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Law enforcement officers were on alert for potential protests on the Seneca Indian Nation's two western New York reservations, the site of past, sometimes violent, clashes over taxation issues.More than half of the approximately 200 New York-based Web sites offering cut-rate cigarettes for sale are run by Indian businessmen.

In April 1997, demonstrators burned tires to close roads and skirmished with state troopers to protest the state's attempt to collect taxes on reservation tobacco and gasoline sales. The Pataki administration later quietly abandoned the tax collection attempt."We would far rather have this settled in the courts," said Seneca Larry Ballagh, owner of Traveling Smoke. But he and others did not rule out other means of expressing their opposition."We are a nation being attacked by another nation," he said, "and like all nations being attacked, we will respond accordingly."Indian tribes argue they are sovereign nations and immune from state tax laws.State Police Lt. Glenn Miner said there had been no incidents on the reservations as of Wednesday afternoon.

The 2000 legislation _ which has never been enforced because of legal challenges _ prohibits private trucking companies from delivering Internet and mail-order shipments of cigarettes to consumers. The law does not prevent vendors from using the U.S. Postal Service for cigarette deliveries, a loophole some businesses were taking advantage of, Davoudi said.Tom Bergin, spokesman for the state Taxation and Finance Department, said the first day of enforcement was uneventful."Reasonable people will comply with the law," he said.

All of you who believe it's OK to avoid paying taxes of this kind because you judge them to be unfair can go get in line with the corporate bigwigs and bean counters who believe the rules are meant for others.The GAO report says that a violation of the Jenkins Act is only a misdemeanor that carries a maximum $1,000 fine and six months in the can. Near as the GAO can tell, no one has been fined or jailed.
State officials highly recommend making Jenkins violations a felony.