Session Laws

Be it enacted by the Senate and House of Representatives in General Court assembled, and by the authority of the same, as follows:

Section 13 of chapter 64C of the General Laws, as appearing in the 1986 Official Edition, is hereby amended by striking out subdivision (c) and inserting in place thereof the following subdivision:-

(c) The term "cost to the wholesaler" shall mean the invoice cost of the cigarettes to the wholesaler, or the replacement cost of the cigarettes to the wholesaler within thirty days prior to the date of sale, in the quantity last purchased, whichever is lower, less all trade discounts except customary discounts for cash; to which shall be added a wholesaler's mark-up to cover in part the cost of doing business, which wholesaler's mark-up, in the absence of proof of a lesser or higher cost of doing business by the said wholesaler as evidenced by the standards and methods of accounting regularly employed by him in his allocation of overhead cost and expenses, paid or incurred, including without limitation, labor, salaries of executives and officers, rent, depreciation, selling costs, maintenance of equipment, delivery, delivery costs, all types of licenses, taxes, insurance and advertising, shall be two per centum of said invoice cost of the cigarettes to the wholesaler, except for sales to chain stores which shall be one-half per centum, plus cartage to the retail outlet if performed or paid for by the wholesaler, which cartage cost shall be deemed to be three-fourths of one percent of the cost of the cigarettes to the wholesaler, unless said wholesaler claims and proves a lower cartage cost, or of the replacement cost of the cigarettes to the wholesaler within thirty days prior to the date of sale, in the quantity last purchased, whichever is lower, less all trade discounts except customary discounts for cash.

For the purpose of this subdivision, the term "chain store" shall mean any person or persons who own or maintain ten or more retail outlets in the commonwealth, having one hundred percent common ownership or any vending machine operator who operates vending machines in twenty-five or more locations.