TV Ad Voices Convenience Store Industry’s
Frustration Over Tax Fairness Issue Inaction

    ALBANY NY – Convenience store operators are taking to the airwaves to voice their frustration with Governor Eliot Spitzer’s inaction on the tax fairness issue.
    A 60-second TV commercial will begin airing in Syracuse, Albany, Buffalo and possibly other markets on July 5, 2007, demanding that Governor Eliot Spitzer begin enforcing the existing state law requiring collection of taxes on cigarettes and motor fuel sold by Native American stores to non-Native American New Yorkers.
    The ads are paid for by the New York Association of Convenience Stores, which has waged a 15-year-long battle to compel the State of New York to level the playing field between Indian and non-Indian retailers by exerting its right under a U.S. Supreme Court ruling to collect the taxes.
    Failure by the Pataki and Spitzer administrations to enforce the March 1, 2006 state law requiring collection of these taxes gives Native American retailers around the state a price advantage of as much as $30 per carton of cigarettes, a savings that lures tens of thousands of New York smokers away from tax-collecting convenience stores.
    “Governor Spitzer promised that on Day One, everything would change,” said James Calvin, NYACS President. “But on the tax collection issue, nothing has. Our members think six months has been long enough to wait for Day One to arrive.”
    The TV commercial points out that Governor Spitzer repeatedly said the taxes should be collected, that he intends to do so, and that he included $200 million in new revenue in this year’s state budget from those taxes. Yet the tax-evasion epidemic continues unabated, depriving non-Indian stores of their right to compete fairly for retail trade.
    “NYACS takes no joy in criticizing the Governor in this manner, in fact we are saddened and disappointed,” said Calvin. “As Attorney General, Eliot Spitzer was a champion of tax fairness, and as a gubernatorial candidate he vowed to resolve this issue. As Governor, however, his initial tough talk about enforcement detoured onto a questionable path of negotiating a split in tax revenue with the Native American tribes, which has yet to materialize.”
    The TV commercial asks viewers to visit a web site to send a message urging Governor Spitzer to start enforcing the tax collection law. Click here to visit that web site and send your message.
    Estimated cost of the three-week ad run on a limited number of stations is $27,000. “Since we don’t operate multimillion-dollar casinos like our Native American competitors, and because so many of our customers have deserted our stores for the tax-free side of the street, we don’t have a lot of money for a huge media campaign,” said Calvin. “But we felt it was important to speak up for hard-working, tax-collecting store operators who continue to suffer the ill effects of state-sanctioned tax evasion.”