S T A T E   O F   N E W   Y O R K
 ________________________________________________________________________
 
                                   7789
 
                        2025-2026 Regular Sessions
 
                           I N  A S S E M B L Y
 
                              April 10, 2025
                                ___________
 
 Introduced  by M. of A. STERN -- read once and referred to the Committee
   on Ways and Means
 
 AN ACT to amend the tax law, in relation to the sale  of  cigarette  tax
   stamps
 
   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] DEEMED 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. The  commissioner  shall  make
 provisions  for the sale of such stamps at such places and at such times
 as [he may deem] DEEMED  necessary  and  may  license  agents  for  such
 purpose.  The  commissioner may license dealers in cigarettes, who main-
 tain separate warehousing facilities 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 to appoint the person in [his] THEIR  employ
 who  is to affix the stamps to any cigarettes 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
 
  EXPLANATION--Matter in ITALICS (underscored) is new; matter in brackets
                       [ ] is old law to be omitted.
                                                            LBD05299-01-5
              

 A. 7789                             2
 
 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 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] THEIR services and  expenses  as  such
 agent  in  selling  or  affixing  such  stamps, and to retain out of the
 moneys to be paid by [him] SUCH AGENT 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 sched-
 ule 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] THEIR  discretion,  permit  an
 agent  to  pay for such stamps within [thirty] FORTY-FIVE days after the
 date of purchase and may require any such agent to file with the depart-
 ment of taxation and finance a bond issued by a surety company  approved
 by the superintendent of financial services as to solvency and responsi-
 bility and authorized to transact business in the state or other securi-
 ty  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 commis-
 sioner 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 sixtieth day after it shall
 have become a law.