Read Their Lips: No Taxes/New York
MASTIC, N.Y. — Call it tax avoidance — and call it completely legal.
"So for now the nations sell legally from their shops, over the phone and via the Internet. Their advertisements, heavily peppered with exclamation points, read, "Stop paying those high retail prices and start saving with Indiansmokesonline!" and "Make Senecasmokes your choice for discount cigarettes, you'll be glad you did!"
"When asked how many cartons of cigarettes he sells per month, Chief Wallace, a stocky man wearing two braids, denim shorts and flip-flops, responded, "It's none of your business."
"So one could explore the economics this way: A reporter watched seven cartons of cigarettes being sold inside Chief Wallace's shop in five minutes one day in June. Erring on the side of caution, then, one could assume 50 cartons are sold an hour. The shop is open 13.5 hours a day every day, which translates to 675 cartons a day, 4,725 cartons per week, or 18,900 per month. (And that does not include phone and Internet orders.) At an average price of $27.50 per carton, Chief Wallace would take in about $520,000."
"Chief Wallace shrugged and lighted another cigarette. "If they're so bad, make them illegal," he said. "In the meantime, leave me alone."
MY kind of CHIEF!!!