Wells & Wade Hardware, Inc. v. City of Wenatchee

The city of Wenatchee enacted an ordinance requiring an annual license fee of $10 and imposing a tax of 2 per cent on the gross income derived from occupations or business activities, inter alia, such as the selling or furnishing at retail, petroleum liquid fuels including liquefied petroleum gases, for use in combustion devices other than motor vehicles. In short, it is a license for, and a tax on, the business of selling fuel oil. The plaintiffs, being fuel oil dealers, bring this action to have the taxing and licensing measure declared void and to restrain the city from making collections…