S T A T E   O F   N E W   Y O R K
 ________________________________________________________________________
 
                                   1432
 
                        2021-2022 Regular Sessions
 
                           I N  A S S E M B L Y
 
                             January 11, 2021
                                ___________
 
 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 OR SHE deems advisable provide for the issuance and
 exclusive 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  OR  SHE  may  deem
 necessary  and may license agents for such purpose. The commissioner may
 license dealers in cigarettes, who maintain separate warehousing facili-
 ties for the  purpose  of  receiving  and  distributing  cigarettes  and
 conducting  their  business, who have received commitments from at least
 two cigarette 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 herein imposed, but an agent shall at all times have  the  right
 
  EXPLANATION--Matter in ITALICS (underscored) is new; matter in brackets
                       [ ] is old law to be omitted.
              

                                                            LBD01253-01-1

 A. 1432                             2
 
 to appoint the person in his OR HER employ who is to affix the stamps to
 any cigarettes under the agent's control. The fee for filing such appli-
 cation  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 relating to wholesale dealers' licenses, including the procedure
 for suspension, revocation, refusal to license and for hearings,  except
 for  paragraphs (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 OR HER services and expenses as such
 agent in selling or affixing such stamps,  and  to  retain  out  of  the
 moneys to be paid by him OR HER for such stamps, a commission on the par
 value  thereof.  The  commissioner  is  hereby authorized to prescribe a
 schedule of commissions, 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 OR HER 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  superinten-
 dent of financial services as to solvency and responsibility and author-
 ized  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 secu-
 rities 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  liti-
 gate  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.