Cigarette tax; rate; disposition of proceeds; priority

(1) Every stamping agent engaged in distributing or selling cigarettes at wholesale in this state shall pay to the Tax Commissioner of this state a special privilege tax. This shall be in addition to all other taxes. It shall be paid prior to or at the time of the sale, gift, or delivery to the retail dealer in the several amounts as follows: On each package of cigarettes containing not more than twenty cigarettes, sixty-four cents per package; and on packages containing more than twenty cigarettes, the same tax as provided on packages containing not more than twenty cigarettes for the first twenty cigarettes in each package and a tax of one-twentieth of the tax on the first twenty cigarettes on each cigarette in excess of twenty cigarettes in each package.

(2) Beginning October 1, 2004, the State Treasurer shall place the equivalent of forty-nine cents of such tax in the General Fund. For purposes of this section, the equivalent of a specified number of cents of the tax shall mean that portion of the proceeds of the tax equal to the specified number divided by the tax rate per package of cigarettes containing not more than twenty cigarettes.

(3) The State Treasurer shall distribute the remaining proceeds of such tax as follows: