Section 40-23-26 Tax to Be Added to Purchase Price; Refund Unlawful; Tax a Direct Tax on Retail Consumer.

(a) Every person, firm, corporation, association or copartnership engaged in or continuing within this state in the business for which a license or privilege tax is required by this division shall add to the sales price and collect from the purchaser on all sales upon the gross receipts or gross proceeds of which there is levied by this division a sales tax at the rate of four percent, $.04 tax for each whole dollar of sales price; provided, that on that part of the sales price which is a fractional part of a dollar, in addition to whole dollars, and on sales of less than a dollar there shall be collected in addition to the tax collected on whole dollars, no tax on $.01 to and including $.10 of sales price, $.01 tax on $.11 to and including $.30 of sales price, $.02 tax on $.31 to and including $.54 of sales price, $.03 tax on $.55 to and including $.73 of sales price, and $.04 tax on $.74 to and including $.99 of sales price. Upon sales the gross receipts or gross proceeds of which are taxed by this division at a rate less than four percent, there shall be added to the sales price and collected from the purchaser by such person, firm, corporation, association or copartnership described in this section an amount equal to the prescribed percentage of such sales price. (b) It shall be unlawful for any person, firm, corporation, association or copartnership described in this section to fail or refuse to add to the sales price and collect from the purchaser the amount required by this section to be so added to the sales price and collected from the purchaser; and it shall likewise be unlawful to refund or offer to refund all or any part of the amount collected, or to absorb or advertise directly or indirectly the absorption or refund of the amount required to be added to the sales price and collected from the purchaser, or any portion of such amount. Any person, firm, corporation, association or copartnership violating any of the provisions of this section shall be guilty of a misdemeanor, and upon conviction shall be fined in a sum of not less than $50 nor more than $100, or may be imprisoned in the county jail for not more than six months, or may be punished by both such fine and imprisonment, and each act in violation of the provisions of this division shall constitute a separate offense. The provisions of this section that there shall be added to the sale price and collected from the purchaser the amounts provided herein shall in no way relieve the person, firm, corporation, association or copartnership described in this section of the tax levied by this article; nor shall the inability, impracticability, refusal or failure to add to the sales price and collect from the purchaser the amounts provided herein relieve such person, firm, corporation, association or copartnership from the tax levied by this division. (c) All taxes paid in pursuance to this division or any other statute enacted in this connection shall conclusively be presumed to be a direct tax on the retail consumer, precollected for the purpose of convenience and facility only. (d) In the event that any sum is collected from a consumer that purports to be collected because of this section, whether or not the amount is actually provided for hereunder, then any such sum, except such as is collected solely because of rounding the correct amount of tax upward to the nearest cent, shall be paid to the Department of Revenue for the purposes provided in Section 40-23-35.