Bill Text: FL S1432 | 2015 | Regular Session | Introduced

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Bill Title: Tax-exempt Cigarettes

Spectrum: Partisan Bill (Republican 1-0)

Status: (Failed) 2015-05-01 - Died in Regulated Industries [S1432 Detail]

Download: Florida-2015-S1432-Introduced.html

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       Florida Senate - 2015                                    SB 1432
       
       
        
       By Senator Evers
       
       
       
       
       
       2-00191B-15                                           20151432__
    1                        A bill to be entitled                      
    2         An act relating to tax-exempt cigarettes; amending s.
    3         210.05, F.S.; authorizing agents and wholesale dealers
    4         to sell stamped and untaxed cigarettes to the Seminole
    5         Tribe of Florida or its members; authorizing agents
    6         and wholesale dealers to file a claim with the
    7         Division of Alcoholic Beverages and Tobacco within the
    8         Department of Business and Professional Regulation for
    9         a refund of specified taxes and surcharges; repealing
   10         s. 210.1801, F.S., relating to tax-exempt cigarettes
   11         for members of recognized Indian tribes; providing an
   12         effective date.
   13  
   14         WHEREAS, in April 1977, the first smoke shop selling tax
   15  exempt cigarettes to the public was opened by the Seminole Tribe
   16  of Florida, and
   17         WHEREAS, the smoke shop remained open pursuant to a Florida
   18  court ruling that Federal law prohibited state taxation of such
   19  sales, and
   20         WHEREAS, in 1979, the Legislature authorized the Seminole
   21  Tribe of Florida to sell tax-exempt cigarettes to the public
   22  through the adoption of s. 210.05(5), Florida Statutes, and
   23         WHEREAS, from 1979 until 2009, the Seminole Tribe of
   24  Florida successfully operated smoke shops selling tax-exempt
   25  cigarettes to the public, and
   26         WHEREAS, in 2009, the Legislature enacted ch. 2009-79, Laws
   27  of Florida, effectively repealing the Seminole Tribe of
   28  Florida’s authority to sell tax-exempt cigarettes to the public,
   29  but continuing to allow the sale of tax-exempt cigarettes to
   30  tribal members only, and
   31         WHEREAS, under current law, the Seminole Tribe of Florida
   32  is authorized to receive tax-exempt cigarettes based on its
   33  “probable demand” for cigarettes, which is defined as five
   34  packages of cigarettes per day for every man, woman, and child
   35  member of the tribe and which annually amounts to more than 7
   36  million packages of cigarettes for approximately 4,000 tribal
   37  members, and
   38         WHEREAS, the tax-exempt cigarette sales program is
   39  implemented by the state through the provision of excise and
   40  surcharge exemption coupons in an amount equal to the Seminole
   41  Tribe of Florida’s “probable demand” which are used to buy tax
   42  exempt cigarettes from a wholesale dealer who submits the
   43  coupons to the Division of Alcoholic Beverages and Tobacco for a
   44  refund of taxes paid by the wholesale dealer, and
   45         WHEREAS, the Seminole Tribe of Florida should be authorized
   46  to resume the sale of tax-exempt cigarettes to the public and to
   47  use the income for tribal health care programs, including, but
   48  not limited to, the creation of a Tribal Comprehensive Tobacco
   49  Education and Use Prevention Program modeled after the program
   50  created under s. 381.84, Florida Statutes, and for the
   51  construction and expansion of medical facilities to increase the
   52  quality of health care services available to all tribal members,
   53  especially those members on remote reservations who are
   54  currently underserved, NOW, THEREFORE,
   55  
   56  Be It Enacted by the Legislature of the State of Florida:
   57  
   58         Section 1. Subsection (5) of section 210.05, Florida
   59  Statutes, is amended, and subsection (6) is added to that
   60  section, to read:
   61         210.05 Preparation and sale of stamps; discount.—
   62         (5) An agent or wholesale dealer may sell stamped and
   63  untaxed cigarettes sold to the Seminole Indian Tribe of Florida
   64  or its members for retail sale. With respect to reporting and
   65  stamping, the agent or wholesale dealer shall treat the
   66  cigarettes and sale thereof in the same manner as other sales
   67  under this part. The agent or wholesale dealer may not collect
   68  the cigarette excise tax imposed under s. 210.02 or s. 210.30 or
   69  the cigarette surcharge imposed under s. 210.011 or s. 210.276
   70  from a purchaser under this subsection. The purchaser is
   71  responsible to the agent or wholesale dealer for expenses
   72  incurred in affixing and accounting for the stamps shall be
   73  administered as provided in s. 210.1801.
   74         (6) An agent or wholesale dealer may file a claim for a
   75  refund and receive reimbursement from the division for the
   76  cigarette excise tax or surcharge paid by the agent or wholesale
   77  dealer on cigarettes that the agent or wholesale dealer sells to
   78  the Seminole Tribe of Florida or its members pursuant to this
   79  section.
   80         Section 2. Section 210.1801, Florida Statutes, is repealed.
   81         Section 3. This act shall take effect July 1, 2015.