cigarette 150x150 Seneca Indian Nation Fights Cigarette Tax Tensions are mounting over the cigarette tax the New York State is trying to impose on the Seneca nation. The tax comes into effect on September 1 but the Seneca’s are seeking a federal order to stop the implementation of the tax.

Mayor Bloomberg made a rather distasteful remark when he heard about the dispute. “You know, get yourself a cowboy hat and a shotgun. If there’s ever a great video it’s you standing in the middle of the New York State Thruway saying you know read my lips, the law of the land is this and we’re going to enforce the law,” he said. This has outraged many Indian tribes who are demanding an apology from Bloomberg and his resignation.

Cigarettes sold by the tribes on the reservation are usually tax-free and the Seneca Nation along with other tribes have an ongoing battle with the federal government to keep them that way.

“None of New York’s previous efforts to impose taxes on sovereign Indian nations have ever succeeded, and there is no reason to believe this latest effort will succeed either,” said Mark Emery, spokesman for the Oneida Indian Nation.

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