What's happening
This bill exempts required or professor-recommended college textbooks from New York State sales and use taxes.
Why it matters
Reduces the financial burden. on college students by expanding the sales tax exemption to include not only required textbooks but also those recommended by professors, potentially saving students significant money each semester.
Broadens the definition of "textbooks,". allowing more types of books (including both hardcovers and paperbacks) to qualify for the tax exemption, even if they are not specifically written for educational purposes but are still required or recommended for a course.
Streamlines textbook purchases. by permitting students to use either a course syllabus or any form identifying course materials, alongside their student ID, to claim the tax exemption—making it easier to prove eligibility at the point of sale.
Supports academic flexibility,. as professors can recommend a wider range of materials without worrying about inadvertently increasing students’ costs due to tax, potentially enriching course content and reading lists.
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Who cares
Headline styles
End Tax on College Textbooks
Plain English, a few words. Used as the page title.
Sponsors
1 Multi-sponsor
History
- Referred to ways and means
- Referred to ways and means
Full text
1 pageUnderlined is new[Struck] is removedOfficial text on nysenate.gov ↗
STATE OF NEW YORK
4187
2017-2018 Regular Sessions
IN ASSEMBLY
February 1, 2017
Introduced by M. of A. ORTIZ -- Multi-Sponsored by -- M. of A. LUPARDO -- read once and referred to the Committee on Ways and Means
AN ACT to amend the tax law, in relation to exempting required or professor recommended college textbooks from sales and compensating use taxes
The People of the State of New York, represented in Senate and Assembly, do enact as follows:
Section 1. Paragraph 34 of subdivision (a) of section 1115 of the tax law, as added by section 96 of part A of chapter 56 of the laws of 1998, is amended to read as follows:
(34) Textbooks purchased by full and part time college students for their courses; provided, however, that upon purchase such a student shall present a valid student identification card and course syllabus or form which identifies course materials, and such a textbook shall be required for a course being taken by such student at an institution of higher education. For purposes of this subdivision the term:
(i) "Textbooks" includes [only those] (A) books specifically written, designed or produced for educational, instructional or pedagogical purposes; and (B) any books, which shall include hard covered or paperback books, which a full or part time college student is required to use or recommended by a professor to use as a textbook in a particular course in the college he or she attends.
(ii) "Institution of higher education" shall mean any institution of higher education, recognized and approved by the regents of the university of the state of New York or accredited by a nationally recognized accrediting agency or association accepted as such by the regents of the university of the state of New York, which provides a course of study leading to the granting of a post-secondary degree, certificate or diploma.
§ 2. This act shall take effect on the first of January next succeeding the date on which it shall have become a law.
EXPLANATION--Matter in italics (underscored) is new; matter in brackets
[ ] is old law to be omitted.
LBD08862-01-7
Reflowed for reading: line numbers and page breaks removed. Cite the official text.
Summaries, headlines and scores are AI-generated from the official bill text. How we score bills. Source: NYS Open Legislation.