The New York Legislature passed a bill that requires tribes to collect the state's tobacco tax on their reservations. The bill also raises the state tax by $1.60 to $4.35 a pack.

The plan will go into effect on September 1. Tribal leaders said they would fight any attempt to infringe on their sovereignty.

"This is nothing less than a deliberate effort to sabotage our federal treaty rights and rape our economy to bail out New York State," Seneca Nation President Barry Snyder Sr. said in a statement, The Buffalo News reported.

The state has tried to impose tobacco taxes on reservations in the past. In 1997, protests by tribal members led to a shutdown of the New York Thruway.

Gov. David Paterson (D) led the latest effort even as he said he wants to negotiate with tribes. A provision of the bill apparently authorizes his office to settle current and future lawsuits without legislative approval, the Buffalo paper reported.

Get the Story:
Legislature approves cigarette tax increase (The Buffalo News 6/22)
Tribes renew opposition to paying New York state cigarette tax (The Syracuse Post-Standard 6/22)
Mohawks vow to oppose state's effort to collect tax (The Watertown Daily Times 6/22)
Tax on tobacco includes Native nations (The Rochester Democrat and Chronicle 6/22)
Cigarette Tax Increased to Keep State Running (The New York Times 6/22)
New York Reaches Deal to Raise Cigarette Tax (The New York Times 6/19)

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New York governor proposes tobacco tax regulations (02/24)