Posted on 10/07/2010 6:55:00 PM PDT by Drango
For the second time this week Cayuga County lost a major court decision in its cigarette tax dispute with the Cayuga Indian Nation.
In county court today, Judge Mark H. Fandrich dismissed indictments against the Cayugas and ordered county District Attorney Jon Budelmann to return to the Cayugas some 7,600 cartons of cigarettes and business records seized in a December 2008 tax raid from the nation’s LakeSide Trading store in Union Springs. 55Share 8 Comments
Fandrich’s ruling follows a related decision by the state Court of Appeals in May.
“It’s not up to me to determine if the Court of Appeals is wrong … I don’t have that authority,’’ Fandrich said.
On Monday, the U.S. Supreme Court refused to hear the county’s request to overturn the ruling by the state’s highest court.
The three rulings effectively end the county’s attempt to stop the Cayugas from selling tax-free cigarettes and from prosecuting them on tax-evasion charges. Budelmann said he was disappointed in Fandrich’s ruling and was critical of the recent court decisions that went against the county.
“All the courts are saying, ‘We’re not going to follow the law, we’re going to make up new laws,’’’ Budelmann said after the hearing.
In a companion case, the Seneca County district attorney was ordered in June to dismiss indictments against the Cayugas and to return more than 12,500 cartons of cigarettes and business records confiscated in a 2008 tax raid at the nation’s Seneca Falls store. The county complied with the judicial order in July.
Shortly after Fandrich ruled, Lee Alcott, a Syracuse lawyer representing the Cayugas, said nation leaders would be “pleased and relieved by the court’s decision.’’
In his argument before Fandrich, Alcott said the state Court of Appeals ruling made it clear that the Cayugas cannot be prosecuted for possessing or selling tax-free cigarettes to non-Indians.
“The point is, judge, it’s over,’’ Alcott said.
Budelmann, in his argument, said he wanted a new opportunity to try to prove that the Cayugas are selling cigarettes wholesale at their store, an allegation denied by Alcott. The nation sells one million packs of cigarettes a week, Budelmann said.
“He’s saying there’s no wholesaling going on, I’m saying there is,’’ Budelmann said.
However, Fandrich agreed with Alcott that the prosecutor waited too long to try to change the focus of his prosecution in the case. Until July Budelmann said he was trying to bring charges against the Cayugas for possessing unstamped cigarettes that are sold to non-Indians.
Fandrich said it is up to the state to implement a system for collecting taxes on cigarette sales at the nation’s stores. Until a system is enacted the Cayugas will continue to hold an unfair competitive edge over neighboring businesses that have to remit the tax to the state and charge higher prices for their cigarettes, Fandrich said.
After Fandrich ruled, Budelmann tried one more time to persuade the judge to let him try to prosecute the Cayugas on the new wholesale allegations.
“I understand your argument but my decision stands,’’ Fandrich said.
If they are stale, and thus unsalable, I would think that the owners could demand compensation.
Otherwise, it'd be white traders trying to slip around the Indian authorities to sell untaxed cigarettes!
The real “wrong” in all this in the first place, is the tax itself. Tax it like everything else you buy and the playing field will be equal again....not 500%
Paladino the Tea Party candidate want’s to tax the indians for sales to non indians.
Could they cross the line into Canada and demand to be paid a tax from sales there?
I don't know if people who buy cigarettes in Canada have to pay a duty on them to bring them into the states but Canadian businesses would not be liable to collect sales tax for the U.S.
The Cayuga's are part of the Haudenosaunee (Iroquois) Confederacy - a SOVEREIGN NATION, partly inside the state of NY.
“The Six Nations” consists of the Cayugas, the Senecas, the Onadagas, the Mohawks, the Oneidas and the Tuscaroras -
and is Oldest Living Participatory Democracy on Earth.
They are recognized as a Sovereign Nation and travel the world on their own Haudenosaunee passports. Non Native Americans who live within their borders pay property taxes, not to NY state, but to the Six Nations - happily, as it's much less than if they paid NY taxes.
But ever hungry after dollar they can squeeze from any source, the state of NY continues, decades after decade, to spend countless thousands of dollars suing a sovereign nation for something they have no claim to.
But then, NY state has been run by Socialists for ‘decade after decade.’
Sovereign nations? Sure....True sovereign nations don’t suck off the welfare teat of another nation. Indians are more like sovereign nations lite.
They assert their sovereign status while collecting millions in welfare. One has to stop.
They are are fake sovereign nations. Liberal guilt gave them these outrageous casino monopolies in many states. Indian “nations” are sovereign when it suits them .....
Then get zillions from Federal welfare programs when it suits them.
I’ll say it again...Get rid of the absurd tax on the cigarettes and problem solved.
Tobacco has always been taxed. For decades the original sources of revenue for our Federal Government was tariffs, plus alcohol & tobacco taxes. I would just tax the shyte out of these fake sovereign nations when it comes to their casinos and tobacco sales. Where I live the Indian casinos are minimally taxed compared to the racetracks while are allowed to offer some gambling but as wide an array as the Indian casinos.
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