Pennsylvania SB 773: An Act amending the act of April 9, 1929 (P.L.343, No.176), known as The Fiscal Code, in cigarette sales and licensing, further providing for definitions and providing for presumed cost of doing business by retailer.

Bill Text

PRINTER'S NO. 830
THE GENERAL ASSEMBLY OF PENNSYLVANIA
SENATE BILL
No. 773
Session of
2025
INTRODUCED BY FLYNN, CULVER AND ARGALL, MAY 22, 2025
REFERRED TO FINANCE, MAY 22, 2025
AN ACT
Amending the act of April 9, 1929 (P.L.343, No.176), entitled
"An act relating to the finances of the State government;
providing for cancer control, prevention and research, for
ambulatory surgical center data collection, for the Joint
Underwriting Association, for entertainment business
financial management firms, for private dam financial
assurance and for reinstatement of item vetoes; providing for
the settlement, assessment, collection, and lien of taxes,
bonus, and all other accounts due the Commonwealth, the
collection and recovery of fees and other money or property
due or belonging to the Commonwealth, or any agency thereof,
including escheated property and the proceeds of its sale,
the custody and disbursement or other disposition of funds
and securities belonging to or in the possession of the
Commonwealth, and the settlement of claims against the
Commonwealth, the resettlement of accounts and appeals to the
courts, refunds of moneys erroneously paid to the
Commonwealth, auditing the accounts of the Commonwealth and
all agencies thereof, of all public officers collecting
moneys payable to the Commonwealth, or any agency thereof,
and all receipts of appropriations from the Commonwealth,
authorizing the Commonwealth to issue tax anticipation notes
to defray current expenses, implementing the provisions of
section 7(a) of Article VIII of the Constitution of
Pennsylvania authorizing and restricting the incurring of
certain debt and imposing penalties; affecting every
department, board, commission, and officer of the State
government, every political subdivision of the State, and
certain officers of such subdivisions, every person,
association, and corporation required to pay, assess, or
collect taxes, or to make returns or reports under the laws
imposing taxes for State purposes, or to pay license fees or
other moneys to the Commonwealth, or any agency thereof,
every State depository and every debtor or creditor of the
Commonwealth," in cigarette sales and licensing, further
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providing for definitions and providing for presumed cost of
doing business by retailer.
The General Assembly of the Commonwealth of Pennsylvania
hereby enacts as follows:
Section 1. The definition of "cost of the retailer" in
section 202-A of the act of April 9, 1929 (P.L.343, No.176),
known as The Fiscal Code, is amended to read:
Section 202-A. Definitions.--As used in this article--
* * *
"Cost of the Retailer" shall mean the basic cost of
cigarettes to the retailer plus the cost of doing business by
the retailer in excess of the basic cost of cigarettes,
expressed as a percentage and applied to the basic cost of
cigarettes. In the absence of filing of satisfactory proof of a
lesser or higher cost of doing business by the retailer making
the sale, the cost of doing business by the retailer shall be
presumed to be [seven] the per centum as provided in section
234-A of the basic cost of cigarettes to the retailer. When a
retailer establishes a lesser cost of doing business than the
presumptive [seven] per centum cost of doing business as
provided in section 234-A, such lesser cost of doing business
may be used to compute the cost of the retailer for a period of
time no greater than twelve months, at the end of which time the
cost to the retailer shall be computed using the presumptive
[seven] per centum cost of doing business as provided in section
234-A, unless the retailer again establishes a lesser cost of
doing business. Any fractional part of a cent in such cost per
carton shall be rounded off to the next higher cent. In the case
of any person who purchases cigarettes for sale at retail from
any manufacturer of cigarettes without resort to a wholesaler as
such, such person shall be deemed, for the purposes of this
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article, to be engaged in the sale of cigarettes as a stamping
agent, wholesaler and retailer and as such shall be subject to
all mark-up provisions of this article in the order named.
* * *
Section 2. The act is amended by adding a section to read:
Section 234-A. Presumed Cost of Doing Business By
Retailer.--The presumed cost of doing business by a retailer
making the sale shall be the following per centum:
(1) Beginning July 1, 2026, through December 31, 2026, nine
per centum.
(2) Beginning January 1, 2027, through December 31, 2027,
ten per centum.
(3) Beginning January 1, 2028, through December 31, 2028,
eleven per centum.
(4) Beginning January 1, 2029, and thereafter, twelve per
centum.
Section 3. This act shall take effect immediately.
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