The Seneca Nation isn't surprised by the state's latest attempt to impose tobacco taxes on the reservation, a tribal leader said.

J.C. Seneca, the chair of the tribe's foreign relations committee, said Gov. David Paterson (D) should have consulted tribes before putting the tobacco tax in the state's new budget. "It's no big surprise," Seneca told The Jamestown Post-Journal. "Anytime the governor proposes a budget it seems to include revenues from taxation of our sales."

Paterson set a six-month deadline for the state to develop rules that would impose tobacco sales on the sale of goods to non-Indians. Seneca said the tribe will weigh its next step but he indicated the tribe will fight the taxes.

"They're initiating a law to destroy our economy," Seneca said.

Get the Story:
State, Senecas Set Six-Month Deadlines (The Jamestown Post-Journal 1/20)

Relevant Documents:
2010-11 Executive Budget | Briefing Book

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New York governor puts Indian tobacco tax in new budget (1/19)