Court Won’t Lift Tax Ban on Seneca Cigarette Sales

(CN) - New York still cannot collect taxes on cigarettes sold by Native American tribes to non-tribe members, the 2nd Circuit ruled.

The state had petitioned to have the ban lifted while the case makes its way through appeals court.

The Seneca Nation of Indians sued the state government on Aug. 10 to challenge the state's new laws that would collect a tax of $4.35 per pack on sales to non-tribe members.

Seneca Nation asked the court to stop the state from "infringing on the Nation's federally-protected right of self-government and from plunging the Nation's well-regulated tobacco economy into chaos."

In rejecting the state's motion against Seneca cigarette sales, the 2nd Circuit also consolidated the similar cases of several Indian tribes, including the Unkechaug, Cayuga, Oneida and St. Regis Mohawk nations.

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