Tobacco suppliers to ignore new tax law
By TOM PRECIOUS
News Albany Bureau
3/1/2006
ALBANY - Cigarette wholesalers who supply Seneca Nation of Indians and other tribal stores with tobacco products are expected to ignore a state law, which takes effect today, banning tax-free cigarette sales to non-Indians.
With the state Department of Taxation and Finance saying it will not enforce the law, signed last year by Gov. George E. Pataki, wholesalers say the flow of tax-free cigarettes will continue.
"We're not breaking any laws because we're going by what the governor says," said Frank Attea, president of Attea Milhelm & Bros., a Buffalo firm believed to be one of the largest tobacco suppliers to Senecas, who sell cigarettes at smoke shops and over the Internet.
But the office of State Attorney General Eliot L. Spitzer warned Tuesday that the law - no matter whether the tax department enforces it - is on the books and that cigarette wholesalers who continue to supply Indian tribes with tax-free cigarettes could face legal troubles.
"Tax stamping agents who violate the law may be subject to criminal sanctions brought by local district attorneys," Darren Dopp, a Spitzer spokesman, said of wholesalers who are licensed by the state to affix tax stamps on cigarette packs. "The law is now in effect, and these tax stamping agents have to carefully consider their actions."