Who sells native cigarettes near me of losing in legal battles with the state over taxes on name-brand cigarettes sold on Indian reservations, New York’s eight federally recognized tribes have switched to a new strategy: They’re making their own smokes.
The Oneidas jumped in early, buying a private cigarette maker and starting production at a plant that once housed a bingo hall on their Erie County reservation. A year before Gov. Andrew M. Cuomo took office, the Cayuga Nation purchased a scrap metal plant and started producing its own cigarettes, which it sells in two of its own convenience stores as well as to other Indian-owned retailers. Both Oneidas and Cayuga officials declined to say how much their cigarette sales have increased, but the owner of Nice N Easy convenience stores in upstate New York said his company’s revenues have been higher than a year ago.
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But despite the increased revenue, the tobacco industry and owners of other convenience stores say tribes are engaging in an elaborate tax evasion scheme. They argue that the cigarettes made on tribal land aren’t subject to the state’s $4.35-a-pack excise tax, which is the highest in the nation.
The state has stopped imposing the tax on wholesalers that supply name-brand cigarettes to Indian nations for resale. But the convenience-store association argues that New York should do more to target Indian brands. The state has been testing its authority to collect taxes on the Indian-branded cigarette sales, but the state’s cigarette division spokesman said it had yet to find a buyer. The tobacco industry still uses misleading descriptors such as “low tar,” “light,” and “ultra light” to mislead consumers, the state says. And studies, such as a 2011 study by UC Merced health psychology professor Anna Epperson and Stanford University smoking cessation researcher Judith Prochaska, have found that American Indian and Alaska Native smokers are at high risk of tobacco-related disease and death.
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