VERONA, N.Y. - Philip Morris has launched an advertising campaign asking New York to collect cigarette taxes from Native American stores, Indian Country Today reports. The tobacco company took out full-page ads in newspapers in Albany, Buffalo, Syracuse and other north central New York cities during the first part of April.

The ads, which state "Albany Lets Billions Slip through Its Fingers. Tax Dollars We Need for Vital Services Go Uncollected," are designed to pressure the state to start collecting cigarette taxes from Indian reservation tobacco sales. "The state loses revenue. Retailers lose sales. Their employees could even lose jobs. And it adds to the burden on hardworking taxpayers," the ad reads.

However, Native American officials and business leaders believe the ads are part of an effort to make the tribes collect state taxes. "There is nothing altruistic about Philip Morris," said James Ransom, one of the chiefs of the St. Regis Mohawk Tribe. "Their primary mission is to sell cigarettes and eliminate the competition. They will do whatever they have to do to do that and they know that tribes are the competition. They have little respect for the sovereignty of tribes because we represent a threat to their bottom line."

Along with the ad is a Web site, which is run by Altria Client Services and the New York Association of Convenience Stores.

The ads and Web site are part of a long-running battle with Indian nations over cigarette taxes. New York state claims millions of dollars has been lost because tribes do not collect cigarette taxes, while the nations dispute that they should even collect such taxes.