2015 New Mexico Statutes
Chapter 7 - Taxation
Section 12 Cigarette Tax
Section 7-12-2 Definitions.

7-12-2. Definitions.

As used in the Cigarette Tax Act:

A. "cigarette" means:

(1) any roll of tobacco or any substitute for tobacco wrapped in paper or in any substance not containing tobacco;

(2) any roll of tobacco that is wrapped in any substance containing tobacco, other than one hundred percent natural leaf tobacco, which, because of its appearance, the type of tobacco used in the filler, its packaging and labeling, or its marketing and advertising, is likely to be offered to, or purchased by, consumers as a cigarette, as described in Paragraph (1) of this subsection;

(3) bidis and kreteks; or

(4) any other roll of tobacco that is defined as a "cigarette" in Subsection D of Section 6-4-12 NMSA 1978;

B. "close of business" means that time when a business ceases to operate for the remainder of the day or 12:00 a.m., if the business is open and conducting business at 12:00 a.m.;

C. "contraband cigarettes" means cigarette packages with counterfeit stamps, counterfeit cigarettes, cigarettes that have false or fraudulent manufacturing labels, cigarettes not sold in packages of five, ten, twenty or twenty-five, cigarette packages without the tax, tax-credit or tax-exempt stamps required by the Cigarette Tax Act and cigarettes produced by a manufacturer or in a brand family not included in the directory;

D. "department" means the taxation and revenue department, the secretary of taxation and revenue or any employee of the department exercising authority lawfully delegated to that employee;

E. "directory" means a listing of tobacco product manufacturers and brand families that is developed, maintained and published by the attorney general under the Tobacco Escrow Fund Act [6-4-14 through 6-4-24 NMSA 1978];

F. "distributor" means a person licensed pursuant to the Cigarette Tax Act to sell or distribute cigarettes in New Mexico. "Distributor" does not include:

(1) a retailer;

(2) a cigarette manufacturer, export warehouse proprietor or importer with a valid permit pursuant to 26 U.S.C. 5713, if that person sells cigarettes in New Mexico only to distributors that hold valid licenses under the laws of a state or sells to an export warehouse proprietor or to another manufacturer; or

(3) a common or contract carrier transporting cigarettes pursuant to a bill of lading or freight bill, or a person who ships cigarettes through the state by a common or contract carrier pursuant to a bill of lading or freight bill;

G. "license" means a license granted pursuant to the Cigarette Tax Act that authorizes the holder to conduct business as a manufacturer or distributor of cigarettes;

H. "manufacturer" means a person that manufactures, fabricates, assembles, processes or labels a cigarette or that imports from outside the United States, directly or indirectly, a finished cigarette for sale or distribution in the United States;

I. "master settlement agreement" means the settlement agreement and related documents entered into on November 23, 1998 by the state and leading United States tobacco product manufacturers;

J. "package" means an individual pack, box or other container; "package" does not include a container that itself contains other containers, such as a carton of cigarettes;

K. "qualifying tribal cigarette tax" means an excise, privilege or similar tax at a minimum rate of:

(1) three and seventy-five hundredths cents ($.0375) per cigarette if the cigarettes are packaged in lots of twenty or twenty-five;

(2) seven and one-half cents ($.075) per cigarette if the cigarettes are packaged in lots of ten; or

(3) fifteen cents ($.15) per cigarette if the cigarettes are packaged in lots of five;

L. "retailer" means a person, whether located within or outside of New Mexico, that sells cigarettes at retail to a consumer in New Mexico and the sale is not for resale;

M. "stamp" means an adhesive label issued and authorized by the department to be affixed to cigarette packages for excise tax purposes and upon which is printed a serial number and the words "State of New Mexico" and "tobacco tax";

N. "tax stamp" means a stamp that has a specific cigarette tax value pursuant to the Cigarette Tax Act;

O. "tax-credit stamp" means a stamp that indicates the cigarette package bearing the stamp is to be or has been sold by a retailer located on land of a tribe that has imposed a qualifying tribal cigarette tax;

P. "tax-exempt stamp" means a stamp that indicates a tax-exempt status pursuant to the Cigarette Tax Act;

Q. "tribal member" means a person who is recognized by the governing body of an Indian tribe to be an enrolled member of that Indian tribe;

R. "tribe" means a federally recognized Indian nation, tribe or pueblo located wholly or partially in New Mexico, including:

(1) a political subdivision, agency or department of a tribe;

(2) an incorporated or unincorporated enterprise of a tribe, one or more tribes or a political subdivision of a tribe; or

(3) a corporation considered to be an Indian or a tribe by the federal government or the state; and

S. "tribe's land" means the reservation, pueblo grant or trust land of a tribe and property held by the United States in trust jointly for the nineteen New Mexico Indian pueblos pursuant to Public Law 95-232.

History: Laws 1943, ch. 95, 1; 1941 Comp. Supp., 76-1601; Laws 1947, ch. 84, 1; 1949, ch. 180, 1; 1953 Comp., 72-14-1; Laws 1957, ch. 28, 1; 1970, ch. 70, 1; reenacted as 1953 Comp., 72-14-2 by Laws 1971, ch. 77, 2; 1977, ch. 249, 43; 1984, ch. 51, 1; 1986, ch. 20, 72; 1995, ch. 70, 12; 2006, ch. 91, 1; 2007, ch. 182, 1; 2009, ch. 197, 11; 2010 (2nd S.S.), ch. 5, 2.