GENERAL ASSEMBLY OF NORTH CAROLINA

SESSION 1991

 

 

CHAPTER 974

HOUSE BILL 1455

 

AN ACT TO IMPOSE A PRIVILEGE LICENSE TAX ON REAL ESTATE APPRAISERS.

 

The General Assembly of North Carolina enacts:

 

Section 1.  G.S. 105-41(a) reads as rewritten:

"(a)      Every individual in this State who practices a profession or engages in a business and is included in the list below must obtain from the Secretary a statewide license for the privilege of practicing the profession or engaging in the business.  The tax for each license is fifty dollars ($50.00); the tax does not apply to an individual who is at least 75 years old.

(1)       An attorney-at-law.

(2)       A physician, a veterinarian, a surgeon, an osteopath, a chiropractor, a chiropodist, a dentist, an ophthalmologist, an optician, an optometrist, or another person who practices a professional art of healing.

(3)       A professional engineer, as defined in G.S. 89C-3.

(4)       A registered land surveyor, as defined in G.S. 89C-3.

(5)       An architect.

(6)       A landscape architect.

(7)       A photographer, a canvasser for any photographer, or an agent of a photographer in transmitting photographs to be copied, enlarged, or colored.

(8)       A real estate broker or a real estate salesman, as defined in G.S. 93A-2.  A real estate broker or a real estate salesman who is also a real estate appraiser is required to obtain only one license under this section to cover both activities.

(9)       A real estate appraiser, as defined in G.S. 93A-72.  A real estate appraiser who is also a real estate broker or a real estate salesman is required to obtain only one license under this section to cover both activities.

(10)     A person who solicits or negotiates loans on real estate as agent for another for a commission, brokerage, or other compensation.

Every practicing attorney-at-law, practicing physician, veterinary, surgeon, osteopath, chiropractor, chiropodist, dentist, oculist, optician, optometrist, any person practicing any professional art of healing for a fee or reward, every practicing professional engineer as defined in Chapter 89C of the General Statutes, every practicing land surveyor as defined in Chapter 89C of the General Statutes, every architect and landscape architect, photographer, canvasser for any photographer, agent of a photographer in transmitting pictures or photographs to be copied, enlarged or colored (including all persons enumerated in this section employed by the State, county, municipality, a corporation, firm or individual), and every person, whether acting as an individual, as a member of a partnership, or as an officer and/or agent of a corporation, who is engaged in the business of selling or offering for sale, buying or offering to buy, negotiating the purchase, sale, or exchange of real estate, or who is engaged in the business of leasing or offering to lease, renting or offering to rent, or of collecting any rents as agent for another for compensation, or who is engaged in the business of soliciting and/or negotiating loans on real estate as agent for another for a commission, brokerage and/or other compensation, shall apply for and obtain from the Secretary of Revenue a statewide license for the privilege of engaging in such business or profession, or the doing of the act named, and shall pay for such license fifty dollars ($50.00); Provided, that no professional man or woman shall be required to pay a privilege tax after he or she has arrived at the age of 75 years. Further provided, that it shall be unlawful for a nonresident of this State to engage in the real estate business in this State, as defined in this section, unless the State of residence of such person will permit a resident of this State to engage in such business. Any person who shall engage in the real estate business in this State in violation of the terms of this provision shall be guilty of a misdemeanor and shall be punished in the discretion of the court; and further provided, that the obtaining of a real estate dealer's license by such person shall not authorize such nonresident to engage in the real estate business in this State, and provided further  that in all prosecutions under this section, a certificate under the hand and seal of the Secretary of Revenue that the accused filed no income tax returns with his department for the preceding taxable year shall be prima facie evidence that the accused is a nonresident and that his license is void."

Sec. 2.  This act becomes effective July 1, 1992.

In the General Assembly read three times and ratified this the 17th day of July, 1992.

 

James C. Gardner

President of the Senate

 

Daniel Blue, Jr.

Speaker of the House of Representatives