A Republican lawmaker is accusing New York tribes of not paying their "fair share in taxes!" in a flier being distributed to voters.

Assemblyman David Townsend claims tribes are cheating the state out of "tens of millions of dollars" in tobacco, fuel and other taxes. But the state Department of Taxation and Finance said it's actually up to individual taxpayers to report purchases on reservations.

Townsend also cites a report from the House Committee on Homeland Security that links "illegal cigarette sales to international terrorism." But the flier misquotes a news story about the report and doesn't mention that the report wasn't endorsed by full committee.

“Mentioning ‘facts’ about illegal cigarette sales and terrorists when he knows they have nothing to do with the Oneidas’ operation is crummy,” a spokesperson for the Oneida Nation said. “Lambasting the Oneidas for not collecting taxes at their stations from the hardworking people who buy gas there hoping to save money where they can is heartless.”

Get the Story:
Ad Watch: Townsend's flier on Indians (The Utica Observer-Dispatch 8/11)
Will State Collect Cigarette Tax From Senecas? (WGRZ 8/10)
Legislature moves to collect taxes on reservation cigarette sales (The Buffalo News 8/9)