City of San Jose v. Ruthroff & Englekirk Consulting Structural Engineers, Inc.

An ordinance of the City of San Jose (San Jose), a charter city, provides among other things that: “Every person engaged in the City of San Jose, whether or not at a fixed place of business in such City [with an average number of employees in such business of five or less], in the business of: ... (c) Any profession or semi-profession; or (d) Any other business or businesses; [with certain here inapplicable exceptions] shall pay to the City of San Jose ... [a minimum] annual license.tax of thirty dollars ($30.00) per annum, . . .” The tax is levied for revenue, and not for regulatory, purposes.

Defendant and appellant Ruthroff & Englekirk Consulting Structural Engineers, Inc. (Ruthroff) is a professional engineering firm licensed *464 by the State of California (see Bus. & Prof. Code, § 6700 et seq.) as a civil and structural engineer. It maintains offices within, and pays business license taxes to, the cities of Los Angeles, Oakland, and Newport Beach.

A building complex was in the course of construction in San Jose, under direction of an architect whose business headquarters was in Los Angeles. Under a contract with the architect, Ruthroff, in Oakland, performed some…