68
Opinion of the Court
York's cigarette tax enforcement scheme went into effect, they filed separate suits in the Supreme Court in Albany County alleging that the regulations were pre-empted by the federal Indian Trader Statutes, 25 U. S. C. § 261 et seq. The trial court agreed and issued an injunction. After the Appellate Division affirmed, Milhelm Attea & Bros., Inc. v. Dept. of Taxation and Finance of New York, 164 App. Div. 2d 300, 564 N. Y. S. 2d 491 (1990), and the New York Court of Appeals denied review, we granted certiorari, vacated the judgment of the Appellate Division, and remanded for further consideration in the light of our decision in Oklahoma Tax Comm'n v. Citizen Band of Potawatomi Tribe of Okla., 498 U. S. 505 (1991). 502 U. S. 1053 (1992). On remand, the Appellate Division upheld the regulations, 181 App. Div. 2d 210, 585 N. Y. S. 2d 847 (1992), but the Court of Appeals reversed, 81 N. Y. 2d 417, 615 N. E. 2d 994 (1993).
The Court of Appeals distinguished our decisions holding that a State may require Indian retailers to collect a tax imposed on non-Indian purchasers of cigarettes, see Moe v. Confederated Salish and Kootenai Tribes of Flathead Reservation, 425 U. S. 463 (1976); Washington v. Confederated Tribes of Colville Reservation, 447 U. S. 134 (1980), on the ground that those cases involved the regulation of sales to non-Indian consumers. 81 N. Y. 2d, at 425, 615 N. E. 2d, at 997. In the Court of Appeals' view, this case was significantly different because New York's regulations apply to sales by non-Indian wholesalers to reservation Indians. Ibid. The court concluded that the Indian Trader Statutes, as construed in Warren Trading Post Co. v. Arizona Tax Comm'n, 380 U. S. 685 (1965), deprived the States of all power to impose regulatory burdens on licensed Indian traders. 81 N. Y. 2d, at 426-427, 615 N. E. 2d, at 997-998. Even if States could impose minimal burdens on Indian traders, the Court of Appeals alternatively held, New York's regulations are nevertheless invalid because they "impose signifi-cant burdens on the wholesaler." Id., at 427, 615 N. E. 2d,
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