NMSA 1978, § 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 to 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.