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.

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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.

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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.

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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 [...]

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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.

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‘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.

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The Buttlegging Menace

September 24, 2009

A major sting operation has shed frightening new light on the consequences of buttlegging in the New York metro area. Maybe now state officials — who close their eyes to the dangers in refusing to collect taxes on Indian reservation cigarettes — will think twice.

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New York Tribe Buys Cigarette Factory

September 17, 2009

The Oneida Indian Nation says it will make its own cigarettes. The tribe has purchased a cigarette manufacturing plant in Erie County for $6.6 million. The nation already runs the Turning Stone Resort & Casino, a dozen SavOn gas station-convenience stores, a gaming software company and five golf courses. It sells about $34 million of [...]

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