the ACCIDENTAL governor...
Posted on 12/15/2008 7:36:10 PM PST by neverdem
Gov. David Paterson is expected to sign a bill on Monday that will require wholesalers to collect taxes on all tobacco and petroleum products before they are sold to businesses owned by American Indians, said state Sen. Michael Nozzolio. “This bill will change the law to make it easier for the (state) tax department to collect taxes on products sold at Native American stores,” Nozzolio said. “The only thing worse than taxes is taxes that are imposed unequally and unfairly.”
After being passed by the state Assembly and Senate this past summer, the bill needs the governor's approval before it can take effect.
Under the current system, retailers are required to collect taxes when items are sold to a customer.
While American Indians are not required to collect taxes made on sales with other Indians, they are supposed to collect taxes on transactions with non-Indians.
The signing, which is scheduled to take place at 10 a.m. in Utica, comes a week after state Supreme Court Judge Kenneth Fisher rejected a lawsuit filed by the Cayuga Nation against the sheriffs and district attorneys offices in Cayuga and Seneca counties. The nation said law enforcement violated their sovereignty by raiding their Lake Side Trading stores in Union Springs and Seneca Falls for untaxed cigarettes on Nov. 25.
Several New York state tribes, including the Cayuga Nation, have said their sovereignty exempts them from collecting sales or excise taxes on products sold by their businesses.
Fisher ruled the stores are not on a recognized reservation and that even though the state refused to help with the investigation, local law enforcement officials could still conduct their own felony investigations.
Both district attorneys' offices are planning to go to a grand jury to seek felony tax evasion charges against the tribe and both stores were closed by the nation on Wednesday while the tribe appeals Fisher's decision.
Even though several state and federal Supreme Court decisions allow states to collect taxes on sales made between tribes and non-Native Americans, Nozzolio said former governors Eliot Spitzer and George Pataki failed to enforce the state's tax laws on the region's tribes.
“There have been several jobs driven out of the area as a result of the state's failure to enforce the tax laws equally on Native Americans and non-Native Americans,” Nozzolio said. “This bill will allow the state to collect taxes on tobacco and petroleum before it gets delivered to Native Americans for sales.”
While the bill will only affect tobacco and petroleum, Nozzolio said the state's tax department can inventory a business's records to collect sales tax.
“This will be a tax that's placed on Native Americans and non-Native Americans because everyone should be taxed equally and fairly,” he said.
Staff writer Nate Robson can be reached at 253-5311 ext. 248 or nathan.robson@lee.net
Expect this loophole to be exploited next.
Meanwhile, in a COMPLETELY unrelated case, Elliot Spitzer, accused of multiple felonies, dances free of the net of psycho-government enforcement
"Some are more equal than others."
The tribe should turn in all its ammo at various law enforcement locations in its immediate area...
So much for the old, Native American, sovereign nation gig that the DemocRATS have been pushing for years. The Commie ‘RATS are always going to want their cut.
Well, at least the Indians have the balls to stand up to an opressive state. Last time nEW yORK did that... the Indians shut down the state’s I-90 toll revenue from Erie to Lackawana..... by burning tires accross the interstate. Don’t quote me, but IIRC Pataki received a few death threats too.
the ACCIDENTAL governor...
There are so many things wrong with this...
To win that War the United States allied itself to the Oneida Indians.
At the conclusion of the war the Oneida were treated as valued allies and given protection under the law against New York.
No Indian lands could be sold in New York unless approved by the tribe.
New York immediately declared the Oneida to be white people, booted them off the Indian lands, and then sold everything off to illegal aliens.
After nearly two centuries the Oneida won a decision at the US Supreme Court that said New York could not do that and authorized the Oneida to buy back a serious chunk of New York ~ or simply seize state assets.
Patterson and his cronies continue to object to the lawful rights of the Oneida. They continue to carry water for the Brits.
So, as you can see, it's not about taxes, it's about being an ally of the United States and fighting in its wars. Patterson and his cronies are on the wrong side.
I think the Oneida have the latitude to simply seize the tollroad. Eventually they will have to do that.
Not that all the Iroquois are totally tough guys, but they are, at least compared to the state troopers.
That’s OK, New York. Collect your pittance from the poor Indians. Because when the wealthy and their businesses flee from the liberal mess you have created and Obama will exacerbate, your going to need every pitiful scrap you can glean.
I have relatives in Auburn but haven’t visited the area in many years.
Yes - they are a Sovereign Nation. They even issue and travel on their own internationally recognized passports.
and isn't it illegal, as well, to make a law aimed at just one group of people? If they're going to collect "pre" sales taxes on the Indians, wouldn't they also - to be legal - have to do it to all other businesses in the state? I'd like to see them try that.
In the meantime, it will be interesting to watch what happens next. I was living up in the area when the state last puffed up it's chest against the Indians. They got their heads handed to them in a handbasket. Nincompoops
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