"Addressing the National Conference of State Legislatures in New Orleans last week, Mayor Bloomberg cut right to the chase.

New York, he noted, is suffering a serious case of the shorts, due largely to a weakening national economy and a serious Wall Street downturn - while a big pot of money that could provide some relief is being left on the table.

That would be the uncollected taxes on cigarettes sold on Indian reservations.

Thanks to the fundamental cowardice of Govs. George Pataki and Eliot Spitzer (Gov. Paterson is showing yellow, too, but he's new on the job), New York declined to enforce a state law mandating the collection of taxes on all tobacco products sold to non-tribe members.

As a result, some 300 million packs a year of untaxed cigarettes are moved on New York Indian reservations.

Over the years, Albany has foregone hundreds of millions of dollars in wholly legitimate tax revenue. "

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Editorial: MIKE'S ON THE MONEY (The New York Post 7/28)