New York Gov. David A. Paterson visited western New York yesterday to mark the opening of a new Yahoo! Data Center. But instead of celebration, his arrival was greeted by a protest from members of the Tuscarora and Seneca Indian nations.

WGZ-TV reports that they booed as Paterson’s helicopter flew overhead:

For now, the state cannot collect taxes on Native-sold cigarettes, but that’s only due to a temporary federal injunction. If that is lifted by a federal judge, the governor promises to collect the taxes at the wholesale level.

Natives have said such an action would destroy their economies. They hoped to get the Governor’s attention and that of Western New York, to plead their case.

New York has tried to collect the taxes before, only to back off after protests that briefly closed the New York Thruway. But now the state desperately needs money and it’s estimated the taxes could bring in as much as $200 million.

Gwen Florio

Tags: buffalo post, cigarette taxes, David Paterson, Gwen Florio, Native American news, Seneca Nation, Tribal smoke shops, tribal sovereignty, Tuscarora Nation, Yahoo, Yahoo! Data Center

So says this report by Carolyn Thompson of the Associated Press:

BUFFALO, N.Y. (AP) — A New York appeals court on Tuesday lifted a temporary order blocking the state from collecting taxes on cigarettes sold by Native American stores to non-Indian customers.

On Sept. 1, a state appellate judge in Rochester restored a restraining order that barred the state from collecting the $4.35-per-pack tax. But the court’s five-judge panel, which took up the case last week, ruled that the state properly approved regulations for the levy.

A federal judge in Buffalo has already temporarily blocked tax collections from two Indian nations — the Senecas and Cayugas — and was holding a hearing Tuesday in that case.

State officials didn’t immediately comment on the decision.

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Tags: American Indian cigarettes, buffalo post, Cayuga Indian Nation, cigarette taxes, Native American cigarettes, Native American news, New York, New York Department of Taxation and Finance, New York Thruway, Seneca Nation, Tribal smoke shops, tribal sovereignty

Even before yesterday’s shooting of a security guard outside a Native American-owned cigarette shop on Long Island, tensions were high over New York’s plan to collect taxes on cigarettes sold by Natives to non-Natives. Carolyn Thompson of the Associated Press explores the issue in depth:

CATTARAUGUS INDIAN RESERVATION, N.Y. (AP) — As New York Indian Nation leaders battle in courtrooms to preserve their tax-free cigarette market, tensions are rising on reservations, where the state’s renewed efforts to tax sales to non-Native customers is viewed as yet another attack on Native American rights.

“For 200 years, we have been dealing with efforts to take our land, efforts to take our resources, efforts to take our jurisdiction,” said Robert Odawi Porter, senior policy adviser and counsel for the 7,800-member Seneca nation in western New York, which says its cigarette business is a $100 million-a-year industry.

Trustee Lance Gumbs from Long Island’s Shinnecock tribe called the tax “just another extension of … the genocidal tactics of New York state.”

“Every tribe is committed to fight this issue,” said Gumbs at his smoke shop in Southampton.

Nine New York tribes are in the cigarette business. The $4.35 sales tax would force them to raise their prices and blunt their competitive edge over off-reservation sellers. Tribal leaders say the income loss would devastate economies.

A rally last week alongside the New York state Thruway where it bisects the Senecas’ Cattaraugus reservation was organized as a peaceful “people’s rally.” But there were reminders of 1997 chaos that erupted the last time the state tried to tax reservation sales.

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Tags: Barry Snyder, Buffalo cigarettes, buffalo post, Cattaraugus Indian Reservation, Cayuga Indian Nation, cigarette taxes, David Paterson, J.C. Seneca, Kern Swoboda, Lance Gumbs, Native American news, New York State Police, New York Thruway, PACT Act, Prevent All Cigarette Trafficking, Richard Jemison, Robert Odawi Porter, Seneca Free Trade Association, Seneca Nation, Shinnecock, St. Regis Mohawk, Tribal smoke shops, tribal sovereignty

Here’s a worrisome report from the Associated Press:

MASTIC, N.Y. (AP) — Police are investigating a shooting that injured a security guard on a Long Island Indian reservation.

Suffolk County police say the 23-year-old worker at Smoke Warehouse on the Poospatuck Reservation was hurt outside the store at about 5:50 a.m. Sunday, and a black sedan was seen fleeing the area. The man was hospitalized in guarded condition and was not identified.

The motive remains unclear.

Native American smoke shops are embroiled in a debate over whether the state can tax the cigarettes they sell. Tribes say the state lacks jurisdiction on their reservations.

Lawmakers want the tax money for state coffers. Off-reservation convenience stores and some public health agencies also want the Native American shops to have to collect the tax.

We’ll keep you posted as the investigation develops.

Tags: buffalo post, cigarette taxes, Long Island, Native Ameican smoke shops, Native American news, Poospatuck Indian Reservation, Tribal smoke shops

Many in Indian Country have been fuming over New York City Mayor Michael Bloomberg’s crack last month about the use of a “cowboy hat and shotgun” to collect cigarette taxes from Native American stores.

Although an apology was sought, none has been forthcoming

So when Bloomberg joined President Barack Obama during his vacation on Martha’s Vineyard a few days ago, hopes were high for what Indian Country Today writer Rob Capriccioso terms “a teachable moment.”

Obama has, after all, been attentive to the concerns of Indian Country. People thought, Capriccioso writes, that Obama might discuss the issue with Bloomberg:

The hopes ranged from small – recognition – to large – getting the president to secure an apology. No matter their size, they were quashed.

Instead, Obama – who has sometimes made a point of publicly supporting Indian issues – engaged Bloomberg in a conversation about the economy, and played a round of golf. Adding insult to injury, some New York papers have cited anonymous sources saying that Obama was feeling out Bloomberg for a job in his administration.

Bloomberg’s remark came in the midst of an ongoing effort by New York state to collect a $4.35-a-pack tax on cigarettes sold by Native-owned stores to non-Natives.

The tax was to be imposed starting yesterday; however, a federal judge has ordered a two-week delay – plenty of time, still, for Bloomberg to apologize.

Gwen Florio

Tags: Barack Obama, buffalo post, cigarette taxes, Cultural insensitivity, Gwen Florio, Michael Bloomberg, Tribal smoke shops, tribal sovereignty

The saga continues. A federal judge has delayed a final ruling for two weeks on imposing a sales tax – originally slated to start today – on cigarettes sold by the Seneca and Cayuga nations to non-Native customers.

The delayed ruling is prompting a business boom at the Native-owned shops as people stock up on cigarettes in anticipation of a $4.35-a-pack tax hike, WIVB reports.

Gwen Florio

Tags: buffalo post, Cayuga Nation, cigarette taxes, Gwen Florio, Native American news, New York, Seneca Nation, Tribal smoke shops, tribal sovereignty

New York Gov. David A. Paterson says the state start collecting taxes on Native American cigarettes, even though “violence and death” could result. as a result of his plan to collect a $4.35-per-pack tax on smokes sold by American Indian stores.

The $4.35-a-pack tax woudl apply to smokes sold to non-Natives in Native American stores.

“There will be quite an uprising and protest to this, but I am going to maintain this policy,” the New York Daily News says Paterson told WOR-AM.

“This is a very dangerous situation,” the governor said. “There is – I think – a high alert. The state police tell us over and over again that there could be violence and death as a result of some of the measures we’re taking.”

Efforts to collect the tax more than a decade ago resulted in protests that shut down the New York Thruway. Seneca Nation President Barry Snyder has called for no violence.

Here’s the part in the Daily News Story that boggles the mind: A sentence reads:

The American Indians claim they are sovereign nations, citing 18th century treaties, and therefore free of any state-imposed taxes.

Claim? Sounds like somebody better read up on history and law.

Gwen Florio

Tags: buffalo post, cigarette taxes, David Paterson, Gwen Florio, Native American news, Native American sovereignty, Seneca Nation, tribal sovereignty

Members of Native American tribes gathered on the steps of New York’s City Hall yesterday to take New York City Mayor Michael Bloomberg to task for the insensitivity of his recent remarks on how cigarette taxes should be collected from Native Americans.

According to the New York Post, Bloomberg suggested to Gov. David Paterson: “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.’”

Tribes immediately protested, noting that the remark came at a time when Bloomberg was calling for tolerance of a mosque planned near Ground Zero. The National Congress of American Indians seeks an apology.

And the Syracuse Post-Standard reports that:

The Seneca Nation of Indians passed a Tribal Council Resolution on Aug. 14 condemning Bloomberg’s comment as derogatory against the nation and its membership.

The resolution demands that Bloomberg resign his post as mayor of New York City and provide a formal written apology to the Seneca Nation and its members. The resolution also asks Paterson to publicly condemn Bloomberg’s comments and authorizes Seneca President Barry Snyder to file human rights and hate crime violations with the state of New York, Justice Department and United Nations Special Rapporteur on Indigenous People.

Oneida Nation Representative Ray Halbritter said in a prepared statement that “You can similarly imagine how members of the Jewish community would react if a politician urged the governor to ‘wear a red armband and hold a shotgun’ to confront Jewish people who defend their lands as we defend ours,” Halbritter wrote in a letter to Bloomberg. “While you claim to be calling just for the law to be enforced, surely as a Jewish leader you would recognize the tragic history of laws being used to suppress ethnic minorities.”

The cause of the controversy revolves around the state’s preparation to start collecting, on Sept. 1, a $4.35 per pack sales tax on cigarettes sold by Native American retailers to non-Native customers.

Gwen Florio

Tags: Barry Snyder, cigarette taxes, David Paterson, Gwen Florio, Michael Bloomberg, National Congress of American Indians, Native American news, Native American sovereignty, New York State Thruway, Oneida Nation, Ray Halbritter, Seneca Nation, United Nations Special Rapporteur on Indigenous People

James Odata of the Albany (N.Y.) Times Union is keeping an eye on the situation today as tribal members protest Mayor Michael Bloomberg’s remarks on a tax on Native American cigarettes set to begin Sept. 1.

Odata writes:

Tribal members from as far away as the Seneca territory planned to meet in New York City this morning to protest outside city hall. Their rally was motivated by comments by Mayor Michael Bloomberg that have spread from tribe to tribe across the country. …

The National Congress of American Indian representatives and members of the upstate and Long Island tribes have been planning to merge outside the mayor’s offices. The group intends to ask for an apology and discuss sovereignty.

Bloomberg’s comment: According to the New York Post, he suggested the following to Gov. David Paterson. “I said to David Paterson, I said, ‘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.’”

We’ll be following this throughout the day.

Gwen Florio

Tags: buffalo post, cigarette taxes, David Paterson, Gwen Florio, Michael Bloomberg, National Congress of American Indians, Native American news, Seneca Nation