Department
of Taxation, upon receiving such report, or in any case when it
comes to the knowledge of the Department of Taxation in any way
that a retail merchant has not kept or is not keeping and preserving
the records herein provided for, the Department of Taxation shall
estimate the probable sales of such retail merchant to the best of
its ability and assess such retail merchant with the State license
tax provided by law upon the sales so estimated, in addition to
the penalty of twenty-five dollars hereinbefore provided for. Such
penalty shall in every such case be added to the license tax, and
shall become a part thereof, and shall be collected in the same
manner as taxes are collected; provided, however, that any retail
merchant who shall continue to violate the law requiring such
records to be kept, after receiving written notice from the com-
missioner of the revenue or the Department of Taxation, shall be
subject to a further penalty of twenty-five dollars for each month
such violation of the law shall continue after the giving of such
notice, which penalty shall be assessed and collected in the same
manner as taxes are assessed and collected.

Every retail merchant shall keep at his each definite place of
business in this State the invoices and records of sales required by
this section to be kept in this State; and the failure of any such
retail merchant to keep such invoices and record of sales at his
each definite place of business in this State shall constitute a viola-
tion of the provisions of this section, in relation to the keeping of
such invoices and records of sales. A manufacturer engaged in
business in this State may, without a retail merchant’s license,
sell at the place of manufacture, the goods, wares and merchandise
manufactured by him. If a manufacturer desires to sell, at a definite
place or store, other than the place of manufacture, at retail only
and not for resale, the goods, wares and merchandise manufactured
by him, then such manufacturer must take out a retail merchant’s
license, though this definite place or store be located in the same
county, city or town in which his place of manufacture is estab-
lished. When a manufacturer establishes a place or store for the
sale of his goods, other than at his place of manufacture, at retail
only and not for resale the amount of the State license tax is to
be measured not only by the amount of sales made by such manu-
facturer of goods, wares and merchandise purchased from others,
but also by the goods, wares and merchandise manufactured by him
and sent from the place of manufacture to his store for sale and
sold, and he is required to report not only the amount of sales of
goods purchased by him from others and sold, but also the amount
of sales of goods manufactured by him either within or without
this State and offered for sale by him and sold at his store or
definite place in this State other than the place of manufacture.

Dealers in coal, wood or ice paying a retail merchant’s license
tax under this section may peddle the same from vehicles without
paying additional tax; provided that dealers in coal and wood in
cities of forty thousand inhabitants or more, who peddle the same
from vehicles shall pay an additional tax of fifty dollars for each
vehicle thus used.

General provisions.—Any person, firm or corporation who or
which is both a wholesale merchant and a retail merchant, as
defined in this section, is hereby required to obtain both classes
of licenses ; provided, however, that any retail merchant who desires
to do a wholesale business also may elect to do such wholesale
business under his retailer's license by paying license taxes under
this section as a retailer on both his retail business and his whole-
sale business; but this proviso shall not apply to any retail mer-
chant the greater part of whose business at the licensed place
during the next preceding year was wholesale, nor to a beginner
the greater part of whose business it is estimated will be wholesale
for the period covered by the license.

The sums imposed under and by virtue of this section shall be
in lieu of all taxes for State purposes on the capital actually em-
ployed by any licensed merchant in his mercantile business, except
the registration fee and franchise tax, and except that such mer-
chant shall not be exempt from the payment of county, district, and
road or other levies on the amount of capital on hand on the first
day of January of each year and may be required to pay the usual
city, county, district, and road or other levies thereon, notwith-
standing this section.

Merchants’ capital, which is by law segregated for local taxa-
tion exclusively, is hereby defined for purposes of local taxation,
as follows: Inventory of stock on hand; the excess of bills and
accounts receivable over bills and accounts payable ; money on hand
and on deposit, and all other taxable personal property of any kind
whatsoever, except tangible personal property not offered for sale
as merchandise, which tangible personal property shall be reported
and assessed as such.

Goods, wares and merchandise not belonging to a merchant
which are offered for sale by the merchant or by another person
at the merchant’s duly licensed place of business shall require such
merchant to take out the license of a commission merchant.

No additional license, State or local, shall be required of any
person, firm or corporation licensed as a merchant in this State
for engaging in the business of selling goods, wares or merchandise
by sample, where delivery is not made at the time of the sale and
where the goods, wares or merchandise subsequently delivered are
not the samples.

This section, as hereby amended, shall be in force on and after
January first, nineteen hundred and forty-nine, and shall apply to
the license and tax year beginning January first, nineteen hundred
and forty-nine, and to every license and tax year thereafter, until
otherwise provided by law.

Section 190. Merchants placing vending machines.—Every per-
son, firm and corporation engaged in the business of selling goods,
wares and merchandise through the use of coin-operated vending
machines shall be classified as a retail merchant, and shall pay an
annual State license tax for the privilege of doing business in this
State of twenty dollars; provided, however, that if any such person,
firm or corporation has more than one definite place in this State
at which goods, wares or merchandise are stored, kept or assembled
for supplying such vending machines, the annual State license tax
hereby imposed shall be twenty dollars additional for each such
definite place in excess of one. The license taxes aforesaid shall
not be subject to proration.
Every such person, firm and corporation shall also pay a tax
of twenty cents on every one hundred dollars of gross sales through
such vending machines in excess of two thousand dollars in each
calendar year, or part thereof. Such volume tax shall be assessed
and collected by the State Tax Commissioner after the first day of
January and before the last day of January following the calendar
year in which such business is done, under such rules and regula-
tions as may be prescribed by the said commissioner; and every
such person, firm and corporation, before commencing to do such
business in this State, shall register with the State Tax Commis-
sioner and deposit with the State Tax Commissioner a bond to
insure the keeping of adequate records, the filing of reports in such
form and at such times as may be prescribed by the State Tax
Commissioner, and the proper payment of the taxes imposed by
this section. The form and amount of the bond shall be determined
by the State Tax Commissioner and the surety thereon shall be
approved by him. All moneys collected by the State Tax Commis-
sioner under this section shall be paid promptly into the general
fund of the State treasury.

The taxes imposed by this section shall be in lieu of any license
tax on the individual vending machines.

Every vending machine shall be plainly marked by the owner
thereof with the name and address of such owner.

The use of a cigarette vending machine on premises which are
not already covered by a tobacco retailers’ license shall require the
owner of such cigarette vending machine to take out a tobacco
retailers’ license for that location.

The term “vending machines”, as used in this section, includes
only such machines as vend goods, wares and merchandise and
give to the customer on every purchase his money’s worth in goods,
wares or merchandise. The term does not include any machine the
operation of which is prohibited by law, nor any machine which
has any gambling or amusement feature whatsoever.

This section shall not apply to any vending machine upon which
the license tax is paid under the provisions of section one hundred
and ninety-eight of the Tax Code, as amended.

The governing body of every city, town and county in this
State is hereby authorized to parallel this section by local ordi-
nance and to impose local license taxes on every person, firm and
corporation coming within the provisions of this section and
engaged in the business of selling goods, wares and merchandise
through the use of coin-operated vending machines in such city,
town or county, and to classify such business as that of a retail
merchant. The license taxes so imposed by any city or town shall
not be in excess of the rates imposed by such city or town on a
retail merchant selling similar goods, wares and merchandise in
such city or town at one definite place of business, and the license
taxes so imposed by any county shall not be in excess of the State
rates levied by this section; provided, however, that if any such
person, firm or corporation has more than one definite place in the
city, town or county at which goods, wares and merchandise are
stored, kept or assembled for supplying vending machines, each
such place in excess of one shall be regarded as an additional
definite place of business.

Any person, firm or corporation violating any of the provisions
of this section shall be guilty of a misdemeanor, and on conviction
shall be punished as provided by section forty-seven hundred and
eighty-two of the Code of Virginia.

This section, as hereby amended, shall be in force on and after
January first, nineteen hundred and forty-nine, and shall apply to
the license and tax year beginning January first, nineteen hundred
and forty-nine, and to every license and tax year thereafter, until
otherwise provided by law.

Section 190-a. Optometrists—Every practicing optometrist, in
addition to being subject to the regulatory laws of this State relat-
ing to the profession of optometry, shall obtain a revenue license,
as hereinafter provided.

Every such optometrist who has practiced for less than five
years shall pay an annual State revenue license tax of ten dollars,
and every such optometrist who has practiced for five years or more
shall pay an annual State revenue license tax of twenty dollars, and
under such license in each case such optometrist may fill his own
prescriptions to any amount and the prescriptions of other optom-
etrists and of oculists, or either, to an amount not exceeding one
thousand dollars; but if the gross receipts of such optometrist on
account of filling the prescriptions of other optometrists and of
oculists, or either, during the preceding calendar year exceeded one
thousand dollars, or if a beginner and such gross receipts exceed
that amount from the time he began the practice to the following
December thirty-first, he shall pay an additional sum equal to
twenty cents per hundred dollars of the amount of such gross
receipts in excess of one thousand dollars.

A State revenue license issued to an optometrist to practice
optometry shall be good throughout the State as a State revenue
license.

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

Section 197. Restaurants—Any person who shall cook, or
otherwise furnish for compensation, diet or refreshments of any
kind, for casual visitors at his house, for consumption therein, and
who does not furnish lodging, and who is not the keeper of a hotel
or lodging house shall be deemed to keep a restaurant. Any person
who shall sell soft drinks from a soda fountain shall also be deemed
to keep a restaurant.

Every person who shall keep a restaurant within the meaning
of this section, if located in a town or city of more than five thou-
sand population, shall pay for the privilege an annual State license
tax of ten dollars and if located in a county or in a city or town of
less than five thousand population an annual State license of five
dollars, plus an additional tax in each case at the rate of twenty
cents per one hundred dollars on all sales made by him during the
next preceding year. The State license tax on every restaurant-
keeper beginning business, if located in a town or city of more than
five thousand population shall be ten dollars, or if located in a
county or in a town or city of less than five thousand population
five dollars, plus an additional tax in each case at the rate of twenty
cents per one hundred dollars on all sales, which it is estimated he
will make from the time he commences business to the following
December thirty-first. :

The license tax of every restaurant-keeper who was licensed at
a definite place of business for only a part of the next preceding
license year shall be for the then current license year the flat tax
provided above, plus the additional tax of twenty cents per hundred
dollars on all sales which it is estimated he will make throughout
the then current year.

Every under-estimate under this section shall be subject to
correction by the Department of Taxation, whose duty it shall be
to assess such restaurant-keeper with such additional taxes as may
be found to be due after the close of the license year on the basis
of the true sales.

Every restaurant-keeper shall keep accurate records of all sales
made by him, which records shall at all times be open to inspection
by the tax officers of this State.

Nothing in this section shall be construed as in any way affect-
ing the Sunday observance laws of this State.

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

Section 198. Slot machines.——(a) Any person, firm or corpora-
tion having anywhere in this State a slot machine of any descrip-
tion into which are inserted nickels or coins of larger denominations
to dispose of articles of merchandise, or for the purpose of operating
devices that operate on the coin-in-the-slot principle, used for gain,
except as a pay telephone, shall pay for every such slot machine
or device, as the case may be, a State license tax of twenty-five
dollars per year; except for each coin-operated musical machine or
348 ACTS OF ASSEMBLY [va., 1948

musical device that operates on the coin-in-the-slot principle, on
which there is hereby levied a State license tax of five dollars per
year for each such musical machine or musical device; except such
vending machines as are used solely for the sale of agricultural
products, soft drinks or cigars, on which there is hereby levied a
State license tax of three dollars per year for each machine; and
except such vending machines as are used solely for the sale of
candy and operated on the premises of moving picture or other
theaters, on which there is hereby levied a state license tax of five
dollars per year for each such machine; and such candy vending
machines as are operated on the premises of any person conducting
any other lawful business, on which there is hereby levied a State
license tax of ten dollars per year for each such machine; and
except also vending machines operated on premises for which a
tobacco retailer’s license has been obtained and used solely for the
sale of cigarettes, on which there is hereby levied a State license tax
of three dollars per year for each machine, and except also weighing
machines and machines used solely for the purpose of selling shoe
strings, chewing gum, peanuts, peanut candy or postage stamps
on which there is hereby levied a State license tax of one dollar per
year for each machine; and except also miniature pool tables, in
the operation of which nickels or coins of larger denominations are
used, on which there is hereby levied a State license tax of ten
dollars per year on each such coin-operated miniature pool table ;
and except also automatic baggage or parcel checking machines
or receptacles, which are used for the storage of baggage or parcels
of any character, on which there is hereby levied a State license
tax of fifteen cents per year for each receptacle that is operated on
the coin-in-the-slot principle; and on amusement machines oper-
ated by the insertion of one cent there is hereby levied a State
license tax of two dollars per year for each machine; and on vend-
ing machines operated by the insertion of one cent there is hereby
levied a State license tax of one dollar per year for each machine;
provided, that nothing contained in this section shall be construed
as permitting any such person, firm or corporation to keep, main-
tain, exhibit or operate any slot machine or other device, the oper-
ation of which is prohibited by law. This section shall not apply
to slot machines that are used solely for the purpose of selling
individual sanitary drinking cups or sanitary drinking cups and
natural water or to machines vending sanitary napkins or to
washing machines.

(b) Neither the State Tax Commissioner nor any commis-
sioner of revenue shall issue any license under this section for slot
machines which are unlawful under the provisions of section forty-
six hundred and ninety-four-a of the Code of Virginia.

(c) The State Tax Commissioner may prepare and furnish to
the commissioners of the revenue stickers which, when signed by
the commissioner of the revenue issuing any slot machine license,
shall evidence the payment of the license tax; and it shall be the
duty of every licensee to whom any such sticker is #sued by the
commissioner of the revenue to attach the same to the slot machine
covered thereby and to keep the same as so attached throughout
the license period. The form of the stickers aforesaid shall be
prescribed by the State Tax Commissioner.

(d) It shall be unlawful for any proprietor, owner, operator,
bailee, licensee, or custodian of any slot machine, other than vend-
ing machines which do nothing except to vend merchandise, and
other than machines which provide service only, knowingly to
permit any person under the age of sixteen years to operate the
same,

(e) Every person, firm or corporation selling, leasing, renting
or otherwise furnishing a slot machine or slot machines to others,
or placing a slot machine or slot machines with others, shall be
deemed to be a slot machine operator. Every slot machine operator,
as herein defined, shall pay for the privilege an annual State license
tax of one thousand dollars. The license tax imposed by this para-
graph is not in lieu of, but is in addition to, the other license taxes
imposed by this section; provided that the slot machine operator’s
license tax levied by this paragraph shall not be applicable to
operators of weighing machines, automatic baggage or parcel
checking machines, or receptacles, nor to vending machines which
machines are so constructed as to do nothing but vend merchan-
dise, or postage stamps, or provide service only, nor to operators
of coin operated musical machines or musical devices that operate
on the coin-in-the-slot principle; nor to operators of viewing
machines or photomat machines; provided further that operators
of cigarette vending machines shall pay a tax of twenty cents on
every hundred dollars of gross sales, this tax to be assessed and
collected by the State Department of Taxation after the first day
of January and before the fifteenth day of January following the
calendar year in which such business is done, under rules and
regulations prescribed by the department, and the operator shall,
before commencing operations in the State, deposit with the State
Tax Commissioner a bond to insure the proper payment of the
taxes, the form and amount of the bond to be determined by the
State Tax Commissioner and the security or surety thereon to be
approved by him.

(f) Any person, firm or corporation having any such slot
machine or other device and failing to procure a State license
therefor, or otherwise violating this section, shall be subject to a
fine of not less than fifty dollars nor more than five hundred dollars
for each offense, and the machine or other device shall become
forfeited to the Commonwealth.

(g) In addition to the tax herein imposed, the governing body
of any county, city or incorporated town may impose and collect
a license tax upon slot machines.
(h) No license tax shall be imposed by the State or any city
or town on or on account of any candy vending machine under
the ownership and supervision of any State commission or State
agency.

(i) This section, as hereby amended, shall be in force on and
after January first, nineteen hundred and forty-nine, and shall apply
to the license and tax year beginning January first, nineteen hun-
dred and forty-nine, and to every license and tax year thereafter,
until otherwise provided by law.