The governor is blind.  I’m speaking more metaphorically.  I am speaking specifically about charging tax on cigarettes on Indian reservations.

Wait, before you say anything about how bad smoking is, or anything about honoring treaties, this post is not about that.  This post is about learning from past mistakes.

The reason that NY doesn’t charge sales tax on cigarettes and gasoline on reservations isn’t because of the treaty per se.  It’s because NY has tried twice before in recent years and failed both.  Just by trying to collect the tax, NY wasted MILLIONS of dollars.  Couple that with the budget crisis and we’re in for a bumpy ride.

In 1992 Governor Mario Cuomo put the same plan into effect.  What happened?  Native Americans shutdown highways that went through their territories.  They didn’t put up walls, the put up piles of burning tires.  This made normal 30 minute drives into 3 hour nightmares as reservations had to be bypassed entirely.

In 1996 Governor Pataki tried doing the same thing.  Native Americans responded the same.  The amount of money spent on just State Troopers alone to try to enforce this and keep the peace and roads clear was in the millions of dollars.

Governor Patterson is set to have the same thing happen yet again.  NY Governors don’t seem to care much about history.

So putting all ethics about smoking or charging taxes aside, on a simple financial balance sheet, this will only be in the red.