S-4588.4 _______________________________________________
SENATE BILL 6745
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State of Washington 54th Legislature 1996 Regular Session
By Senators Loveland, Newhouse, Prentice, Roach, Sheldon, Swecker, Sellar, Winsley, McAuliffe, Finkbeiner, Bauer, Schow, Rasmussen, Wood, Goings, Morton, Heavey, Strannigan, A. Anderson and Zarelli
Read first time 01/30/96. Referred to Committee on Health & Long‑Term Care.
AN ACT Relating to limiting cigarettes and other tobacco products taxes; and amending RCW 82.24.020 and 82.26.020.
BE IT ENACTED BY THE LEGISLATURE OF THE STATE OF WASHINGTON:
Sec. 1. RCW 82.24.020 and 1994 space c 7 s 904 (Referendum Bill No. 43) are each amended to read as follows:
(1) There is levied and there shall be collected as provided in this chapter, a tax upon the sale, use, consumption, handling, possession or distribution of all cigarettes, in an amount equal to the rate of eleven and one-half mills per cigarette.
(2) An additional tax is imposed upon the sale, use, consumption, handling, possession, or distribution of all cigarettes, in an amount equal to the rate of five and one-fourth mills per cigarette. All revenues collected during any month from this additional tax shall be deposited in the violence reduction and drug enforcement account under RCW 69.50.520 by the twenty-fifth day of the following month.
(3) An additional tax
is imposed upon the sale, use, consumption, handling, possession, or distribution
of all cigarettes, in an amount equal to the rate of ten mills per cigarette
through June 30, 1994, eleven and one-fourth mills per cigarette for the period
July 1, 1994, through June 30, 1995, and seventeen and one-half mills per
cigarette thereafter. However, any time the basic health plan enrollment under
chapter 70.47 RCW reaches or exceeds one hundred seventy thousand adult
subsidized basic health plan enrollees and sustains that level for three
months, the amount of the tax shall equal twenty mills per cigarette ((for
the period July 1, 1995, through June 30, 1996, and twenty and one-half mills
per cigarette thereafter)), and any time the basic health plan
enrollment under chapter 70.47 RCW drops below one hundred seventy thousand
adult subsidized basic health plan enrollees and sustains that level for three
months, the amount of the tax shall equal seventeen and one-half mills per
cigarette. All revenues collected during any month from this additional
tax shall be deposited in the health services account created under RCW
43.72.900 by the twenty-fifth day of the following month.
(4) Wholesalers and retailers subject to the payment of this tax may, if they wish, absorb one-half mill per cigarette of the tax and not pass it on to purchasers without being in violation of this section or any other act relating to the sale or taxation of cigarettes.
(5) For purposes of this chapter, "possession" shall mean both (a) physical possession by the purchaser and, (b) when cigarettes are being transported to or held for the purchaser or his or her designee by a person other than the purchaser, constructive possession by the purchaser or his or her designee, which constructive possession shall be deemed to occur at the location of the cigarettes being so transported or held.
Sec. 2. RCW 82.26.020 and 1993 c 492 s 309 are each amended to read as follows:
(1) There is levied and there shall be collected a tax upon the sale, use, consumption, handling, or distribution of all tobacco products in this state at the rate of forty-five percent of the wholesale sales price of such tobacco products.
(2) Taxes under this section shall be imposed at the time the distributor (a) brings, or causes to be brought, into this state from without the state tobacco products for sale, (b) makes, manufactures, or fabricates tobacco products in this state for sale in this state, or (c) ships or transports tobacco products to retailers in this state, to be sold by those retailers.
(3) An additional tax is imposed equal to seven percent multiplied by the tax payable under subsection (1) of this section.
(4) An additional tax is imposed equal to eight percent of the wholesale sales price of tobacco products. However, any time the basic health plan enrollment under chapter 70.47 RCW reaches or exceeds one hundred seventy thousand adult subsidized basic health plan enrollees and sustains that level for three months, the amount of the tax shall equal ten percent of the wholesale sales price of tobacco products, and any time the basic health plan enrollment under chapter 70.47 RCW drops below one hundred seventy thousand adult subsidized basic health plan enrollees and sustains that level for three months, the amount of the tax shall equal eight percent of the wholesale sales price of tobacco products. The moneys collected under this subsection shall be deposited in the health services account created under RCW 43.72.900.
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