Tribes in New York start rolling their own tobacco products

Thursday, February 23, 2012  

Tribes in New York are producing their own tobacco products on the reservation in a move to escape the state's taxation efforts.

The state has imposed a tax on wholesalers who sell tobacco to tribal retailers. The expectation was that tribes would pass the tax onto non-Indian consumers.

Instead tribes are taking control and making their own goods, which are sold throughout Indian Country, not just on reservations in New York. The effort helps tribes avoid the state's $4.35-a-pack tax, the highest in the U.S.

“We tried poverty for 200 years,” Oneida Nation Representative Ray Halbritter told The New York Times. “We decided to try something different.”

In addition to the Oneida Nation, the Seneca Nation, the St. Regis Mohawk Reservation and the Cayuga Nation are home to tribal tobacco manufacturers. The Onondaga Nation is also thinking about getting into the industry.

Get the Story:
In Tax Fight, Tribes Make, and Sell, Cigarettes (The New York Times 2/23)
State seizing Indian-made tobacco (The Buffalo News 2/23)