Editorial
EDITORIAL: NY right to try to collect cigarette tax on reservations
A snarl of court decisions this week delaying the collection of cigarette taxes on Indian lands should not obscure this: New York is right to press forward to enforce the law.
As taxes on cigarettes rose to $4.35 a pack this year, sales at tribal stores became bigger bargains than ever. One pack of Marlboros sells for more than $10 elsewhere, but as little as $5.70 on Indian lands. New York's twin reasons for increasing cigarette taxes - to raise revenue and deter smoking - are undercut by the rush of customers to the cheap reservation stores.
This tax exemption, like others, was meant to acknowledge the sovereignty of American Indians and the historic wrongs to their culture. But it was never intended for sales to non-Indian smokers. As Gov. David A. Paterson tries to collect an estimated $100 million in annual taxes on these sales, some tribes threaten violence and claim "economic genocide."
The threats are misguided. And claims that cigarette sales keep Indians a step away from the poorhouse are further wrongheaded. If this profit is so vital to economic health, why hasn't it alleviated poverty on the reservations? That poverty is where attention should focus.
Basing an economy on an illegal black market - which has attracted other forms of crime - is shortsighted. Leaders on and off the reservations should fan away the smoke from their eyes and turn to more productive ideas. hN
