Jump to full article: Tulsa World, 2008-05-14
Author: CLIFTON ADCOCK World Staff Writer
Intro: The Cherokee Nation Tribal Council passed a measure this week that would remove the tribe’s tax from cigarette carton sales.
The act, passed unanimously at Monday evening’s regular meeting, suspends the 50-cents-per carton tax the tribe takes in on cigarettes sold by smoke shops that are outside the state’s exception rate zones.
The measure contains a provision that would reinstate the tax if the tribe enters into a new compact with the state or if the terms of the current compact are renegotiated, said the act’s sponsor, Bill John Baker. The move is estimated to cost the tribe about $700,000 per year.
Baker said the measure is an attempt to help tribally licensed smoke-shop owners, who have said their businesses have been hurt since an arbitration panel ruled in March that most smoke shops could not sell low-tax cigarettes.
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