City Investigates Illegal Tobacco Sales On L.I. Reservation
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Mayor Michael Bloomberg says a Native American tribe on Long Island is blatantly breaking state tax laws on tobacco.
The mayor's office released a video Thursday showing dealers on the Poospatuck reservation selling dozens of cartons of cigarettes to undercover agents who specifically told them they would resell the packs in the city.
The transactions violate a ruling banning tribes from selling untaxed cigarettes to anyone but tribe members for their own personal use.
Officials say the reservation's shops have sold more than four million cartons so far this year, averaging 500 packs a day per resident.
The mayor says it all amounts to an estimated loss of a billion dollars in tax revenue annually.
"When you read about the City saying we can't afford a workforce this size - this is one of the reasons we can't afford it," Bloomberg said.
Native American leaders denounced the violations saying it supports all laws, but also said in a statement, "We know this edited YouTube presentation is part of an ongoing media campaign directed solely against us...to attempt to legislatively terminate our sovereignty."