The state's plan to collect taxes from cigarettes sold on native land to non-Indians has the Seneca Indian Nation looking into a new way to make money. They want to collect tolls on the part of the thruway that runs through their land out in western New York. It's something that's touching a nerve along the Thruway.
"I don't believe they should be allowed to do that," says Bob Calabria of Syracuse.
What the Senecas are trying to do is a response to the Governor's plan to collect taxes on cigarettes sold to non Native Americans. That law, to help close a major state budget gap, would most likely force Indian retailers to raise their prices and put them more in line with non-Indian competitors.
Seneca Nation President, Barry Snyder Sr., says he is just trying to protect his people and employees. He is laying out plans which include charging $2 for every car that drives the thruway. In 2007, the Senecas went back on an agreement with the state that allowed New Yorkers to use that stretch of Thruway for free. Each month, the Senecas have, unsuccessfully, billed the state $1 per car.
"We are a sovereign nation, we have certain rights under our treaty and we are exercising all those rights...and we expect them to honor our treaties," Snyder Sr. said.
Marissa Shorenstein, a spokesperson for Governor Paterson says, "The tax collection issue is one of several issues that the governor would like to address as he moves forward to negotiate, in good faith, with all of the Indian nations."
The Seneca president has been authorized to spend a million dollars for emergency response personnel, and to ask for federal troops to protect the Senecas against any potential action by the state. In 1997, the Senecas clashed with state police after they set tire fires that shut down a stretch of the Thruway. A scenario everyone is hoping to avoid again.
