Albany (WSYR-TV) – New York State has proposed regulations that would limit the number of tax-free cigarettes that may be legally supplied to Indian nations or tribes. The proposal is designed to level the playing-field between retailers on and off the reservations.
The proposal, announced by the Department of Taxation and Finance’s Acting Commissioner Jamie Woodward, would prevent the unlimited flow of tax-free cigarettes to Indian reservation retailers. In a press release, Commissioner Woodward said that the regulations would ensure that “an adequate quantity of tax-free cigarettes would be available for purchase for the use of each Indian nation or tribe and for personal consumption by the nation's or tribe's members.”
The Department of Taxation and Finance will accept comments for 45 days after the publication of the proposed regulations. The complete text of those regulations is available on the
Department’s website. The proposed regulations would require cigarette manufacturers to only sell to agents that certify their compliance with tax law. It also includes a method for calculating the number of tax-free cigarettes that may be sold by agents to each Indian reservation. Licensed agents would be prohibited from selling untaxed cigarettes to a reservation in excess of that amount.
Statement from the Oneida Indian Nation: "None of New York's previous efforts to impose taxes upon sovereign Indian nations have ever succeeded, and there's no reason anyone should believe this latest effort will succeed either. The Oneida Nation has a history of resolving issues with parties who approach the discussions in good faith. When New York is ready to engage with the Oneida Nation on a government-to-government basis in which the parties respect each other's interests, we'll be ready to negotiate a final resolution that is fair and legal."
