Tensions rise as NY Indian leaders fight tax on reservations' cigarette sales to non-Indians
Jump to full article: Associated Press (AP), 2010-09-06
Author: CAROLYN THOMPSON Associated Press Writer
Intro: As New York Indian Nation leaders battle in courtrooms to preserve their tax-free cigarette market, tensions are rising on reservations, where the state's renewed efforts to tax sales to non-Native customers is viewed as yet another attack on Native American rights.
"For 200 years, we have been dealing with efforts to take our land, efforts to take our resources, efforts to take our jurisdiction," said Robert Odawi Porter, senior policy adviser and counsel for the 7,800-member Seneca nation in western New York, which says its cigarette business is a $100 million-a-year industry.
Trustee Lance Gumbs from Long Island's Shinnecock tribe called the tax "just another extension of ... the genocidal tactics of New York state."
"Every tribe is committed to fight this issue," said Gumbs at his smoke shop in Southampton.
Nine New York tribes are in the cigarette business. The $4.35 sales tax would force them to raise their prices and blunt their competitive edge over off-reservation sellers. Tribal leaders say the income loss would devastate economies.
A rally last week alongside the New York state Thruway where it bisects the Senecas' Cattaraugus reservation was organized as a peaceful "people's rally." But there were reminders of 1997 chaos that erupted the last time the state tried to tax reservation sales.
Protesters then lit tire fires and shut down a 30-mile stretch of the thoroughfare near the Pennsylvania line. More than 150 state troopers swarmed the area in response.
"If you're saying that we can't benefit from your people coming into our territories and helping to build up our economies as well as yours, then we don't want your trucks to come through our territories and benefit your economy," Seneca Ross John said at the Thruway's edge over the rush of traffic last week.
Jump to full article » |