S T A T E   O F   N E W   Y O R K
________________________________________________________________________

                                   595

                       2009-2010 Regular Sessions

                          I N  A S S E M B L Y

                               (PREFILED)

                             January 7, 2009
                               ___________

Introduced by M. of A. CAHILL, GOTTFRIED, FINCH -- Multi-Sponsored by --
  M.  of  A.  DINOWITZ, GALEF, JACOBS, KOON, WEISENBERG -- read once and
  referred to the Committee on Ways and Means

AN ACT to amend the tax law, in relation to the form of  tax  stamps  on
  cigarettes

  THE  PEOPLE OF THE STATE OF NEW YORK, REPRESENTED IN SENATE AND ASSEM-
BLY, DO ENACT AS FOLLOWS:

  Section 1. Subdivision 1 of section 472 of the tax law, as amended  by
chapter 629 of the laws of 1996, is amended to read as follows:
  1.  The  commissioner shall [prescribe,] prepare and furnish stamps of
such denominations and quantities as may be necessary for the payment of
the tax on cigarettes imposed by this article, and may from time to time
and as often as he deems advisable provide for the issuance  and  exclu-
sive  use  of stamps of a new design and forbid the use of stamps of any
other design, in the manner and with the effect provided in section  two
hundred  seventy-four  of  this chapter.   SUCH STAMPS SHALL MEASURE TWO
INCHES BY TWO INCHES AND BE AFFIXED TO  THE  PACKAGE  OVERWRAP  ON  BOTH
SIDES  OF  A PACKAGE OF TWENTY CIGARETTES. EACH STAMP SHALL BEAR A COLOR
GRAPHIC DEPICTING AN ADVERSE EFFECT OF CIGARETTE USE AND INCLUDE A  TOLL
FREE  TELEPHONE NUMBER WHICH CALLERS MAY ACCESS FOR INFORMATION ON SMOK-
ING CESSATION. The commissioner shall make provisions for  the  sale  of
such  stamps  at  such places and at such times as he may deem necessary
and may license agents for such purpose. The  commissioner  may  license
dealers  in cigarettes, who maintain separate warehousing facilities for
the purpose of receiving  and  distributing  cigarettes  and  conducting
their  business,  who  have received commitments from at least two ciga-
rette manufacturers whose aggregate  market  share  is  at  least  forty
percent of the New York state cigarette market, and importers, exporters
and manufacturers of cigarettes, and other persons within or without the
state  as  agents  to  buy  or affix stamps to be used in paying the tax

 EXPLANATION--Matter in ITALICS (underscored) is new; matter in brackets
                      [ ] is old law to be omitted.
              

                                                           LBD00658-01-9

A. 595                              2

herein imposed, but an agent shall  at  all  times  have  the  right  to
appoint the person in his employ who is to affix the stamps to any ciga-
rettes  under  the  agent's control. The fee for filing such application
for  an  agent's  license  shall  be  one thousand five hundred dollars,
unless such fee has been paid during the  preceding  twelve  months,  in
which case, the fee for a new license shall be one thousand dollars. All
of  the provisions of section four hundred eighty OF THIS ARTICLE relat-
ing to wholesale dealers' licenses, including the procedure for  suspen-
sion,  revocation, refusal to license and for hearings, except for para-
graphs (c) and  (g)  of  subdivision  one  of  such  section,  shall  be
applicable  to  agents' licenses applied for or granted pursuant to this
section, as if such provisions had been set forth in full in this subdi-
vision and had expressly referred to the applicant for,  or  the  holder
of, an agent's license. Whenever the commissioner shall sell and deliver
to  any  such  agent  any  such  stamps, such agent shall be entitled to
receive as compensation for his services and expenses as such  agent  in
selling  or  affixing such stamps, and to retain out of the moneys to be
paid by him for such stamps, a commission on the par value thereof.  The
commissioner  is  hereby  authorized  to prescribe a schedule of commis-
sions, not exceeding five per centum, allowable to such agent for buying
and affixing such stamps. Such schedule shall be uniform with respect to
the different types of stamps used, and may be on a graduated scale with
respect to the number of stamps purchased. The commissioner may, in  his
discretion,  permit  an  agent to pay for such stamps within thirty days
after the date of purchase and may require any such agent to  file  with
the  department  [of  taxation  and  finance]  a bond issued by a surety
company approved by the superintendent of insurance as to  solvency  and
responsibility and authorized to transact business in the state or other
security  acceptable  to the commissioner, in such amount as the commis-
sioner may fix, to secure the payment of any sums due  from  such  agent
pursuant  to this article. If securities are deposited as security under
this subdivision, such securities shall be kept in the  custody  of  the
commissioner and may be sold by the commissioner if it becomes necessary
so  to  do  in order to recover any sums due from such agent pursuant to
this article, but no such sale shall be had until after such agent shall
have had opportunity to litigate the validity of any tax if it elects so
to do. Upon any such sale, the surplus, if any, above the sums due under
this article shall be returned to such agent.
  S 2. This act shall take effect on the one hundred twentieth day after
it shall have become a law.