City Hall is firing back at a Richmond concert promoter who has sued for a refund of the 7 percent admissions tax he paid on his events after another promoter, JMI, formerly known as Johnson Inc., was excused from paying the tax.

Attorneys for the city recently asked the Richmond Circuit Court to throw out the lawsuit filed in May by Fenroy A. “Hosea” Fox.

Assistant city attorneys Wirt P. Marks and Caitlin Weston, argued in a written response that the admissions taxes Mr. Fox paid are “not monies due to (Mr. Fox). The plaintiff merely collected the taxes on behalf of the city.”

Thus, the attorneys contended in their June 20 response that Mr. Fox cannot show any “ownership interest or entitlement to the taxes” that his company collected for the city and thus does not qualify as an “aggrieved” party entitled to bring suit.

The response also attacks Mr. Fox’s claim that the admission taxes his company paid should be returned because the city is not applying the admissions tax in a uniform manner as required by state law.

The response noted that the law requiring uniformity that Mr. Fox cites only applies to taxation of real estate. The response also noted that Mr. Fox is not contending that the assessment of amusement tax on his event was “erroneous or illegal.”

Nor has Mr. Fox offered any facts to show that his events, like the Jazz Festival that JMI stages each year at Maymont, were held at a venue allowed an exemption from the tax, the response stated.

Mr. Fox said his attorney, John H. Click Jr., is seeking a hearing and would respond to the city’s arguments then.