By Dave Lucas
http://stream.publicbroadcasting.net/production/mp3/wamc/local-wamc-968024.mp3
Albany, NY – A federal appeals court on Monday lifted legal stays that had been blocking New York's effort to collect taxes on cigarette sales by Indian-owned businesses to non-Indians. Capital District Bureau Chief Dave Lucas reports.
The United States Court of Appeals for the Second Circuit ruled that the five New York-based Indian nations challenging the state's collection plans had not demonstrated that they were likely to win by arguing that the taxing system unduly burdened reservation retailers and interfered with tribal sovereignty.
Jim Calvin is president of the state Association of Convenience Stores, which has for years criticized the state's failure to tax Native American tobacco sales.
Calvin says that in 1994 the U.S. Supreme Court ruled unanimously that the states are entitled to collect taxes on cigarettes and motor fuels sold by native american enterprises to non-indian citizens.
The last time the state tried to collect the tax, in 1997, protesters lighted tire fires and shut down a 30-mile stretch of the New York Thruway that bisects Seneca land near the Pennsylvania line.
State officials voted last June to begin collecting sales and excise taxes on cigarettes sold to non-Indian customers. Deeming the court's decision a "hard-fought victory," Governor Andrew Cuomo said state taxation authorities will begin "the implementation phase as we move to collect these taxes." Cuomo's office did not return calls for comment.
The decision will impact the tobacco arm of the Seneca Nation of Indian's $1 billion economy. Seneca President Robert Odawi Porter set the tone for the Indian response, telling the Associated Press "The Seneca Nation will not be New York State's tax collector." Several other tribes are also affected by the ruling. Jim Calvin says the tribes no longer have any say in the matter.
Indians who live on reservations retain the right to purchase cigarettes tax-free. A woman who answered the phone at The Seneca Nation said Robert Odawi Porter was not available for further comment.
Lawyers for the Western New York tribe were in State Supreme Court in Buffalo on Tuesday afternoon, seeking an injunction to block the tax.