Smokes tax signals bad news Whatever Gov. Paterson does next will anger many BY CAROLYN THOMPSON The Associated Press
A bill to collect state sales tax on cigarettes sold by Indian retailers to non-Indian customers is now on Gov. David Paterson’s desk, awaiting his signature or veto. The Assembly delivered the legislation to the governor Thursday, beginning a 10-day clock that gives him until Dec. 23 to make a decision that, either way, is certain to provoke anger. Supporters believe collecting the tax would bring the state $400 million in revenues at a time when Paterson is telling New Yorkers that budget deficits will likely have them paying more to renew drivers licenses and enroll in public colleges. Indian nations see the bill as an attack on their sovereignty and fi - nancial well-being. “We do not appreciate this threat to the livelihood of the nation, or to the 1,000 families who could be drastically affected during the holidays by affirmation of this bill,” Seneca Nation President Barry Snyder Sr. said in a statement Thursday. The bill passed by the Legislature in August would prohibit manufacturers from selling tobacco products without a state tax stamp to any wholesaler that doesn’t certify the cigarettes won’t be resold tax-free. Similar bills have been passed but not enforced by previous administrations. Paterson spokesman Morgan Hook said the legislation was under review Thursday, but gave no indication of how the governor would decide. The American Cancer Society was among those pressing for passage, estimating 150,000 New Yorkers would be driven to quit smoking when faced with higherpriced cigarettes. In western New York, the Seneca Nation argued for a veto, saying it would hurt retail operations that bring in $313 million annually and which are protected by historic treaties from collecting state taxes. Snyder and Paterson met in the governor’s Manhattan office last week on the taxation and other issues. Paterson spokesman Errol Cockfield called last week’s meeting productive and said the governor looked forward to more discussions with tribes in hopes of reaching agreement on tax collection. But that was before the clock started ticking on the legislation, curtailing time for talk. The Indian sales taxes have long ........http://www.dailygazette.net/De.....amp;EntityId=Ar01500
This could have been enforced years ago, but wasn't. To do it at this time is just a way to create more revenues at the Indian nation's expense. Revenues needed in part for our economic down turn, but primarily due to the careless overspeanding bythis state government.
When the INSANE are running the ASYLUM In individuals, insanity is rare; but in groups, parties, nations and epochs, it is the rule. -- Friedrich Nietzsche
“How fortunate for those in power that people never think.” Adolph Hitler
A showdown with the Indian nations of upstate New York might be the last thing Gov. David Paterson wants at the moment, but given the state’s financial predicament, he appears to have little choice. The state is in dire fiscal trouble, with a deficit expected to exceed $14 billion next year. All New Yorkers are going to have to make sacrifi ces to help balance the budget. That includes thousands of smokers, who for years have evaded the state’s admittedly high cigarette taxes by buying smokes on Indian reservations within the state, and the Indians themselves: Their tribal lands may be sovereign, but it’s not as if their residents are foreigners who don’t avail themselves of any services furnished by the state. Besides, New York isn’t trying to tax the cigarettes these Indians smoke themselves; it just wants to keep them from selling tax-free cigarettes to non-Indians. Those cigarettes cost the state an estimated $400 million a year, a sum it can ill afford to pass up in such hard times. New York’s Indian tribes are small (1,000 families total) and no longer impoverished as a result of the gambling casinos they’ve been allowed to open over the past decade. While both state and federal governments have taken advantage of the Indians and neglected them at various times throughout history, it’s harder to make that case now when they’re raking in hundreds of millions of dollars annually in gambling profits. We’ve long held that the solution to the cigarette taxation issue was in.............http://www.dailygazette.net/De.....amp;EntityId=Ar04402
Report: Cigarette sales netting Senecas millions The Associated Press
BUFFALO — Figures from monthly sales reports that tobacco wholesalers file with New York’s Department of Taxation and Finance indicate Indian retailers are making millions annually selling tax-free cigarettes. Citing sales reports released in a lawsuit and distributor estimates, The Buffalo News says the profi t margin at Seneca stores is about $7 a carton, the difference between what they pay for brand name cigarettes and what they charge. A congressional report put the figure at $3. The newspaper reports Seneca president Barry Snyder, for example, made $5.4 million from 2005 through 2007 selling tax-exempt smokes at his Seneca Hawk gasoline station on the Cattaraugus Reservation. A new law, signed by Gov. David Paterson this month, is set to take effect in February. It bans manufacturers from selling unstamped tobacco products to wholesalers that would supply Indian-owned stores. Some lawmakers estimate the state is losing $400 million a year from uncollected taxes on Indian sales to non-Indians. A judge temporarily barred state officials from enforcing the new law. State Supreme Court Justice Rose Sconiers signed the order this month in Buffalo. A wholesale company and................http://www.dailygazette.net/De.....amp;EntityId=Ar01201
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