State Sen. Michael Nozzolio on Wednesday told Eliot Spitzer's nominee for Tax Commissioner that the state Tax Department needs to enforce the law and begin collecting sales tax on goods sold by Native Americans to non-natives.

Calling the state government “the #1 tax scofflaw in the entire state,” Nozzolio said New York is owed about $250 million from tobacco and gasoline sales by Indian tribes.

Nozzolio pointed out that Spitzer's budget last year included $250 million in these taxes and that this year's budget proposal, released this week, projects $100 million in revenue for the upcoming fiscal year.

A 2006 state law requires the state Tax Department to collect sales taxes on retail goods sold by Native Americans to non-Native Americans, but the Tax Department has yet to enforce the law.

“The New York State Tax Department has become a tax deadbeat because it is not collecting revenue that it is required to from Native American tribes who are enjoying an enormous advantage over every other retailer who is forced to pay taxes,” Nozzolio said in a news release.

“The Tax Department cannot selectively choose which laws it will follow and which taxes it will collect. The law of the state requires them to collect this tax and the people deserve to be served by a tax department that implements the law fairly and without discretion.”