(a) Each person, firm, or corporation licensed to sell intoxicating beverages at wholesale or retail in this state shall pay to the state for the privilege of engaging in this business during any part of the calendar year 1989, an excise tax at the following rates on all of these beverages held by the licensee in this state on June 30, 1989.
(1) Still wines (whether fortified or not), 20¢ per gallon;
(2) Still wines (whether fortified or not) made entirely from fruit grown in this state, 10¢ per gallon;
(3) Sparkling wines (whether fortified or not), 25¢ per gallon;
(4) Whiskey, rum, gin, brandy spirits, cordials, and other beverages consisting in whole or in part of alcohol which is the product of distillation, $1.25 per gallon;
(5) Ethyl alcohol to be used for beverage purposes, $2.50 per gallon;
(6) Ethyl alcohol to be used for nonbeverage purposes, 3¢ per gallon;
(7) Beer or other malt beverages, $1.00 per 31 gallons
and a tax at a like rate for any other quantity or fractional part.
(b) Each licensee subject to the payment of the tax imposed shall, on or before July 10, 1989, file a return, under oath or certified under the penalties of perjury, with the tax administrator on forms furnished by the tax administrator, showing the amount of gallons of each of the beverages named in subsection (a) in each licensee's possession in this state on June 30, 1989, and the amount of tax due, and at the time of this filing pay the tax due to the tax administrator. Failure to obtain these forms shall not be an excuse for the failure to make a return containing the information required by the tax administrator.
(c) The tax administrator may prescribe rules and regulations, not inconsistent with law, with regard to the assessment and collection of the tax imposed in this section.
(d) Any licensee subject to the payment of the tax imposed in this section who fails or refuses to make this return when due or who makes any false or fraudulent return shall be guilty of a misdemeanor and shall for each offense be fined not to exceed five thousand dollars ($5,000).
(e) If the tax imposed in this section is not paid within fifteen (15) days after the tax becomes due and payable, the tax administrator shall proceed to the collection of the tax, as in other cases the tax administrator is directed to proceed under § 44-1-29. The tax administrator shall, in addition to this directed procedure, certify the fact of the delinquency to the department of business regulation and the department shall proceed in the same manner as it is directed to proceed in § 3-10-8 upon the certification to it of a tax delinquency.
History of Section.
P.L. 1989, ch. 126, art. 14, § 2.