Senate Bill No. 420
(By Senators Prezioso, Foster, Stollings, Kessler, Jenkins and
McCabe)
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[Introduced March 3, 2009; referred to the Committee on Finance.]
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A BILL to amend and reenact §11-17-3 of the Code of West Virginia,
1931, as amended, relating generally to raising the excise tax
on cigarettes and all other tobacco products; and establishing
a special revenue account.
Be it enacted by the Legislature of West Virginia:
That §11-17-3 of the Code of West Virginia, 1931, as amended,
be amended and reenacted to read as follows:
ARTICLE 17. CIGARETTE TAX ACT.
§11-17-3. Levy of tax; ratio; dedication of proceeds.
(a) Tax on cigarettes. -- 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 fifty-five
cents one dollar and twenty cents on each twenty cigarettes or in
like ratio on any part thereof. Only one sale of the same article
shall be used in computing the amount of tax due under this subsection.
(b) Tax on tobacco products other than cigarettes. --
Effective the first day of January, two thousand two, An excise
tax is hereby levied and imposed on the sale or use of, other than
cigarettes, tobacco products at a rate equal to seven fourteen
percent of the wholesale price of each article or item of tobacco
product other than cigarettes sold by the wholesaler or subjobber
dealer, whether or not sold at wholesale, or if not sold, then at
the same rate upon the use by the wholesaler or dealer. Only one
sale of the same article shall be used in computing the amount of
tax due under this subsection. Revenues received from this tax
shall be deposited into the General Revenue Fund.
(c) Effective date. -- The changes set forth herein to this
section and section four of this article shall become effective the
first day of May two thousand three July 1, 2009.
(d) One half of all moneys collected pursuant to this section
shall be deposited in a special account in the State Treasury to be
known as the "Governors Office of Health Enhancement and Lifestyle
Planning Fund". Expenditures from the fund shall be for the
purposes set forth in section one, article sixteen-e, chapter
thirty-three of this code and are not authorized from collections
but are to be made only in accordance with appropriation by the
Legislature and in accordance with the provisions of article two, chapter eleven-b of this code: Provided, That for the fiscal year
ending June 30, 2009, expenditures are authorized from collections
rather than pursuant to appropriation by the Legislature. The
remaining one half of the collection not placed in this special
account shall be deposited in the General Revenue Fund.
NOTE: The purpose of this bill is to raise the cigarette tax
to the national average, to raise the tax on other tobacco products
to fourteen percent of their wholesale price and to establish a
special revenue account to fund the Governor's Office of Health
System Improvement. This bill was recommended for passage during
the 2009 Regular Session by Select Committee D on Health.
Strike-throughs indicate language that would be stricken from
the present law, and underscoring indicates new language that would
be added.