Untaxed cigarettes cause $2 billion loss

There is no need to lay off teachers or firefighters or to close fire houses, as proposed earlier by New York's city council in order to save revenue.

The answer lies simply within the lawful collection of tax on 40 million cartons of untaxed cigarettes sole by Indian Reservations, internet, and other illegal sources, which equates to $2 billion dollars in lost revenue per year.

An Erie County Supreme Court Justice ruled in favor of New York State on Friday, against the Seneca Nation, allowing New York to finally begin collecting this revenue. A revenue generation of over $2 billion a year is expected with the application of this rule.

Under last year's state budget, tax payers were hit hard with $8.5 billion in tax and fee hikes. It is ludicrous to administer more taxes to close the deficit while valuable revenue that could be generated by upholding the law said Gerstman, co founder of Gotham Government Relations and Communications and strong advocate for collecting the revenue that is due to the people of the State of New York.

I firmly believe that the $2.1 billion dollar deficit will now begin to dissipate with the enforcement of these established tax collection laws he added.

I applaud the ruling by Justice Siwek and urge New York State to immediately begin collecting this long overdue revenue says Schwartz, co-founder of Gotham Government Relations and Communications. Once this law begins to be enforced, New York State will be able to collect revenues that would cut the deficit in half, saving small businesses, he said.