I inclose a translation of the portion of the law especially bearing on
the question.
A law always existed here which required that all foreigners before
opening a place of business must apply to the President of Haiti for a
license, which application had to be renewed yearly, but for which no
charge was made excepting 15 cents for the stamp paper on which it was
granted. On obtaining this license the party addressed himself to the
communal council, which issued to him a patent, for which he paid
according to the tariff of the patent law.
Under the new law, it is to the secretary of state of finance that the
request for a license must be made, accompanied by a receipt of the
National Bank of Haiti attesting to the payment of the license tax,
under penalty of a refusal of the license.
As Haitiens are not obliged to apply for this license to do business,
they are not subject to this tax, while all of our citizens doing
business in the country will be obliged to pay, which is in violation of
the clause of Article V of the treaty with Haiti that specifies that our
citizens “shall not be compelled to pay any contributions whatever
higher or other than those that are or may be paid by native
citizens.”
In the same translation will be found the provisions of the same law,
imposing a tax of $5 on voyagers crossing the ocean and $2 on those
voyaging in the Antilles, traveling first class. This tax, although
called a passport tax, is collected on every first-class passage ticket
sold, against which there is considerable complaint on the part of
voyagers.
Respectfully submitting the above to the attention of the Department, I
would be pleased to have its opinions and instructions on the subject
for my guidance.
[Subinclosure.]
Title V.—License
tax.
Art. 55. There is established by the
present law a license tax to which are subject all foreigners
carrying on in the Republic a commerce, industry, or any kind of a
profession subject to a patent.
Art. 56. This license tax is created for
the benefit of the State, and shall be collected by the National
Bank of Haiti as all the other receipts of the State.
Art. 57. Each year, from the 1st of July to
the 1st of September, there shall be drawn up a list of all the
foreign contributors subject to a license tax.
Art. 58. This list, indicating by columns
the names and first names of each merchant, industrial or
professional, his nationality, his residence, the kind of commerce,
industry, or profession that he carries on, the amount of the patent
he pays or should pay, the amount of the license tax applicable to
him, shall be drawn up at the diligence of the secretary of state of
finance in all the financial arrondissements, under the care of the
administrators of finances of the Republic. For this purpose the
secretary of state of finance shall forward to them printed forms of
the list from the 1st to the 15th of June of each year, which shall
be filled out and returned to his department by the 15th of
September at the latest.
Art. 59. In the principal places of the
financial arrondissements the list shall
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be drawn up by the administrator, and in the
other communes by the collector of finances. These printed lists
shall be sent to the latter by the administrators from the 1st to
the 10th of July, and they shall be bound to return the list filled
out by the 15th of August at the latest.
Art. 60. The list of license mentioned in
the two preceding articles shall be drawn up in triplicate. The
administrator of finances shall certify to the correctness and
submit it to the secretary of state of finances, who shall vest it
with the executory formula and decree. The minister shall send back
two of the three originals to the administrator of finances to be
kept in his archives to serve, first, for the issuance of the order
for collection prescribed by article 67 of the regulations of the
treasury service, and afterwards for the preparation of the list the
following year, and annex the other as a justificative document to
the ordinance of the receipts that he will draw up in conformity to
article 66 of the same regulations.
The third original of the list remains with the minister of finances
to facilitate the collection of the tax.
Art. 61. The periods fixed in 57, 58, and
59 are imperative and should be strictly observed under penalty, in
case of violation and of delays, by a detention of one-thirtieth of
the salary of the functionary for each day’s delay, the suspension
with forfeiture of the whole salary, if the delay is more than ten
days, and the revocation in case of a repetition, all without
prejudice to the penalties inflicted by article 150 of the penal
code.
Art. 62. The communal magistrates are
bound, under penalty of dismissal, to communicate to the
administrators or the collectors of finances, at every requisition,
the list of patents for the current year, and to furnish them all
the information needed to facilitate the preparation of the lists,
and to assure the collection of the license tax.
Art. 63. The license tax shall be the
one-half of the amount of the patent of each foreign
contributor.
The collection shall be regulated according to the number of
establishments, and not according to that of the persons employed
therein, so that the contributor who has several separate retail
shops, or who carries on several industries or professions, shall be
bound to obtain a special license for each one of his
establishments.
Art. 64. The request for a license shall
henceforth be addressed to the secretary of state of finances. It
shall indicate the name and Christian name of the contributor, his
nationality, his residence, the kind of commerce, industry, or
profession that he carries on, the number and situation of his
establishments. There shall be joined thereto the receipt of the
National Bank of Haiti, attesting the payment of the license tax
under penalty of a refusal of the license.
The request for a license shall be made from the first to the
twentieth of October of each year, under penalty by the contributor
of incurring a fine equivalent to five times the amount of the
license tax to which he is liable. In case of a repetition the fine
shall be doubled, without prejudice to the penalties mentioned in
article 27 of the law on the regulation of the direct taxes against
the contributor who shall carry on a commerce, industry, or
profession that is forbidden.
Art. 66. It is forbidden to carry on one or
more industries or professions subject to different patents. All
violations of the present provisions shall be punished by the
penalties inflicted by article 65.
Art. 67. The communal magistrates, or their
substitutes, are bound to inform without delay the secretary of
state of finance of the foreigners in their districts who violate
the provisions of the three preceding articles, under penalty of
being liable to the fine and other penalties fixed by article
65.
They shall be punished with a fine three times that of the foreign
contributor violating, and, besides, with an imprisonment of from
one to three years, with interdiction to exercise any public
function during the period, in a case where they shall be convicted
of having delivered or of having allowed to be delivered patents to
foreigners who shall not have obtained the license indispensable for
the carrying on of their commerce, industry, or profession.
Art. 68. The license tax is due not only by
each foreigner carrying on a commerce, industry, or a profession
subject to a patent, but also by each commercial or idustrial
society under whatever name it may be established in which a
foreigner may be a member, under any title whatsoever of
partnership.
In the latter case the foreign partner alone shall be subject to the
license tax,
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which the
society to which he belongs shall be bound to pay, reserving the
right to appeal.
Art. 69. When a foreigner subject to a
license tax is employed under any title whatever in the service of a
foreign or Haitien merchant, industrial or professional, the latter
is responsible to the State for the amount of the tax, and is then,
in case of a violation, liable for the penalties mentioned in
article 65.
Art. 70. The tax shall be inscribed on the
budget of ways and means under the “Rubric of license tax “and shall
form one of the sections of the “Chapter of miscellaneous receipts
“of that budget.
Each year with the budget of receipts there shall be remitted to the
legislature a certified copy of the lists that may have served for
the estimation of this tax.
Art. 71. There shall be kept at the
national bank and in the public administrations a special account of
the license tax.
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