S T A T E O F N E W Y O R K
________________________________________________________________________
169
2017-2018 Regular Sessions
I N A S S E M B L Y
(PREFILED)
January 4, 2017
___________
Introduced by M. of A. CAHILL -- 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 and as further amended by section 104 of
part A of chapter 62 of the laws of 2011, 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.
LBD01607-01-7
A. 169 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 financial services 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 commissioner 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.
§ 2. This act shall take effect on the one hundred twentieth day after
it shall have become a law.