Business
Retailers criticize state tobacco deal for Puyallup Tribe


Indian and non-Indian retailers are grumbling about a last-minute tobacco deal the state of Washington reached with the Puyallup Tribe.

The deal requires the tribe to collect a tax of $11.75 per carton of cigarettes. But since most of the owners of smokeshops on the reservation are individual Indians, they have to remit the tax to the tribe, which has to share 30 percent with the state. Off-reservation retailers also say they are impacted because the state tax is $14.25 per carton.

Separately, the tribe reached a last-minute deal to relocate its casino to the Port of Tacoma.

Get the Story:
Locke's deal with tribe too sweet? (The Seattle Post-Intelligencer 3/11)

Related Stories:
Puyallup Tribe gets approval to relocate casino (11/18)
Washington tribes negotiating tobacco compacts (01/11)
Federal agents raid Washington smokeshops (06/09)