Mayor Bloomberg thinks Gov. Pater son should don a cowboy hat and play sheriff — if that’s what it takes to collect cigarette taxes from Indian reservations.
Hey, whatever works.
Actually, any action would be progress.
“Get yourself a cowboy hat and a shotgun,” Mayor Mike on Friday said he’s told the gov. “If there’s ever a great video, it’s you standing in the middle of the New York State Thruway, saying, you know, ‘Read my lips — the law of the land is this, and we’re going to enforce the law!’ ”
Hizzoner was referring to the violence that tribes have long threatened if any serious attempt is made to collect the tax.
In 1997, for instance, they forced state troopers to back off and even climbed atop a police cruiser in defiance. Since then, no governor has been willing to stand up to the tribes. Which makes it hard to reap expected cig-tax revenues.
Take June’s tobacco-tax hike — $1.60 a pack that became effective July 1.
At the time, we called the hike a sham that promised to gin up an extra $260 million in phantom revenue.
Seems we were right: Tax revenue for July, based on sales, was likely about $124 million, just $6 million more than last year despite the 58 percent tax jump. Over a year, that’s only $72 million in extra revenue, far below the planned $260 million.
Why the shortfall? Because sales plunged — by as much as a third. The state sold only 28.7 million tax stamps in July, versus 43.1 million a year ago.
Nor is it that folks have quit smoking: Store owners say sales dipped as much as 35 percent — but 45 percent near lower-tax states, like Pennsylvania and Vermont, and Indian reservations.
Smokers, it seems, are finding alternative sources for buying cigarettes.
Tiffany Hicks of Smokers Choice in Matamoras, Pa. — where a pack is only $5.93, compared to as much as $11.60 in New York — told The Post: “Sales tripled from June to July. There are no Pennsylvania plates in the parking lot.”
Meanwhile, the state says it will start enforcing the tax on reservations Sept. 1.
We’d sure love to see Sheriff Paterson in a 10-gallon Stetson on the Thruway.
More likely, though, he’ll be riding off into the sunset before New Yorkers see any of that cig-tax dough.