Surprise! Indian Reservations Still Sell Untaxed Cigarettes

So, when Indian chiefs denounce the state's plan to collect taxes on their cigarettes as an act of war, one Indian nation takes the Governor to federal court to block tax collection, and the Governor predicts a violent "uprising" when the times comes to collect, what would you predict would happen on Indian reservations when nobody is looking? Is it that they would continue to sell untaxed cigarettes? Surely, you jest.

An undercover investigation into Long Island's Poospatuck reservation showed vendors selling dozens of cartons of cigarettes to an investigator claiming to be a man from Brooklyn looking to resell them. The investigator was offered cartons of Newports at $52 each; In the city, the same carton can go for $120. The two transactions caught on camera yielded 60 untaxed cartons, which cost the state $3,500. Check out the video below:

Under state law, Indian reservations are allowed to buy cigarettes untaxed for their own use, but anyone buying from them must pay $4.35 in state tax and another $1.50 if they're in the city. Bloomberg said, “These lawbreakers are robbing our tax coffers and making cigarettes cheaper and more attractive, especially to teenagers,” and accused them of aiding bootleggers. The video has reportedly inspired Bloomberg to escalate his campaign to collect $1 billion in back taxes from the state's reservations. "These are not victimless crimes - they have real costs to our economy, our health and our quality of life." But they do make the political climate ripe for cowboys and Indians metaphors.

Bloomberg blamed the state's economic problems on the sales, saying, "So when you read about the governor saying that he's going to lay off people, when you read about the city saying we can't afford a workforce this size, this is one of the reasons why we can't afford it." So is Bloomberg saying that to fund the state we should be buying cigarettes? Because if that's the case we might like to enjoy them in a park.

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By Jaya Saxena in News on September 18, 2010 10:15 AM

Comments [rss]

Jack Glasser

Lets just get the record straight! My name is Jack Glasser, I am the lawyer for Dynasty Deli. What happened here was a simple case of a mistake made by a clerk who could barely speak a word of english, let alone know how to operate a Lotto Machine. The customer gave the ticket to the clerk to check to see if it was a winner, the clerk scanned the ticket in the machine which is the usual custom, and although the machine said the ticket was a winner, it didn't say what the amount of the win was which was not usual. The clerk then threw the ticket in the trash not believing it was a winner. The customer complained immediately to the owner who took the customers phone number promising to look in the garbage for the ticket. The owner found the ticket and called the customer the very next day to come and get it. The customer then came back to the store and waited outside until the Lotto Commission came. The result was a media frenzy that Dynasty was evil and a thief! Utter and rediculous nonsence! This underscores what the media can do in a simple situation such as this and how easily we forget one of the concepts that made this country great, Innocent until proven guilty!

Petey

The liberal answer, tax everything until it bleeds.

blink

Bloomberg is hardly a liberal. He more of a corporate republican fascist a*swhore.

Petey

He's hardly a republican, but I won't disagree with the rest.

dgeee

Nothing's better than giving corporate Mike the middle finger.

JacqueMehoff

so what? what would the libertarians say? what are they gonna do, seize their land for unpaid taxes?

can you believe this guy wasted resources on this "tax sting"?

exnyer

Somebody take the shovel away from Bloomy, he keeps digging a bigger hole for NYC the budget has never been in worse shape.....oh forget that, were going to smoke our way out.

Guest

not gonna smoke for a little while.

cardamom is good for ya. :)

John L

Bloomberg is such a hypocrite. He hates cigarettes but loves cigarette tax money. Why doesn't he go after things he can control like all the tax payer subsidies he's giving his real estate developer buddies, multi-millionaires and billionaires receiving corporate welfare to build luxury buildings we don't need. Then if you mention a tax increase that might affect the rich he goes ape shit but loves regressive taxes like fines and fees that disproportionately burden the poor.

Bloomberg is despicable.

nicemarmot

Screw Bloomie. Our state isn't in trouble because we're not getting taxes from the Indians, it's in trouble because it's run by morons like Bloomie who wouldn't know their own ass from a hole in the ground. I swear the longer he stays in office the stupider he gets. Perhaps the power is causing his brains to leak out his ears.

Hammer

Damn! Cigs are that high up there? Here you can get a carton of Marlboro for less than $50.

Guest

yeah, you can get 5 packs of marlboro here for $50 if you're lucky. most likely just 4 though with $6-8 left over.

Troy

Think theya re gonna use these taxes to sieze native land?

Oh wait you is living on that kind of land anyway, maybe these indians should just go away, throwback wanting us to honor treaties..

Yeah America, genocide is a heck of a thing...