From the NYTs:
Mayor Michael Bloomberg, long a foe of smoking, has taken his opposition to a new territory — the American Indian shops on Long Island that sell cigarettes to non-Indians. By filing a series of federal lawsuits, the mayor is trying to force Gov. David Paterson to collect sales taxes on those cigarettes.
It’s not a welcome subject in New York politics. Former Gov. George Pataki tried collecting cigarette and gas taxes from Indian shops 11 years ago, but he backed away soon after protesters, burning automobile tires, closed Interstate 81 for more than 90 minutes.
States and cities cannot impose taxes on American Indians who buy cigarettes for personal use on sovereign Indian land. But non-Indians are not entitled to a similar break. Mr. Bloomberg has filed suit accusing some cigarette shops on Indian land of selling cigarettes in bulk to bootleggers who then resell them off tribal land. That is illegal in New York State; Mr. Bloomberg is trying to compel Mr. Paterson to enforce the law.
Turtle Talk 