UTICA, N.Y. - Senator Joseph A. Griffo (R,C, I- Rome) today condemned the Executive’s action to end efforts to collect sales taxes on cigarette sales to non-Indians at Indian-owned businesses.

“This is wrong on multiple levels,” Griffo said. “First and foremost, the tax should be collected. The law of this state says sales of tobacco products to non-Indians should be subject to sales tax. “I don’t know how the Administration can pick and choose which laws they want enforced. Existing law is intended to be abided by, not to be negotiated. I can’t imagine what would happen to employers that went 14 years without obeying the law. We can’t just ignore the law. If the Administration thinks the law is wrong, the redress open to him is to go through the political process to enact a new law, not to simply give up on making the law work.”

Griffo also noted disappointment with the Governor’s inconsistency. “Last year, the governor signed a bill to collect the taxes. This year, he says he will not work to collect the taxes. This is another example of the inconsistent leadership that has governed by stops and starts. How can we move this state forward when in instance after instance, we keep flopping back and forth or going in circles?”

Griffo said the tax is not a Native American issue. “The rise of the Oneida Indian Nation from poverty to prosperity is a great chapter in their history and the history of our region. The real issue in this case is the fiscal impact local residents face from the loss of tax revenue in cigarette sales purchased by non-Indians. ”

Griffo noted that according to some estimates, New York fails to collect $400 million a year in sales taxes on cigarette sales to non-Indians at Indian-owned businesses. “What this can mean to the state, and also to the local communities in Oneida County that should have been sharing in this money for 14 years, is very important given our current fiscal crisis,” Griffo said. “This is also a very important issue for the small convenience stores located near Indian-owned businesses. There should be a level playing field for them in which to compete.”