On December 14, Governor David Paterson signed into law a bill which holds wholesalers responsible for making sure there is a tax on cigarettes sold in Indian nation stores. But an attorney representing a tobacco wholesaler and a tobacco seller asked for the temporary restraining order because the New York Department of Taxation & Finance had not set up all necessary [image-nocss] rules, the report said.
Those rules include an exemption for Indians from having to pay taxes on cigarettes purchased on Indian nations' territories.
The law was to go into effect 60 days after Paterson signed it. A State Supreme Court hearing is scheduled for January 27 in Buffalo to address the law and the issues in the temporary restraining order.
In November, two Cayuga Nation-owned Lake Side Trading convenience stores in Cayuga and Seneca counties were raided by county sheriff's departments on November 25. Millions of untaxed cigarettes were seized. The stores closed their doors.
(Click here for previous CSP Daily News coverage.)
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