Will Senecas Benefit from Tax Increase?
New York State's cigarette tax will go up by one dollar and 25 cents a pack on June 3, but the Seneca Nation of Indians won't be charging that tax. Although former Governor Eliot Spitzer had promised to stop the sale of tax-free cigarettes to non-Indians, Governor David Paterson has declined to say what, if anything, he plans to do about the tax issue. In a written statement, Seneca Nation President Mo John said cigarette sales are not overly significant to the tribe's increasingly diverse economy. He added that it would be wrong for anyone to think the state'stax increase will be a windfall for Indian nations.
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