Cigarette-maker Philip Morris, supports a New York state Assembly bill that would solve a long battle over collecting taxes on cigarettes sold by Indian reservation stores by making wholesalers pay the levy, a company spokesman said on Thursday.

The Indian tribes would then seek refunds for the taxes paid on any cigarettes that were sold to other Indians, explained David Sutton, a spokesman for Altria Group, which owns Philip Morris.

"But if you or I went as non-Native Americans consumers, the tax on the product would have already been paid on the wholesale level and they would not be entitled to a refund of that tax under this bill because you and I are not tribal members," he explained.

New York's tax revenues have dropped with Wall Street's profits, and the legislature returns next week for a special session to tackle the three-year, $26 billion deficit.

Estimates of how much the state loses by failing to collect the cigarette taxes range from several hundred million dollars a year to as much as $1 billion.