Senate Bill S1981

                             
                     S T A T E   O F   N E W   Y O R K
 ________________________________________________________________________
 
                                   1981
 
                        2025-2026 Regular Sessions
 
                             I N  S E N A T E
 
                             January 14, 2025
                                ___________
 
 Introduced  by Sen. STAVISKY -- read twice and ordered printed, and when
   printed to be committed to the Committee on Budget and Revenue
 
 AN ACT to amend the tax law, in relation to increasing the state  excise
   tax 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 471 of the tax law, as amended  by
 section  1  of  part  S of chapter 59 of the laws of 2023, is amended to
 read as follows:
   1. There is hereby imposed and shall be paid a tax on  all  cigarettes
 possessed  in the state by any person for sale, except that no tax shall
 be imposed on cigarettes sold under such circumstances that  this  state
 is  without power to impose such tax, including sales to qualified Indi-
 ans for their own use and consumption on their nations' or tribes' qual-
 ified reservation, or sold to the United States  or  sold  to  or  by  a
 voluntary  unincorporated organization of the armed forces of the United
 States operating a place for the sale of goods pursuant  to  regulations
 promulgated by the appropriate executive agency of the United States, to
 the extent provided in such regulations and policy statements of such an
 agency  applicable  to  such  sales.  The tax imposed by this section is
 imposed on all cigarettes sold on an Indian reservation  to  non-members
 of  the  Indian  nation or tribe and to non-Indians and evidence of such
 tax shall be by means of an affixed cigarette tax stamp. Indian  nations
 or  tribes  may  elect to participate in the Indian tax exemption coupon
 system established in section four hundred seventy-one-e of this article
 which provides a mechanism for the collection of the tax imposed by this
 section on cigarette sales on qualified reservations to such non-members
 and non-Indians and for the delivery of quantities of  tax-exempt  ciga-
 rettes  to Indian nations or tribes for the personal use and consumption
 of qualified members of the Indian nation or tribe. If an Indian  nation
 or  tribe  does  not  elect  to  participate in the Indian tax exemption

  EXPLANATION--Matter in ITALICS (underscored) is new; matter in brackets
                       [ ] is old law to be omitted.
                                                            LBD01996-01-5
              

 S. 1981                             2
 
 coupon system, the prior approval system shall be the mechanism for  the
 delivery  of  quantities  of  tax-exempt cigarettes to Indian nations or
 tribes for the personal use and consumption of qualified members of  the
 Indian  nation  or tribe as provided for in paragraph (b) of subdivision
 five of this section. Such tax on cigarettes shall be  at  the  rate  of
 [five]  SIX  dollars and [thirty-five] TWENTY-FOUR cents for each twenty
 cigarettes or fraction thereof, provided, however, that if a package  of
 cigarettes  contains more than twenty cigarettes, the rate of tax on the
 cigarettes in such package in excess of twenty shall be one  dollar  and
 thirty-three  and three-quarters cents for each five cigarettes or frac-
 tion thereof. Such tax is intended to be imposed upon only one  sale  of
 the same package of cigarettes. It shall be presumed that all cigarettes
 within  the  state are subject to tax until the contrary is established,
 and the burden of proof that any cigarettes are  not  taxable  hereunder
 shall be upon the person in possession thereof.
   § 2. This act shall take effect immediately.