Posted on 10/2/2003, 2:18:37 AM by SheLion
N.Y. Indian Tribes Oppose Proposal to Tax Cigarettes
Nedrow, N.Y. - The state's new proposal to collect taxes on Indian reservations is provoking opposition among the affected tribes.
Onondaga Indian chiefs say if the state tries to collect taxes on cigarettes sold on the tribe's reservation, the Onondagas will build a toolbooth on Interstate 81, which crosses Indian land here just south of Syracuse, and charge a fee.
"If we can build this," Chief Virgil Thomas said, pointing to the nation's state-of-the-art lacrosse and hockey arena, "we can build a toll booth."
The Onondaga Nation will never collect a tax on cigarettes for New York, nation attorney Joe Heath said, but it is willing to negotiate to resolve some of the state's concerns about the regulation of American Indian businesses.
In Maine, state officials are fighting a tax-free smoke shop the Aroostook Band of Micmacs has set up on a tribal land in Presque Isle. The Federal Bureau of Indian Affairs has sided with the Micmacs in the dispute over tribal sovereignty.
Micmac Chief William Phillips said he got the idea of tax-free smoke shops during his 1999 visit to the Oneida Indian Nation in Verona, N.Y. he saw how a rural tribe prospered from tax-free cigarettes and gasoline sales, as well as a casino.
New York state's Tax Department issued new proposed regulations concerning the collection of taxes on Indian nations Sept. 12. But leaders of the six Indian nations that make up the Iroquois Confederacy maintain that treaties with New York bar the state from imposing taxes on Indian land.
Isn't that the truth?
There was a thread posted last year about the tribe in New York. Read Their Lips: No Taxes/New York
They fought hard for this right, which they say has moved their nations from poverty to relative wealth, and have been in and out of court for years over the issue. One main opponent is the New York Association of Convenience Stores, whose members make a lot of money on cigarette sales. Last December, the United States Supreme Court refused to hear a challenge to a lower court decision granting Indian sovereignty in this matter, seemingly exhausting the association's attempts to force the state to collect the tax from Indian nations. The association is now trying to get federal or state legislation passed to ban what it terms the state's "selective enforcement policy," said James Calvin, the president of the association.
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."
At an average price of $27.50 per carton, Chief Wallace would take in about $520,000.
"We sell to a lot of fixed-income people; you know, senior citizens and veterans on Social Security," said Mike General, manager of JR's Smokeshop II in the Seneca Nation. "They're looking to save money wherever they can, and you can't beat our prices."
I've been saying this for months. Take Phillip Morris. I am sure you have seen their TV ad. They are spewing how bad smoking is and how they are working to "curtail" smoking. I get so mad I can put my foot through the TV! If THEY think smoking and tobacco is SO BAD WHY DON'T THEY STOP SELLING CIGARETTES?!
They talk out of both sides of their mouths. I HATE PHILLIP MORRIS. They are selling out the smokers but they sure won't get rid of that BIG revenue from us, will they? They suck!
Thanks, cyborg! Its just more erosion of our rights. I don't think the Indians are going to go down without a fight.
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