Tobacco giant Philip Morris is funding an aggressive ad campaign against the Indian tobacco industry, urging the state to collect taxes on cigarettes sold on Indian reservations. Indian leaders and business people say the ads are just the latest effort to force sovereign nations to collect taxes for the state, effectively putting them out of business – a scenario that would help Philip Morris’ efforts to dominate the cigarette market. Philip Morris’ full page ads began to appear in newspapers in Buffalo, Syracuse, Albany, and other cities in north central New York during the first two we ... Jump to full article >>

A federal judge’s ruling could draw Yakama tribal leaders and state officials back to the table to devise another cigarette tax agreement. At issue is whether state authorities can enforce state cigarette taxes on non-Indian customers who buy from tribal smoke shops on the 1.2 million-acre reservation. A sovereign nation, Yakama tribal members are exempt from state cigarette taxes, and state authorities have long complained that the exemption gives tribal smoke shops an unfair price advantage over non-Indian retailers. But on Monday, U.S. District Court Judge Robert Whaley in Spokane cit ... Jump to full article >>

The Muscogee (Creek) National Council struck down a measure Tuesday that would have allowed the tribe’s principal chief to sign a tobacco compact with the state. Principal Chief A.D. Ellis had expressed doubts about the measure’s passage before the evening meeting, although he said he had hoped that the measure would pass to put an end to five years of struggle between the state and tribe over the issue. Ellis had said before the meeting that the measure should be passed even though it would require that the tribe give up its tobacco wholesale company, a provision that he didn̵ ... Jump to full article >>

New York City has accused several cigarette dealers on a Long Island Indian reservation of secretly defying a court to stop selling untaxed cigarettes to the general public, the New York Post reported. In August, a federal judge ruled that the largest shops on the Poospatuck reservation were to cease the sale of untaxed cigarettes to the general public, calling the sales illegal. All shops agreed to abide by the ruling, but on Wednesday, lawyers for the city filed a motion in federal court alleging that three dealers still were conducting business through newly formed cigarette stores not cove ... Jump to full article >>

Some years ago, in the heyday of cigarette smuggling, I found myself in a speedboat bouncing on the St. Lawrence River at 65 mph, heading to the Akwesasne Indian reserve that straddles the Canada-U.S. border. Behind the wheel was a young French Canadian named Pierre, who described himself as a mid-size player in a billion dollar game. He smuggled 275 cases of cigarettes a week, each case filled with 50 cartons of smokes. In six months, he had made $100,000. (Note: Money in this story is in Canadian dollars.) He set up our first meeting in a raunchy strip bar in Sainte Barbe, a small Quebec tow ... Jump to full article >>

Senate committee passes PACT Act to extinguish Indian mail order tobacco trade. A Senate committee has approved a proposed bill that the Seneca Nation says would significantly impact its tobacco-based economy, its citizens, employees, and the financial well-being of western New York state. The Senate Judiciary Committee passed the Prevent All Cigarette Trafficking Act – PACT – Nov. 19. No date has been set for a full Senate vote, but if passed the PACT Act would prohibit the U.S. Postal Service from delivering cigarettes and certain other tobacco products, effectively putting Indian-owned ... Jump to full article >>

Seneca Nation President Barry E. Snyder said today that Senate Judiciary Committee members have overreacted by approving S. 1147, the Prevent All Cigarette Trafficking Act (PACT Act). If the PACT Act becomes law, there will be significant economic harm to the Seneca Nation, its members, member enterprises and the Western New York Economy. “At a time of record unemployment in Western New York, Phillip Morris and the Senate Judiciary Committee, acting as this holiday’s Grinch, voted to steal 1,000 jobs from our Nation and the Western New York community,” said Snyder. “And ... Jump to full article >>

RCMP Sgt. Michael Harvey patrols the shores of the St. Lawrence River, near Cornwall, looking for smugglers. One in two cigarettes smoked in Ontario is illegal, robbing provincial and federal coffers of more than $2 billion a year and raising concerns about children gaining easy access to tobacco. “There’s absolutely no doubt that there’s an incredible amount of revenue lost both in the province of Ontario and Quebec and to the federal government as well,” provincial Community Safety Minister Rick Bartolucci said in an interview. A study for the Canadian Tobacco Manufac ... Jump to full article >>

Ottawa shelved plans in early ’90s to invade several Mohawk reserves The black market cross-country tobacco trade has created an underground economy Canadian authorities fear could be used to finance overseas terrorism, internal RCMP intelligence documents obtained by Canwest News Service show. The materials also indicate RCMP intelligence predicted the expansion of the underground tobacco trade shortly after the federal government shelved plans in the early 1990s to invade several Mohawk reserves. The government chose instead to lower tobacco taxes to undercut the financial incentive fo ... Jump to full article >>