Senate Bill No. 476
(By Senators Tomblin, Mr. President, and Sprouse,
By Request of the Executive)
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[Introduced February 9, 1999;
referred to the Committee on Finance.]
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A BILL to amend and reenact sections one, two, three, four, five,
seven, nine, ten, twelve, nineteen and twenty, article
seventeen, chapter eleven of the code of West Virginia, one
thousand nine hundred thirty-one, as amended, all relating
to changing the "Cigarette Tax Act" to the "Tobacco Products
Tax Act" effective the first day of June, one thousand nine
hundred ninety-nine; imposing an excise tax on tobacco
products other than cigarettes based on a percentage of the
wholesale price; making existing tax provisions, procedures
and civil and criminal penalties currently applicable to
cigarettes applicable to all tobacco products; and
depositing the proceeds of the tax into the general revenue
fund.
Be it enacted by the Legislature of West Virginia:
That sections one, two, three, four, five, seven, nine, ten, twelve, nineteen and twenty of article seventeen, chapter eleven
of the code of West Virginia, one thousand nine hundred thirty- one, as amended, be amended and reenacted, all to read as
follows:
ARTICLE 17. TOBACCO PRODUCTS TAX ACT.
§11-17-1. Short title.
This article shall be known, and may be cited, as the
"Cigarette Tax Act." "Tobacco Products Tax Act."
§11-17-2. Definitions.
When used in this article the following words, terms and
phrases and any variations thereof required by the context, shall
have the meaning ascribed to them in this article, except where
the context indicates a different meaning:
(1) "Cigarette" means:
(a) Any roll for smoking made wholly or in part of tobacco,
irrespective of size or shape and whether or not such tobacco is
flavored, adulterated or mixed with any ingredient, the wrapping
or cover of which is made of paper or any substance or material, except tobacco.
(b) Any roll of tobacco wrapped in any substance containing
tobacco which, because of its appearance, the type of tobacco
used in the filler, or its packing and labeling, is likely to be
offered to, or purchased by, consumers as a cigarette described
in
paragraph subdivision (a)
above.
(2) "Commissioner" means the state tax commissioner and
where the meaning of the context requires, all deputies or agents
and employees duly authorized by him
or her.
(3) "Consumer" means a person who receives or in any way
comes into possession of
cigarettes tobacco products for the
purpose of consuming or giving them away or disposing of them in
any way other than by sale, barter or exchange.
(4) "Sale" means selling, exchange, transfer of title,
barter, gift, offer for sale or distribution or disposition of.
(5) "Sale at retail" or "retail sale" means a sale to a
consumer or to any person for any purpose other than resale.
(6) "Sale
by wholesaler at wholesale"
shall mean means and
include includes any bona fide transfer of title to
cigarettes
tobacco products by a wholesaler for a valuable consideration,
made in the ordinary course of trade or in the usual conduct of the wholesaler's business.
(7) "Stamp" or "meter impression"
shall mean means any
cigarette stamp or any meter or ink impression
or other indicia
authorized by the tax commissioner to serve as such stamp, and
shall be of the design and color as prescribed by the tax
commissioner.
(8) "Stamped cigarettes" means that the stamp or meter
impression as required by this article has been affixed to the
bottom of the package of cigarettes
(9) "Subjobber" or "subjobber dealer"
shall include includes
any person who purchases stamped cigarettes
or other tobacco
products from any other person who purchases from the
manufacturer when such other person is located in any state which
levies an excise tax on
cigarettes tobacco products and who
purchases such
cigarettes solely tobacco products for the purpose
of bona fide resale to retail dealers.
(10) "Package"
or "container" means the individual package,
box or other container in or from which retail sales of
cigarettes
or other tobacco products are normally made or
intended to be made.
(11) "Person"
shall mean means and
include includes any individual, firm, association,
company, partnership, corporation,
joint-stock company,
limited liability company or any other
company, club, agency, syndicate, municipal corporation or other
political subdivision of this state, trust, receiver, trustee,
fiduciary or conservator,
or any other group or organization, and
when used in connection with any penalties imposed by this
article,
shall mean means and
include includes officers,
directors, trustees or members of any firm, copartnership,
association, corporation, trust or any other unit acting as a
group.
(12) "Retail dealer" includes every person in this state,
other than a wholesaler or subjobber, engaged in the selling of
cigarettes tobacco products at retail to a consumer or to any
person for any purpose other than resale.
(13) "Tax" or "excise tax" means the excise tax imposed by
this article.
(14) "Tax value" means the tax value of each stamp or meter
impression imposed pursuant to this article.
(15) "Tobacco products" means and includes cigarettes,
cigars, pipe tobacco, snuff, chewing tobacco, and any other
products containing tobacco.
(13) (16) "Unstamped cigarettes" " means that the stamp or
impression as required by this article has not been affixed to
the bottom of the package of cigarettes.
(14) (17) "Vending machine operator" is any person operating
one or more
cigarette vending machines
which dispense one or
more tobacco products. The sale of
cigarettes tobacco products
through a vending machine will be construed as sales at retail
and will subject the vending machine operator to the
cigarette
tobacco products tax
laws law and rules and regulations
pertaining to retail dealers.
Whenever any
cigarette tobacco products vending machine
operator purchases
cigarettes tobacco products directly from the
manufacturer, such person or operator shall be deemed to be a
wholesaler and shall be liable for the excise tax and the
affixing of the required stamps
or meter impression.
(15) (18) "Wholesaler" or "wholesale dealer"
shall include
includes any person
in the business of selling any tobacco
products who purchases unstamped
or unmetered cigarettes
or other
tobacco products directly from the manufacturer
for the purpose
of resale.
(19) "Wholesale price" means the actual gross invoice price paid for a tobacco product, including any federal excise taxes
but excluding trade discounts and other similar reductions in
price, by a wholesaler to a manufacturer or distributor or to
another wholesaler.
(20) "Distributor" means:
(a) Any manufacturer who sells, barters, exchanges, or
distributes tobacco products to a retail dealer in the state;
(b) Any wholesale dealer located in the state who receives
tobacco products from a manufacturer, or who receives tobacco
products on which the tax imposed by this article has not been
paid;
(c) Any wholesale dealer located outside the state who
sells, barters, exchanges or distributes tobacco products to a
wholesale or retail dealer in the state; or
(d) Any retail dealer who receives tobacco products on which
the tax has not been paid or will not be paid by another
distributor.
§11-17-3. Levy of tax; ratio; dedication of proceeds.
(a) For the purpose of providing revenue for the general
revenue fund of the state, an excise tax is hereby levied and
imposed on sales of cigarettes at the rate of seventeen cents on each twenty cigarettes or in like ratio on any part thereof.
(b) Only one sale of the same article shall be used in
computing the amount of tax due
hereunder under this section.
(c) Effective the first day of June, one thousand nine
hundred ninety-nine, an excise tax is hereby levied and imposed
on the sale of tobacco products other than cigarettes at a rate
equal to twenty-five percent of the wholesale price of each
tobacco product sold by the manufacturer, distributor, wholesaler
or subjobber, whether or not sold at wholesale.
(d) Any person who brings or causes to be brought into this
state any tobacco products for sale or distribution is liable for
the tax.
(e) The proceeds of the tax imposed by this section shall be
deposited in the state fund, general revenue.
(f) This tax is in addition to all other applicable taxes
and in lieu of no other tax.
§11-17-4. Effect of rate changes; cigarettes on hand or in
inventory; report; discount.
(a) Notwithstanding other provisions of this article, it is
hereby declared to be the intent of the Legislature that one rate
of excise tax shall be applicable to all quantities of cigarettes
and another rate of excise tax shall be applicable to all other
tobacco products in this state on and after the
effective date of
any change of rate first day of June, one thousand nine hundred
ninety-nine, under the provisions of this article. Any
cigarettes tobacco products on hand or in inventory on the
effective date of
this act or on the effective date of any
subsequent act enacting a rate change are hereby deemed to have
been purchased or received on such date
and are subject to
additional tax if the tax rate increased on that date.
(b) Every wholesaler, subjobber, subjobber dealer, retail
dealer and vending machine operator who, on the effective date of
any rate change, has on hand or in inventory any
cigarettes
tobacco products upon which the tax or any portion thereof has
been previously paid shall take a physical inventory and shall
file a report thereof with the tax commissioner, in the format as
required by the tax commissioner, within thirty days thereafter,
and shall pay to the tax commissioner at the time of filing such
report any additional tax due under an increased rate. A
discount of four percent will be allowed on all tax due for
persons who pay additional tax under this section.
§11-17-5. How tax paid; stamps; how affixed; invoice method; violations.
(a) The tax
hereby imposed
on cigarettes shall be paid by
the purchase of stamps
or meter impressions as provided in this
article,
but the tax imposed on all other tobacco products shall
be paid using an invoice method prescribed by the tax
commissioner. Payment for stamps purchased from the commissioner
shall be made by cash, money order, bank draft, certified check
or by noncertified check. However, in the event a noncertified
check is returned unpaid by its bank, then it shall be considered
that payment has not been made for the taxes due.
(b) A The stamp
or meter impression as required by this
article
as described in the cigarette tax rules, and regulations
shall be affixed to
or impressed upon each package of cigarettes
of an aggregate value of not less than the
amount of tax
value of
upon the contents thereof. The stamp or
meter impression so
affixed shall be prima facie evidence of payment of the tax
imposed by this article. Stamps or meter impressions shall be
purchased from the commissioner or his deputy by, and paid for
by, wholesalers.
(c) Except as may be otherwise provided in
the rules
and
regulations prescribed by the commissioner under authority of this article, and unless such stamps
or meter impressions have
been previously affixed, they shall be so affixed by each
wholesale dealer who must be authorized to do business in this
state prior to the sale or delivery of any
cigarettes tobacco
products to any retail dealer or subjobber in this state.
(d) Whenever any cigarettes are found in the place of
business of any retail dealer or subjobber without the stamps
or
meter impressions so affixed, the prima facie presumption shall
arise that such cigarettes are kept therein in violation of the
provisions of this article.
(e) If the tax commissioner
if he shall determine determines
that it is practicable to stamp packages of cigarettes by
impression by means of a metering device,
he or she shall may
provide that such metering device and its impression may be used
in lieu of the stamps otherwise required by law.
For tobacco
products other than cigarettes, the tax commissioner may
prescribe by procedural rule or administrative notice for payment
by invoice, and shall provide forms and instructions to be used
for payment by invoice. The tax commissioner may authorize any
wholesaler purchasing
unstamped cigarettes tobacco products, and
holding the business registration certificate
or license as required by
chapter eleven, article twelve of this
code chapter,
to use any metering device approved by the commissioner, such
devices to be sealed by the commissioner or a deputy, or agent
authorized by the commissioner, before being used, which device
shall be used only in accordance with the
regulations procedures
prescribed by the commissioner.
(f) A wholesaler may elect to pay the tax in advance
where
if a metering device is
permitted and used, in which event such
wholesaler shall deliver the metering device to the commissioner,
or his agent authorized for that purpose, who shall seal the
meter in accordance with the prepayment so made.
§11-17-7. Form of stamps; custody; discounts; security for
payments.
(a) The commissioner shall design and procure stamps to be
used as herein provided for, affixed and attached to containers,
packages or
receptacle receptacles of whatever kind that may be
used for containing cigarettes. In the preparing of said stamp
or stamps the same shall have printed or impressed thereon the
words "State of West Virginia -- Cigarette Tax Stamp" and such
other words,
and figures
and specifications as the commissioner
may deem proper.
He If metering devices are permitted, the commissioner shall also prescribe the form of impression to be
placed upon any package or container of cigarettes by any
metering device. The tax commissioner shall collect the taxes
provided for by this article.
(b) Such stamps
and meter impressions shall be kept in the
custody of the tax commissioner or such deputies as he may
designate to sell the same. Such stamps
and meter impressions
shall be sold and accounted for at the tax value thereof except
that the tax commissioner may authorize sale thereof, or sell to
wholesalers in this state, or to wholesalers outside of this
state such stamps
and meter impressions at a discount of four
percent of the tax value of such stamps
and meter impressions,
the same to be allowed as a commission for affixing the stamps
and meter impressions and prepaying the cigarette tax; and
excepting further that the tax commissioner may
by like
regulation so certified, authorize the delivery of stamps
and
meter impressions to wholesalers in this state, or to wholesalers
outside of this state, on credit, allowing the same discount as
when sold for cash, if and when the purchaser shall file with the
tax commissioner a bond made payable to the state of West
Virginia, in such form and amount as the commissioner shall prescribe, and with surety or sureties to the satisfaction of the
commissioner, conditioned as he may require, to guarantee payment
within thirty days for stamps
and meter impressions so delivered
within such period of time and by making of such reports and
settlement as the commissioner may require. The commissioner
may, by
further regulations, procedural rule or administrative
notice, provide for canceling, renewing or increasing such bond
or for the substitution of the surety thereon.
For the purposes of this article "tax value" shall mean the
tax value of each stamp or meter impression, as imposed by this
article.
§11-17-9. Discounts.
A discount of four percent will be allowed on all tax due
for persons affixing stamps
or meter impressions collecting and
paying of tax as required and prescribed by this article.
§11-17-10. Refunds.
(a) The commissioner shall redeem any unused or mutilated,
but identifiable, stamps
or meter impressions that any wholesaler
or retail dealer may present for redemption, on written verified
requests made by the purchaser, his administrators, executors,
successors or assigns, and refund therefor, ninety-five percent of the face value of said stamps
and meter impressions, less any
discounts allowed on the purchase of said stamps
and meter
impressions. The commissioner shall pay on a like basis for
stamps
and meter impressions destroyed by fire or flood upon
presentation of proof of such loss satisfactory to him. Such
payments shall, for the purposes hereof, be deemed to be refunds
of taxes improperly collected and shall be allowed and paid from
funds collected. Stamps or meter impressions on cigarettes
returned to the manufacturers will be subject to refund upon the
filing of an affidavit in duplicate issued by the manufacturer
evidencing the destruction of stamps or meter impressions. A
claim for refund or credit shall be subject to the provisions of
section fourteen, article ten of this chapter.
(b) The commissioner shall refund or allow credit to a
taxpayer for:
(1) Any tobacco products tax paid erroneously;
(2) Any tax paid on tobacco products that have been sold or
shipped to retail or wholesale dealers outside this state,
returned to the manufacturer, or destroyed by the taxpayer with
the prior approval of the tax commissioner.
§11-17-12. Reports required; due date; records to be kept; inspection of records and stocks; examination of
witnesses, summons, etc.
(a) On or before the fifteenth day of each month, common
carriers, wholesalers, subjobbers, retail dealers and agents, or
vending machine operators shall, when required by this article or
the tax commissioner, file a report covering the business
transacted in the previous month covering such information as the
commissioner may deem necessary for the ascertainment or
assessment of the tax imposed by this article; and shall be
signed under penalty of perjury on such forms as the tax
commissioner may prescribe and shall at this time remit any taxes
owed or due, if any.
(b) The reports prescribed herein are required, although a
tax might not be due, or no business transacted, for the period
covered by the report.
(c) Each person required to file a report under this article
shall make and keep such records as shall be prescribed by the
tax commissioner that are necessary to substantiate the returns
required by this article including, but not limited to,
inventories, receipts, disbursements and sales, for a period of
time not less than three years.
(d) Unless otherwise permitted in writing by authority of
the tax commissioner, each delivery ticket or invoice for each
purchase or sale of
cigarettes tobacco products must be recorded
upon a serially numbered invoice showing the name and address of
the seller and the purchasers, point of delivery, the date,
quantity, price of the product, and the tax must be set out
separately or the invoice must indicate whether or not the West
Virginia
cigarette tobacco products excise tax is included in the
total price and such other reasonable information as the tax
commissioner may require. However, these invoicing requirements
do not apply to cash sales, and a person making such sales must
maintain such records as may be reasonably necessary to
substantiate his return.
(e) In addition to the tax commissioner's powers set forth
in
section five, article ten of this chapter, the tax
commissioner
or his deputy or agent authorized by him shall have
authority to inspect or examine the stock of
cigarettes tobacco
products kept in and upon the premises of any person where
cigarettes tobacco products are placed, stored or sold and shall
inspect or examine the records, books, papers, and any equipment
or records of manufacturers, cigarette stamping agents, wholesalers, subjobbers, retail dealers, common carriers, or any
other person for the purpose of determining the quantity and tax
value of
cigarettes tobacco products acquired or disbursed to
verify the truth and accuracy of any statement or report and to
ascertain whether the tax imposed by this article has been
properly paid.
(f) In addition to the tax commissioner's powers set forth
in
section five, article ten of this chapter, and as a further
means of obtaining the records, books and papers of a
manufacturer, common carrier, wholesaler, subjobber or retailer
or any other person and ascertaining the amount of taxes and
reports due under this article the commissioner and
his any duly
appointed agent shall have the power to examine witnesses under
oath; and if the witness shall fail or refuse at the request of
the tax commissioner or
his any duly appointed agent to grant
access to the books, records or papers, the tax commissioner or
such agent shall certify the facts and names to the circuit court
of the county having jurisdiction of the party and such court
shall thereupon issue summons to such party to appear before the
tax commissioner or
his any duly appointed agent, at a place
designated within the jurisdiction of such court, on a day fixed, to be continued as the occasion may require for good cause shown
and give such evidence and lay open for inspection such books and
papers as may be required for the purpose of ascertaining the
amount of tax and reports due, if any.
§11-17-19. Penalty for failure to file return when no tax due;
crimes.
(a)
Penalty for failure to file required return where no tax
due. -- In the case of any failure to make or file a return when
no tax is due, as required by this article on the date prescribed
therefor, unless it be shown that such failure was due to
reasonable cause and not due to willful neglect, there shall be
collected a penalty of twenty-five dollars for each month of such
failure or fraction thereof.
(b)
If any person:
(1) Makes any false entry upon
any tobacco products or upon
an invoice, package or container of
cigarettes tobacco products
required to be made under the provisions of this article, or with
intent to evade the tax imposed by this article, presents any
such false entry for the inspection of the commissioner, or
(2) Prevents or hinders the commissioner
or his deputy from
making a full inspection of any place where
cigarettes tobacco products subject to the tax imposed by this state are sold or
stored, or prevents or hinders the full inspection of invoices,
books, records or papers required to be kept under the provisions
of this article, or
(3) Sells cigarettes in this state without there having been
first affixed to each individual package thereof, the stamp or
meter impression required to be affixed thereto by this article,
or
(4) Being a retail dealer or subjobber in this state, has in
his possession packages of cigarettes not bearing the stamps or
meter impression herein required to be affixed thereto, or
whoever fails to produce on demand by the commissioner invoices
of all
cigarettes tobacco products purchased or received by him
within two years prior to such demand, unless upon satisfactory
proof it is shown that such nonproduction is due to providential
or other causes beyond his control, or
(5) If any wholesale dealer shall sell
cigarettes tobacco
products to any person in this state other than to another
wholesaler, subjobber or retail dealer and no person in this
state other than a wholesaler or subjobber shall sell
cigarettes
tobacco products to a retail dealer. It
shall be is unlawful and a violation of this article for any retail
cigarette tobacco
products dealer to purchase or acquire
cigarettes tobacco
products from any person other than a wholesaler or subjobber.
The original wholesaler who purchases unstamped cigarettes from
the manufacturer is liable for the excise tax and the affixing of
the required stamps, or meter impressions, or
(6) If any person, firm or corporation, who is not a
wholesaler of tobacco products, as provided by this article,
shall have has in his possession within the state more than
twenty packages of cigarettes, not bearing cigarette tax paid
indicia of this state, stamps or meter impressions,
or other
tobacco products upon which this tax has not been paid if the
quantity thereof is more than one pound for all such products,
such possession shall be presumed to be for the purpose of
evading the payment of the taxes imposed or due thereon, or
(7) Whoever violates any of the provisions of this
subsection or any lawful rule or regulation promulgated by the
commissioner under authority of article ten of this code
shall be
is guilty of a misdemeanor and, upon conviction thereof, shall be
fined not less than three hundred dollars nor more than five
thousand dollars, or imprisoned in the county jail for not more than one year, or both
in the discretion of the court fined and
imprisoned.
(c) Whoever falsely or fraudulently makes, forges, alters or
counterfeits any stamps or meter impressions prescribed or
defined by the provisions of this article or
its related rules
and regulations, and any person who knowingly and willfully
makes, causes to be made, purchases, receives or has in his
possession, any device for forging or counterfeiting any stamp or
meter impression, or has in his possession, any stamps not
properly issued by the commissioner or his agent
or deputy or
tampers with or alters any stamping device authorized by the
commissioner, or uses more than once any stamp or meter
impression provided for and required by this article for the
purpose of evading the tax hereby imposed, shall be guilty of a
felony and, upon conviction thereof, shall be sentenced to pay a
fine of not less than five thousand dollars nor more than ten
thousand dollars and imprisoned in the penitentiary for a term of
not less than one year nor more than five years.
(d) Whenever the commissioner
or any of his deputies or
employees authorized by him or any peace officer of this state
for the purpose
shall discover discovers any cigarettes
or other tobacco products subject to tax as provided by this article and
upon which the tax has not been paid as herein required, such
cigarettes tobacco products shall thereupon be deemed to be
contraband, and the commissioner, or such deputy or employee or
any peace officer of this state, is hereby authorized and
empowered forthwith to seize and take possession of such
cigarettes, tobacco products without a warrant, and such
cigarettes tobacco products shall be forfeited to the state, and
the commissioner shall within a reasonable time thereafter sell
such forfeited
cigarettes tobacco products: Provided, That such
seizure and sale shall not be deemed to relieve any person from
fine or imprisonment as provided herein for violation of any
provisions of this article. Such sale may be made in any county
the tax commissioner deems most convenient and economical.
Notice of such sale shall be published as a Class I legal
advertisement in compliance with the provisions of article three,
chapter fifty-nine of this code, and the publication area for
such publication shall be the county wherein such seizure was
made and the county wherein the sale is to take place. Notice
shall be published at least five days prior to the sale. All
taxes and penalties collected under the provisions of this section shall be paid into the state treasury and treated as
other taxes collected under this article.
(e) Magistrates shall have concurrent jurisdiction with any
other courts having jurisdiction for the trial of all
misdemeanors arising under this article.
§11-17-20. Transportation of tobacco products; unstamped
cigarettes in vending machines; forfeitures and sales of tobacco products and equipment; criminal sanctions.
(a) Every person who
shall transport transports tobacco
products other than cigarettes or cigarettes not stamped
or not
bearing a metered impression as required by this article upon the
public highways, waterways, airways, roads or streets of this
state, shall have in his actual possession invoices or delivery
tickets for such
cigarettes tobacco products which shall show the
true name and the complete and exact address of the consignor or
seller, the true name and complete and exact address of the
consignee, or purchaser, the quantity and brands of the
cigarettes tobacco products transported and the true name and
complete and exact address of the person who has or shall assume
payment of the West Virginia state tax, or the tax, if any, of the state or foreign country at the point of ultimate
destination:
Provided, That any common carrier which has issued
a bill of lading for a shipment of cigarettes and is without
notice to itself or to any of its agents or employees that said
cigarettes tobacco products are not stamped
or bearing a metered
impression as required by this article shall be deemed to have
complied with this article and the vehicle or vessel in which
said
cigarettes tobacco products are being transported shall not
be subject to confiscation hereunder. In the absence of such
invoices, delivery tickets or bills of lading, as the case may
be, the
cigarettes tobacco products so transported, the vehicle
or vessel in which the
cigarettes tobacco products are being
transported and any paraphernalia or devices used in connection
with the unstamped
or unmetered cigarettes or inadequately
documented tobacco products, are declared to be contraband goods
and may be seized by the commissioner, his agents or employees or
by any peace officer of the state without a warrant.
(b) If Any person
who transports unstamped
or unmetered
cigarettes
or inadequately documented tobacco products in
violation of this section
he shall be is guilty of a misdemeanor
and, upon conviction thereof, shall be fined not less than three hundred dollars nor more than five thousand dollars, or
imprisoned in the county jail not more than one year, or both
fined and imprisoned.
(c) If unstamped
or unmetered cigarettes are found in any
vending machine, both the cigarettes and the vending machine
shall be contraband goods and may be seized by the commissioner,
at the discretion of the commissioner, his agents or employees or
any peace officer of this state, without a warrant.
(d) Cigarettes and Tobacco products and vending machines
seized under this section shall be forthwith sold in the manner
provided hereinafter in this section and such sale shall not
relieve the owner of the sold personal property of any action by
the commissioner for violations of any other sections of this
article.
(e) The
commissioners commissioner shall immediately, after
any seizure made pursuant to this section, institute a proceeding
for the confiscation thereof in the circuit court of the county
in which the seizure is made. The court may proceed in a summary
manner and may direct confiscation to the commissioner:
Provided, That any person claiming to be the holder of security
interest in any vehicle or vessel, or vending machine, the disposition of which is provided for above may present his
petition so alleging and be heard, and in the event it appears to
the court that the property was unlawfully used by a person other
than such claimant, and if the said claimant acquired his
security interest in good faith and without knowledge that the
vehicle or vessel or vending machine, was going to be so used,
the court shall either waive forfeiture in favor of such claimant
and order the vehicle or vessel or vending machine returned or
delivered to such claimant or if it is found that the value
thereof exceeds the amount of the claim, the court shall order
payment of the amount of the claim out of the proceeds of the
sale.
NOTE: The purpose of this bill is to impose an excise tax
on all tobacco products, which are defined in the bill as
including cigarettes, cigars, snuff, chewing tobacco, pipe
tobacco and all other tobacco. Currently, there is a tax of
$0.17 per package of twenty cigarettes. This bill would impose a
flat percentage tax of 25% of wholesale price on the sale or use
of all tobacco products other than cigarettes.
Strike-throughs indicate language that would be stricken
from the present law, and underscoring indicates new language
that would be added.