Another letter to the editor….
In your article titled “DeMaio seeks break for sole proprietors on license code”, the author needs to check his facts. He talks about a business “license” in the City of San Diego. A license is defined as “formal permission from a governmental or other constituted authority to do something, as to carry on some business or profession.” The City of San Diego does not issue business licenses, it issues business tax certificates which are completely different from licenses. In fact, the “Certificate of Payment of Business Tax” states “This is not a License to do business within the City of San Diego…”.
The business tax certificate only means that you’ve paid the city money and nothing more. While they may sound like the same thing, they are not.
I’ve had a business tax certificate for many years and it means squat. In fact, I had a disagreement with Washington Mutual years ago where they wouldn’t let me open a business checking account because I didn’t have a “business license”. As far as I know, I don’t need a business license to do software development (nothing I do is health or safety related). I ended up going to Bank of America as they accepted by fictitious business name filing as proof of my company.