New York state recently started tightening controls on tax-free sales of cigarettes by American Indian retailers, including seizures of counterfeit tobacco products and surveillance of reservation smoke shops. Since late June, the state has seized counterfeit cigarettes with a state and local tax value of more than $1.5 million, and some major tobacco wholesalers have stated that they have stopped supplying tribes with the cigarettes.

The latest initiative by the state to enforce the law and enact more comprehensive tobacco policies has prompted some Native American tribes to increase production of their own cigarette brands, which they claim the state cannot tax. The administration of the state’s governor, Andrew Cuomo, says the state has a legal right to collect the tax on all domestic brands regardless of where they are produced. Obviously, leaders of the tribes disagree, which means there will likely be new legal fights where they dispute the administration’s claims.

A policy dealing with all facets of the tobacco trade still is evolving, state officials told the Buffalo News. "The Department of Taxation and Finance is moving aggressively on a number of different fronts to collect the taxes owed to the state," said Josh Vlasto, a Cuomo spokesman. "Enforcement began after the temporary restraining order was lifted. It is ongoing, and it will continue." Read the article.