§ 270. Amount of tax. There is hereby imposed and shall immediately accrue and be collected a tax, as herein provided, on all sales, or agreements to sell, or memoranda of sales of stock, and upon any and all deliveries or transfers of shares or certificates of stock, in any domestic or foreign association, company or corporation, made after the first day of June, nineteen hundred and five, whether made upon or shown by the books of the association, company or corporation, or by any assignment in blank, or by any delivery, or by any paper or agreement or memorandum or other evidence of sale or transfer, whether intermediate or final, and whether investing the holder with the beneficial interest in or legal title to said stock, or merely with the possession or use thereof for any purpose, or to secure the future payment of money, or the future transfer of any stock, on each hundred dollars of face value or fraction thereof, two cents, except in cases where the shares or certificates of stock are issued without designated mone tary value, in which cases the tax shall be at the rate of two cents for each and every share of such stock. It shall be the duty of the person or persons making or effectuating the sale or transfer to procure, affix and cancel the stamps and pay the tax provided by this article. It is not intended by this act to impose a tax upon. an agreement evidencing the deposit of stock certificates as col

lateral security for money loaned thereon, which stock certificates are not actually sold, nor upon such stock certificates so deposited, nor upon mere loans of stock or the return thereof. The payment of such tax shall be denoted by an adhesive stamp or stamps affixed as follows: In the case of a sale or transfer, where the evidence of the transaction is shown only by the books of the association, company or corporation, the stamp shall be placed upon such books, and it shall be the duty of the person making or effectuating such sale or transfer to procure and furnish to the association, company or corporation the requisite stamps, and of such association, company or corporation to affix and cancel the same. Where the transaction is effected by the delivery or transfer of a certificate, the stamp shall be placed upon the surrendered certificate and canceled, and in cases of an agreement to sell, or where the sale is effected by delivery of the certificate assigned in blank, there shall be made and delivered by the seller to the buyer, a bill or memorandum of such sale to which the stamp provided for by this article shall be affixed and canceled. Every such bill or memorandum of sale or agreement to sell shall show the date of the transaction which it evidences, the name of the seller, the stock to which it relates, and the number of shares thereof. All such bills or memoranda of sale shall bear a number upon the face thereof and no more than one such bill or memorandum of sale made by the seller、 on any given day shall bear the same number. The aforesaid identification number of the bill or memorandum of sale shall in all cases be entered and recorded in the book of account required to be kept by section two hundred and seventy-six of this chapter; and no further tax is hereby imposed upon the delivery of the certificate of stock, or upon the actual issue of a new certificate when the original certificate of stock is accompanied by the duly stamped memorandum of sale as herein provided. (Thus am'd by L. 1910, chap. 38; L. 1911, chap. 352; L. 1912, ch. 292; L. 1913, chap. 779, in effect July 1, 1913.)

§ 271. Stamps, how prepared and sold. Adhesive stamps for the purpose of paying the state tax provided for by this article shall be prepared by the tax commission, in such form, and of such denominations and in such quantities as it may from time to time prescribe, and shall be sold by it to the person or persons desiring to purchase the same; the tax commission shall make provision for the sale of such stamps by such persons, in such places and at such times as in its judgment may be necessary. The tax commission may from time to time and as often as it deems advisable provide for the issuance and exclusive use of stamps of a new design and forbid the use of stamps of any other design. In order to effect such a change and to discontinue the use of stamps of a former design the tax commission shall publish or cause to be published once in each week for each of three months

immediately preceding the time for taking effect of such change, in one or more daily newspapers published in each of the first and second class cities of the state, a notice to the effect that after a certain day, which shall be at least three months after the first publication of said notice, none other than the new issue or design of stamps shall be accepted or made use of in payment of the tax provided for by this article. After such date it shall be unlawful for any person to make use of any other than the new issue or design of stamps in payment of such tax. Any person violating, any of the provisions of this section shall be guilty of a misdemeanor.

Any person lawfully in possession of unused stamps of an old or superseded issue or design may, within ninety days from the time when such change becomes effective as aforesaid, surrender the same to the tax commission together with a sworn statement setting forth the name and address of the owner and party surrendering said stamps, how, when and from whom the same were acquired and such other pertinent information as the tax commission may require; whereupon the tax commission shall redeem such unused and surrendered stamps by exchanging therefor stamps of a like denomination of the new issue or design. Failure or refusal of the tax commission to redeem the same by such an exchange may be enforced by mandamus. (Thus am'd by L. 1913, chap. 811; L. 1921, chap. 443, in effect July 1, 1921.)

§ 271-a. Sale of stamps. No person, firm, company, association or corporation other than a corporation organized under the banking law of this state or under the national bank act of the United States, or a duly authorized agent of the tax commission, shall sell or expose for sale, traffic in, trade, barter or exchange any stamp issued pursuant to this article, and purchased or acquired by him after the time when this section as hereby amended takes effect, without first obtaining from the tax commission its written consent to sell, traffic in, trade, barter or exchange such stamps, except that in connection with a sale of or agreement to sell stock a broker or agent of the principal making such sale or agreement to sell may supply and affix the stamp or stamps required by this article. No person shall sell or expose for sale any stamp so purchased or acquired for a sum less than the face value thereof without the written consent of the tax commission. Any person lawfully in possession of unused stamps may request the tax commission for its consent to sell or dispose of the same. He shall present to the tax commission, if so required, a sworn statement setting forth the name and address of the owner and the party desiring to sell or dispose of said stamps, how, when and from whom the same were acquired and the name and address of the person or persons to whom it is proposed to sell or dispose of the same, and such other pertinent and relevant

information as the tax commission may require. Thereupon the tax commission may give its written consent to sell the same. Upon the failure or refusal of the tax commission to give such consent the same may be enforced by mandamus. Any person violating any of the provisions of this section shall be guilty of a misdemeanor, and upon conviction thereof shall be punishable by a fine of not less than five hundred nor more than one thousand dollars, or by imprisonment for not more than six months, or by both such fine and imprisonment, in the discretion of the court. (Added by L. 1911, chap. 12; thus am'd by L. 1913, chap. 811; L. 1916, chap. 552; L. 1921, chap. 443, in effect July 1, 1921.)

§ 272. Penalty for failure to pay tax. Any person or persons liable to pay the tax by this article imposed, and any one who acts in the matter as agent or broker for such person or persons, who shall make any sale, transfer or delivery of shares or certificates of stock, without paying the tax by this article imposed, and any person who shall in pursuance of any sale, transfer or agreement, deliver any stock or evidence of the sale or transfer of or agreement to sell any stock, or bill or memorandum thereof, or who shall transfer or cause the same to be transferred upon the books or records of the association, company or corporation, and any association, company or corporation whose stock is sold or transferred, which shall transfer or cause the same to be transferred upon its books, without having the stamps provided for in this article affixed thereto, shall be deemed guilty of a misdemeanor, and upon conviction thereof shall pay a fine of not less than five hundred nor more than one thousand dollars, or be imprisoned for not more than six months or by both such fine and imprisonment, in the discretion of the court. (Thus am'd by L. 1911, chap. 352; L. 1912, chap. 292, in effect May 1, 1912.)

§ 273. Canceling stamps; penalty for failure. In every case where an adhesive stamp shall be used to denote the payment of the tax provided by this article, the person using or affixing the same shall write or stamp thereupon the initials of his name and the date upon which the same shall be attached or used, and shall cut or perforate the stamp in a substantial manner, so that such stamp cannot be again used; and if any person makes use of an adhesive stamp to denote the payment of the tax imposed by this article, without so effectually canceling the same, such person shall be deemed guilty of a misdemeanor, and upon conviction thereof shall pay a fine or not less than two hundred nor more than five hundred dollars or be imprisoned for not less than six months, or both, in the discretion of the court. (Thus am'd by L. 1911, chap. 352, in effect June 15, 1911.)

§ 274. Contracts for dies; expenses, how paid. The tax commission is hereby directed to make, enter into and execute

for and in behalf of the state such contract or contracts for dies, plates and printing necessary for the manufacture of the stamps provided for by this article, and provide such stationery and clerk hire together with such books and blanks as in its discretion may be necessary for putting into operation the provisions of this article; the tax commission shall be the custodian of all stamps, dies, plates or other material or thing furnished by it and used in the manufacture of such state tax stamps, and all expenses incurred by it and under its direction in carrying out the provisions of this article shall be paid to it by the state treasurer from any moneys appropriated for such purpose. (Thus am'd by L. 1921, chap. 443, in effect July 1, 1921.)

§ 275. Illegal use of stamps; penalty. Any person who shall willfully remove or alter or knowingly permit to be removed or altered the canceling or defacing marks of any stamp provided for by this article with intent to use such stamp, or who shall knowingly or willfully buy, prepare for use, use, have in his possession or suffer to be used any washed, restored or counterfeit stamp, and any person who shall intentionally remove or cause to be removed or knowingly permit to be removed any stamp, affixed pursuant to the requirements of this article, shall be guilty of a misdemeanor and on conviction thereof shall be liable to a fine of not less than five hundred nor more than one thousand dollars, or be imprisoned for not more than one year, or by both such fine and imprisonment, at the discretion of the court. (Thus am'd by L. 1911, chap. 12; L. 1912, chap. 292, in effect May 1, 1912.)

§ 275-a. Registration; penalty for failure. Every person, firm, company, association or corporation engaged in whole or in part in the making or negotiating of sales, agreements to sell, deliveries or transfers of shares or certificates of stock, or conducting or transacting a stock brokerage business, and every stock association, company or corporation which shall maintain a principal office or place of business within the state or which shall keep or cause to be kept within the state of New York a place for the sale, transfer or delivery of its stock, shall within ten days after the amendment to this section shall take effect if such a certificate shall not have been theretofore filed with the state comptroller, or within ten days after engaging in such business or after establishing such principal office or place of business or such place for the sale or transfer of its stock, as the case may be, file in the office of the tax commission a certificate setting forth the name under which such business is, or is to be, conducted or transacted, and the true or real full name or names of the person or persons conducting or transacting the same, with the post office address or addresses of said person or persons, unless the party so certifying be a corporation, in which event it shall set forth its