From the category archives:

Latest News

Kruger Issues Paterson an Ultimatum on Indian Tax Avoidance

November 16, 2009

Senator Carl Kruger, who has mysteriously-and mistakenly-been identified as a stalking horse for organized labor by the NY Times, and as a budget cutting ditherer as well for his refusal to go along with the governor’s proposed cuts to education and health care, is about to turn the tables on the state’s chief executive. He will do so by presenting Paterson with a letter demanding that he rescind the so-called letter of forbearance that had been issued on behalf of New York’s Indian cigarette retailers in 2006.

Read the full article →

On The Radio: Brad Gerstman on Utica’s WXUR

November 12, 2009

Brad Gerstman joins Host Bill Keeler on Utica’s WXUR to talk about the billions of  tax dollars lost due to untaxed cigarettes sold on Indian reservations. [Audio clip: view full post to listen]

Read the full article →

Video: NY Senate Hearing on Illegal Cigarette Sales

October 27, 2009

On October 27th, the New York Senate Committee on Investigations and Government Operations heard both sides of New York’s tax-free cigarette issue. Watch video of the entire hearing right here…

Read the full article →

NY Senate Hearing Today to Discuss Illegal Cigarette Sales

October 27, 2009

The Senate Standing Committee on Investigations & Government Operations will be holding a hearing on the state’s inability to collect taxes from cigarettes sold to Non-Native Americans that originate from Indian Reservations Oct. 27 at Manhattan Community College, the committee’s chairman, Senator Craig M. Johnson announced. The hearing will begin 10:30 a.m

Read the full article →

Big Tobacco’s New York Black Market Explained

October 21, 2009

New York’s 70-year-old tobacco black market exploded after 2002, as cigarette tax hikes encouraged smuggling from out of state and through reservations. The traffic is part of a nationwide boom in smuggled cigarettes, but the trade has reached a peak in New York. In 2007, one in three cigarettes sold in New York was channeled untaxed through Indian smoke shops, robbing the state and New York City of nearly $1 billion in tax revenue.

Read the full article →

Governor Intends To Collect Tax On Non-Indians

October 21, 2009

In a letter to U.S. attorneys with Indian Nations in their midst, Gov. David Paterson wants to know if tribes will become violent if he tries again to tax those sales.

Read the full article →

NY Senate Hearings Called on Tax Free Cigarettes

October 11, 2009

New York State Senator Craig Johnson, Chairman of the New York State Senate Standing Committee on Investigations & Government Operations will be holding crucial hearings on the State’s unwillingness to collect taxes from cigarettes sold to Non-Native Americans that originate from sales on Indian Reservations. The hearing will convene on October 27th at Manhattan Community College.

Read the full article →

David Schwartz On WFAN Radio: Losing Billions is Outrageous

September 27, 2009

David Schwartz talks to WFAN Radio’s Bob Salter about the loss of billions of dollars through the illegal sale of tobacco. Hear the whole story, the facts and figures and a real, fair solution.  Also, hear a fascinating exchange as David reasons with a bootlegger who called in to the show. [Audio clip: view full [...]

Read the full article →

Tax Deadline Looms for NY Reservation Smokeshops – AP

September 25, 2009

Smoke shops on Long Island’s Poospatuck reservation face a Friday deadline to comply with a court order barring them from selling tax-free cigarettes to the public. The merchants sought an emergency stay this week, which was denied Thursday by the 2nd U.S. Circuit Court of Appeals.

Read the full article →

‘Smoke’ Detectors

September 24, 2009

The state set up a sting to snare black-market cigarette dealers — and wound up attracting smugglers with side businesses in prostitution, gun-running and drug dealing, a source said yesterday. Undercover agents peddling illegal smokes from a Yonkers warehouse even met their neighbor — a white-supremacist lunatic suspected of running an arms factory who was so taken in by his new “friends” that he gave them a homemade bomb as a gift.

Read the full article →