WASHINGTON, D.C. (WKBW) -- The PACT Act unanimously passed in the U.S. Senate late Thursday night, to the pleasure of the American Cancer Society.
The goal of the act is to eliminate the illegal sales of tax-free cigarettes and tobacco through the Internet and U.S. mail.
The Seneca Nation disagrees, claiming the act only serves to protect big tobacco company's market share, and will cost more than 1,000 native and non-native tobacco industry jobs in Western New York.
“The PACT Act is being portrayed as a tool to fight cigarette smuggling. In reality, it is about big tobacco protecting market share. This action will result in the death of legitimate, treaty-sanctioned Native American commerce, causing significant economic harm," Seneca Nation President Barry E. Snyder Sr. said.
The American Cancer Society claims that when excise taxes are collected on all tobacco product sales, as many as 100,000 New Yorkers will quit smoking, and thousands more will never start.
The Seneca Nation estimates that enforcement of the PACT Act could result in up to a 65 percent loss in Import/Export revenue, which it uses to fund health and education programs.
Read both press releases from the Seneca Nation of Indians and from the American Cancer Society under the 'Related Content' tab.
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