So 40 Million is already added to the budget, talk about spending money you don’t have. That is todays society too, everything is financed and the payoff balance is huge and as far as NY’s finances, our debt is beyond our comprehension. Yet they continue to spend money we don’t have and hope to collect it.

I am on the Seneca’s side on this tax issue.

Seneca Ads To Target Spitzer, Legislature

Buffalo, NY (WBEN) - The Seneca Nation of Indians is planning an advocacy ad campaign to increase the pressure on state officials, as they enter talks on sovereignty, taxation and land issues.

The nation is expected to unveil a campaign later this week that will include specific messages in Albany, aimed at the legislature and Governor Eliot Spitzer.

The exact wording or content of the pending ad campaign is not being made public, until Thursday when messages are expected to be broadcast and printed in the Albany area, said Maurice John, Seneca Nation President.

“We’re (also) going to send some Seneca people to Albany to send a message to the legislature and the executive department. We do care about the Seneca Nation and sovereignty and treaty rights involved, ” John said .

Spitzer, in recent weeks, has agreed to talk with the nation on taxation issues. The state has budgeted for over $40 million to come from sales taxes that currently are not collected when non-Indians buy cigarettes or gasoline on reservation land.

Last week, in a move the nation says is unrelated and overdue, the Nation raised a possible land claim issue, by rescinding the state’s right of way that allows the New York State Thruway to traverse reservation land in southern Erie County.

In a related note, The Buffalo News is reporting that legislators have begun discussing a bill that would share some of the state’s sales tax revenue with the Nation, if it is collected by the Indian’s on the state’s behalf.

The Seneca’s have traditionally rejected the concept of collecting taxes for New York State, saying it conflicts with their sovereign status.