I agree with Choda about the rez. I have lived less than 1 mile from the rez for 20 years. They have all these newly paved roads, buildings, electrical wires, plumbing blah blah…and who paid for it…not the indians. I know this for a fact because when they paved my road a few years ago they also paved the entire 4 miles of it that runs threw the rez. When I was a kid I would constantly get harassed and beat up by the indians because they had better shoes/cloths than me…even though they are “poor”, so I feel no remorse for them. Yeah I believe they are that poor when they are rockin brand new designer cloths and shoes and wearing gold jewelry, and their parents are driving them to school in their brand new cars, and this was BEFORE all these smoke shops and shit were everywhere. Although I don’t hate all indians… I strongly dislike many of them. by the same token I know some I trust my life with.
Dawn, you are such a toolbox its rediculous. What you fail to relaize is nobody is forcing them to live on the rez and be “poor”. They can move off the rez and live just like any other person if they want to. Many indians have more money than white people simply because they work off the rez and don’t have to pay the taxes we do…I have seen this first hand.
I dont have a problem with native americans. At all. But the rez provides an archaic institution which gives native americans negative connotations. It seems that reservations hold back the potential of many. Power is held in the hands of a few, and that is not right
I still believe that dawn is retarded. From my vantage point I can see equal opportunities presented to all. Nat. Am. kids go to the same schools everyone else does, so there is equal opportunity for success there.
WHEN WAS THIS? Did it happen tonight? Nothing on the news about it.
This is really getting interesting, because the department of taxation sent a letter to the cigarette wholesale places saying, “Don’t worry, you can ignore the law”. That alone has to be some kind of political record. A government agency, putting something IN WRITING, that says flat out “Yes, this is a law, but you can ignore it”. Spitzer of course countered with “The letter doesn’t mean anything, I’m the attorney general, so any law that is on the books is my right to prosecute”. So obviously he isn’t prepared to give up because of the letter.
As I see it, worse case they continue to fight until Pataki leaves office. At that point I fully expect Spitzer to do what ever he needs to start collecting that tax.
The fact that you think NY has too many taxes has nothing to do with this. I agree, they do, but it has nothing to do with this discussion.
This is not a “new” tax. It’s a case of someone in NYS government finally having the balls to enforce a LEGAL, EXISTING TAX on the indians. If they start fires on the 90 again you send in any amount of force needed to clear them out and open the road. You don’t back down from enforcing a law because of the threat of protests against it. It’s a law, it’s on the books, you enforce it until the will of the people elect officials to remove it from the books.
The fact that you think NY has too many taxes has nothing to do with this. I agree, they do, but it has nothing to do with this discussion.
This is not a “new” tax. It’s a case of someone in NYS government finally having the balls to enforce a LEGAL, EXISTING TAX on the indians. If they start fires on the 90 again you send in any amount of force needed to clear them out and open the road. You don’t back down from enforcing a law because of the threat of protests against it. It’s a law, it’s on the books, you enforce it until the will of the people elect officials to remove it from the books.
pretty much lol. outside of the really bad car accedents that kill like 5+ people or amonia leak from Perry’s…we dont see shit of the new round these parts ah reckon.
Sorry to disappoint you but i didn’t go out to get drunk. My office closed early for st. patty’s day and i went out for a few drinks with co-workers. And yes i am on the path to success and enjoying the ride. So you can keep making assumptions about me all you want since everyone else here knows you’re completely full of shit.
No resident of the reservation will pay the tax, just people who don’t live there who go there to buy cigarettes. No different than if you went to that other neighboring “sovereign nation”, Canada, and bought goods there to bring back to the US. There is nothing new about the taxes they are trying to collect, Spitzer is just the first to actually have the balls to attempt collecting them.
So, now that it appears the shipments are flowing again, what do you think Spitzer will do next?
Roadblock.
Take the wholesalers to court.
Put the battle on hold, but make it a big part of his campaign for governor.
Give up.
I think 2 and 3. I don’t think he has the power to put up a roadblock, that would have to come from Pataki.
Eliot Spitzer, who is a candidate for Governor this year, is threatening legal action against wholesalers who do not charge sales tax when selling to smoke shops on Native American reservations and territories.
could of fooled me… sounds like NYS nickle and dimeing to me.
So the Indians ARE getting taxed… I mean, it’s not like ONLY white people or ONLY Indians are getting the smokes, so how are they to know who should be getting taxed?
annnnnd, is it even elliot spitzers responsibility to go about this? doesnt seem like it should be
I dont know… defend it as much as you like, but I’m not buying it. Same old BS… different issue
edit: maybe they SHOULD support online cigarette sales… then they could have their precious cigarette taxes (higher than any other state I’ve ever been in BTW) because there would be a paper trail… but that would make too much sense :roll:
Enrolled tribal members purchasing cigarettes on Indian reservations are exempt from a New York cigarette tax, but non Indians making such purchases are not.
Basically the smoke shops have to keep track of the small percentage of sales they make to indians. On those sales they get the pre-paid tax back. I’m sure they went this route because if they relied on the indians to keep track of the sales to non-indians I’m sure the totals would be 0 every month :roll:
He’s the top lawyer in the state. He can decide to go after anyone based on any law on the books, so yeah, it’s well within his official responsibility to go after a cigarette wholesaler who ignores the taxation law that is on the books.