" Upstate Citizens for Equality's motorcade Saturday to protest the state government's failure to collect sales taxes on products sold by Indian-owned retailers to non-Indians was designed to highlight a major revenue gap in the state's troubled finances.

And while we've heard a wide range over the years for how much money the state loses on such sales annually, even the smallest amount is substantial at a time when budget deficits are now exceeding $1 billion.

The governor's executive budget has pegged the figure at $120 million, which is at the low end of estimates put out there in the past.

And in addition to lost sales taxes, there's the lost business that other retailers sustain because of the unfair competition they must endure. That leads to job cuts and store closings, a further blow to the economy.

At a time when Gov. David Paterson is rightly calling on state agencies and the Legislature to make some difficult spending cuts, he offers no reasonable explanation for failing to address this matter."

Get the Story:
Our View: Sales taxes can no longer be ignored (The Auburn Citizen 10/6)

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