The bulk of Wilson Farm stores in western NY state are in relatively close proximity to Native retailers. Tax free (state tax) smokes & gasoline has made it worth the extra miles for more & more people. And everyone knows someone who makes the trip to the reservation. It's not at all uncommon to see a reservation customer walk out with 20-30 cartons of smokes - 4 or 5 different brands - for themselves and 3 or 4 of their friends. It's hard for me to sympathize too much with Wilson Farms (the Company, as opposed to their employees). If their business model is built this heavily around cigarette sales plus the associated impulse buys, then their model needs revision. Their true complaint is about lobbying & other political expenses that haven't paid off because of Albany's inability to collect reservation taxes and even up pricing... lose-lose for Wilson Farms.
As far as Albany stating truth about budgeting, tax revenues, & state economics - it just isn't possible. Sad, but true.
and... just an aside... the reservation stores are selling PV's. Crappy ones, but PV's none the less. They're naturally after the profits & the best of both worlds... Pretty soon they'll be handling
juice reselling as well...
