1283 - Liabilty for tax; special provisions.

§  1283.  Liability  for  tax; special provisions. Notwithstanding any  provision of law to the contrary: (a) The taxicab owner shall be  liable  for  the  tax  imposed  by  this article. If the owner has designated an  agent, then the agent shall be jointly liable with the owner for the tax  on trips occurring during the period that such designation is in effect.  Even if the TLC has specified that the owner's agent cannot  operate  as  an agent, that agent shall be jointly liable with the owner if the agent  has  acted  for the owner. During the period that an owner's designation  of an agent is in effect, the agent shall file the returns  required  by  this  article  and pay any tax due with such return, but the owner shall  not be relieved of liability for tax, penalty or interest due under this  article, or for the filing of returns required to be filed,  unless  the  agent has timely filed accurate returns and timely paid the tax required  to be paid under this article. If an owner has designated an agent, then  the  agent  must  perform  any  act  this  article  requires an owner to  perform, but the failure of such agent to perform any such act shall not  relieve the owner from the obligation to perform such act  or  from  any  liability that may arise from failure to perform the act.    (b)  (1) Although the tax is imposed on the taxicab owner, the city or  the TLC shall adopt or amend ordinances or regulations  to  ensure  that  the  economic incidence of the tax is passed through to passengers, such  as by increasing taxicab trip fares. The passing along of such  economic  incidence  may  not  be construed by any court or administrative body as  imposing the tax on any person other than the taxicab owner. The city or  the TLC must adjust trip fares to include therein  the  pass-through  of  the  economic  incidence of the tax imposed by this article, as the rate  of such tax may from time to time change, and must timely  require  that  any  taximeter  in a taxicab used to provide trips that originate in the  city be adjusted to include the pass-through.    (2) A taxicab owner in such city must timely adjust the  taximeter  in  any  of  such person's taxicabs so that it reflects such pass-through as  such pass-through amount may from time to time change.    (3) Neither the failure of such city or the TLC to  adjust  fares  nor  the  failure  of  a  taxicab owner or other person to adjust a taximeter  will relieve any person liable for the tax imposed by this article  from  the obligation to pay such tax timely, at the correct rate.