Businesses on the Seneca Nation in New York have been hit hard as the result of a state-federal Internet transaction deal that tribes were excluded from.

Rick Jemison, a spokesman for Seneca Sovereign Partnership, said people have lost their jobs because smokeshops can no longer take credit card payments for tobacco products. "There's been a lot of layoffs," Jemison told the Associated Press.

All the major credit card companies recently agreed to stop accepting payments for tobacco products purchased online. State and federal authorities complained that Internet businesses weren't following the law by collecting state taxes and register purchased with states.

Get the Story:
Online cigarette sales are going up in smoke (AP 4/19)

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