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#976868 --- 02/10/09 01:56 PM
Re: $1 BILLION Owed NY by Tribes
[Re: bluezone]
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Diamond Member
Registered: 12/19/04
Posts: 35885
Loc: USA
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#979649 --- 02/15/09 12:57 PM
Re: $1 BILLION Owed NY by Tribes
[Re: bluezone]
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Diamond Member
Registered: 12/19/04
Posts: 35885
Loc: USA
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State Supreme Court Justice Kenneth R. Fisher promised Friday to issue decisions Monday or Tuesday on two legal disputes between the Cayuga Indian Nation and Seneca and Cayuga counties.
Fisher told lawyers for the Cayugas they had “chutzpah,’’ a Yiddish word meaning “audacity, effrontery or utter nerve,’’ for reopening their two stores and again selling cigarettes.
The first issue argued was whether the counties should be required to return 17,500 cartons of cigarettes seized in a Nov. 25 raid of the tribe’s convenience stores in Seneca Falls and Union Springs.
The Nation took the counties to court, asking that they be required to either return the cigarettes or post a $500,000 bond to cover their losses if they are not returned in a timely manner.
The tribe said it would stipulate or agree on the record that so many cartons were taken from the stores and that they did not contain state tax stamps.
They also asked for the return of seized computers and business records.
Attorney Karl Sleight of the Harris Beach law firm, representing the counties, disagreed.
He said the stipulation offer by the Nation is unacceptable.
Seneca County District Attorney Richard E. Swinehart and Cayuga County District Attorney Jon E. Budelmann each have presented cases to grand juries in their counties and obtained three sealed indictments in connection with the sale of untaxed cigarettes.
The indictments were handed up Dec. 11 but will not be made known or prosecuted until the Cayugas’ appeal is decided this spring.
Fisher also heard arguments on the counties’ claim that the tribe’s reopening of its two convenience stores Jan. 30 and continued selling of untaxed cigarettes to non-Indians is in contempt of Fisher’s Dec. 9 decision or a violation of state tax law.
He told Fisher that in reopening their stores Jan. 30, the Cayugas “flaunted’’ his decision and “snubbed its nose at the court as if the Appellate Court had already reached a decision in their favor.”
Fisher questioned whether the counties’ arguments met the standard for contempt.
Spellane said the pending Appellate Court decision on the Cayugas’ appeal applies only to criminal prosecution.
Alcott said the Nation has received an independent legal opinion that the tribe is within its rights to reopen the stores and sell the cigarettes until the appeal is decided.
He said he understands the frustration of the counties and their district attorneys in not being able to reap the reward of Fisher’s decision in their favor.
“My order said the sale of untaxed cigarettes to non-Indians on these properties violates Section 471-e,’’ Fisher replied. “I realize that the Appellate Court has said they can’t prosecute now, but it takes a lot of chutzpah to open up and sell these cigarettes again.”
Alcott disagreed and said the law says the district attorneys are powerless to stop them.
Swinehart and Budelmann both argued they have the right to enforce county and state laws.
After Fisher issues his rulings next week, either side can appeal.
By DAVID L. SHAW Finger Lakes Times Sunday, February 15, 2009 12:12 AM CST
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#982055 --- 02/20/09 12:11 AM
Re: $1 BILLION Owed NY by Tribes
[Re: SkySoldier]
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Diamond Member
Registered: 12/19/04
Posts: 35885
Loc: USA
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Just for Harley.  PUBLIC INFORMATION MEETING—FEBRUARY 25, 2009 Seneca County and Cayuga County will be holding a public information meeting on the Cayuga Indian Nation’s Land into Trust application. Representatives of the Counties will discuss the status of the application to the Bureau of Indian Affairs (BIA) and the next steps in the application process. Under the federal environment review process, the BIA will release the Draft Environmental Impact Statement (DEIS) for public review and comment. At the meeting we will discuss the Scoping Report issued by the BIA and the impacts that will likely be evaluated in the DEIS and those issues that will not be evaluated. The public will hear how it can most effectively respond to the DEIS during the comment period to assure that the full impacts of the application are identified and evaluated. For background, we urge you to review the Scoping Report found in this website. The report was prepared for the Bureau of Indian Affairs and is guiding the preparation of the DEIS. The meeting will also provide an opportunity for the public to comment on the application and the likely community impacts of placing the lands into trust. These comments will be recorded for the public record. The meeting will be held at 7 pm on Wednesday, February 25 in Student Lounge (Main Building), Franklin Street on the campus of Cayuga Community College in Auburn. Current Public InformationPublic Meeting--February 25
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#983539 --- 02/23/09 11:15 AM
Re: $2 BILLION Owed NY by Tribes
[Re: bluezone]
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Diamond Member
Registered: 12/19/04
Posts: 35885
Loc: USA
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Just for Harley.  PUBLIC INFORMATION MEETING—FEBRUARY 25, 2009 Seneca County and Cayuga County will be holding a public information meeting on the Cayuga Indian Nation’s Land into Trust application. Representatives of the Counties will discuss the status of the application to the Bureau of Indian Affairs (BIA) and the next steps in the application process. Under the federal environment review process, the BIA will release the Draft Environmental Impact Statement (DEIS) for public review and comment. At the meeting we will discuss the Scoping Report issued by the BIA and the impacts that will likely be evaluated in the DEIS and those issues that will not be evaluated. The public will hear how it can most effectively respond to the DEIS during the comment period to assure that the full impacts of the application are identified and evaluated. For background, we urge you to review the Scoping Report found in this website. The report was prepared for the Bureau of Indian Affairs and is guiding the preparation of the DEIS. The meeting will also provide an opportunity for the public to comment on the application and the likely community impacts of placing the lands into trust. These comments will be recorded for the public record. The meeting will be held at 7 pm on Wednesday, February 25 in Student Lounge (Main Building), Franklin Street on the campus of Cayuga Community College in Auburn. Current Public InformationPublic Meeting--February 25 harley 
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#984933 --- 02/25/09 12:47 PM
Re: $1 BILLION Owed NY by Tribes
[Re: HarleyBobT]
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Diamond Member
Registered: 12/19/04
Posts: 35885
Loc: USA
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Court rules for state in American Indian land case
The Associated Press Tuesday, February 24, 2009; 10:41 AM
WASHINGTON -- The Supreme Court on Tuesday limited the federal government's authority to hold land in trust for Indian tribes, a victory for states seeking to impose local laws and control over development on Indian lands.
The court's ruling applies to tribes recognized by the federal government after the 1934 Indian Reorganization Act.
The U.S. government argued that the law allows it to take land into trust for tribes regardless of when they were recognized, but Justice Clarence Thomas said in his majority opinion that the law "unambiguously refers to those tribes that were under the federal jurisdiction" when it was enacted.
The ruling comes in a case involving the Narragansett Indian Tribe in Rhode Island and a 31-acre tract of land.
At issue was whether the land, in Charlestown, R.I., should be subject to state law, including a prohibition on casino gambling, or whether the parcel should be governed by tribal and federal law.
The dispute dates to 1991, when the Narragansetts purchased the land to build an elderly housing complex, which remains incomplete.
The 1st U.S. Circuit Court of Appeals in Boston rejected the state's argument that Rhode Island should be the applicable authority. The high court reversed the appellate ruling.
Justice Stephen Breyer, who joined the majority opinion, indicated that it is possible that tribes not recognized by the federal government before the 1934 law might still have been under federal jurisdiction "even though the federal government did not believe so at the time." As an example, Breyer said, the government has acknowledged that some tribes were mistakenly left off a list the Interior Department compiled following the law's enactment.
But Breyer said he did not forsee that possibility for the Narragansetts.
Only Justice John Paul Stevens fully dissented from Thomas' opinion, which he called a "cramped reading" of the 1934 law.
A spokeswoman for Rhode Island Gov. Don Carcieri did not immediately return a call seeking comment. Jack Killoy, an attorney for the Narragansett Indian Tribe, said he had not read the decision and could not immediately discuss it.
The case is Carcieri v. Salazar, 07-526.
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#989290 --- 03/05/09 01:02 PM
Re: $2 BILLION Owed NY by Tribes
[Re: HarleyBobT]
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Diamond Member
Registered: 12/19/04
Posts: 35885
Loc: USA
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The Cayuga Nation of New York suffered another legal setback on Wednesday after the state's Appellate Division ruled that the tribe cannot continue selling untaxed cigarettes to non-tribe members until after a felony tax evasion appeal is handled next month. The decision upholds state Supreme Court Judge Kenneth Fisher's Feb. 18 decision, where he ruled that the nation must respect a prior ruling where he decided the nation could be charged with felony tax evasion for selling untaxed cigarettes to non-Native American Indians.
Fisher is the same judge who approved the search warrants allowing the counties to raid the Lake Side Trading stores in Union Springs and Seneca Falls on Nov. 25. A couple of weeks later, when the Cayugas took the counties to court challenging the legality of the raids and the investigation, Fisher ruled that the district attorneys can pursue a felony tax evasion prosecution against the tribe because the nation does not have a recognized reservation according to New York state tax laws.
The Cayugas have appealed that decision, and an appellate court will hear the case on April 3. The case was originally scheduled for a hearing in late May.
Lee Alcott, an attorney for the tribe, said that the Cayugas will respect Wednesday's decision, and that the stores have not sold cigarettes since the Feb. 18 ruling.
“While we are obviously somewhat disappointed that the court did not impose a stay as the nation had requested, the nation remains optimistic by the fact that the appellate court has moved up the appeal which will be heard in less than a month,” Alcott said.
Cayuga County District Attorney Jon Budelmann said the ruling confirms that a temporary injunction issued by the appellate court on Jan. 21, which prevents him from filing sealed grand jury indictments the nation until the after the appeal is heard, was only meant to maintain the status quo.
“Whatever talk (the nation) had into past appellate court decisions indicating which way the court was leaning have been blown away,” Budelmann said. “Our reading into this decision is that the court wants to maintain the status quo.”
At the heart of the appeal is what section of the tax law can the nation be charged with violating.
The tribe maintains that it cannot be charged with violating felony tax laws because a coupon waiver that is supposed to be used to exempt Native American Indians from paying taxes has not been implemented by the state. Because those coupons have not been created and distributed, an appellate court issued an injunction against that section of the law in a different case in western New York, preventing it from being enforced.
The district attorneys in both counties believe that the coupon waivers do not apply to the nation because the tax law does not recognized any Cayuga-owned reservations, allowing them to be charged with felony tax evasion under a different section of the law.
The Cayugas have argued that their reservation was established and recognized by the 1794 Treaty of Canandaigua.
Staff writer Nate Robson can be reached at 253-5311 ext. 248 or nathan.robson@lee.net
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#994813 --- 03/15/09 07:04 PM
Re: $2 BILLION Owed NY by Tribes
[Re: bluezone]
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Diamond Member
Registered: 12/19/04
Posts: 35885
Loc: USA
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#995988 --- 03/17/09 09:39 PM
Re: $2 BILLION Owed NY by Tribes
[Re: bluezone]
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Diamond Member
Registered: 12/19/04
Posts: 35885
Loc: USA
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Judge: NYC suit against Mastic smoke shops can proceedBY ROBERT E. KESSLER | robert.kessler@newsday.com March 17, 2009 A federal judge ruled yesterday that New York City can continue a lawsuit seeking nearly $200 million in back cigarette taxes from eight smoke shops on the Poospatuck Indian Reservation in Mastic.
The city claims that by selling huge quantities of untaxed cigarettes in the five boroughs, the smoke shops are a major source of cheap, bootlegged cigarettes.
In her ruling rejecting arguments by the smoke shops, U.S. District Judge Carol Amon in Brooklyn said the shops are not sovereign Indian entities and might be compelled to follow state and city law on the sale of cigarettes. She further said the shops could be sued under federal law because the reservation is not recognized as Indian land.
But Amon's ruling also said that however the overall issue of tribal sovereignty might be decided in the courts, the smoke shops are not integral parts of the tribe. The profits from the smoke shops do not go to the tribe itself, but to the shops' owners, Amon said.
The city sued the eight smoke shops in 2008, claiming that the untaxed cigarettes sold by them deprived the city of $195 million in taxes and the state of $525 million. Indian residents of reservations are permitted to purchase untaxed cigarettes for their own use. In its suit the city said that the eight shops had sold almost 24 million cartons of untaxed cigarettes since 2004, or 19,200 each day for the 300 residents of the 55-acre reservation.
"The $195 million in uncollected cigarette tax revenue we are suing to collect could be used to modernize a public hospital, or hire nearly 3,000 new police officers, firefighters or teachers," Mayor Michael Bloomberg said yesterday. "As we all pull together to do more with less, it's just grossly unfair to hardworking taxpayers to allow any company to shirk their responsibilities."
Leo Barnes, lead defense attorney for the smoke shops and who represents the Smoke and Rolls shop, said yesterday he had not read the suit and could not comment. Dan Nobel, attorney for another shop being sued, the Peace Pipe, also said he could not comment because he had not read the decision.
But Harry Wallace, chief of the Unkechaug Indians who live on the reservation, yesterday called the decision "the first in a long litigious history. Ultimately, our legitimate business entities will prevail."
The next hearing in the city's suit is scheduled for May.
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#999410 --- 03/25/09 08:22 PM
Re: $1 BILLION Owed NY by Tribes
[Re: bluezone]
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Diamond Member
Registered: 12/19/04
Posts: 35885
Loc: USA
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Uncollected Tax Dollars
January 15, 2008 We thought you would be interested in the following letter that has been sent to the members of the Legislature by Mr. Arthur H. Katz, Executive Director of the NYS Wholesale Marketers and Distributors.
January 10, 2008
Dear Legislative Member:
SHAME
Why do we continue to permit annual sales of 400 million packs of untaxed cigarettes to Indian sellers when it is known that illicit reselling is funding terrorism?
In America, our greatest triumph is adherence to the rule of law. Where laws end, terrorism begins. In 1994, the United States Supreme Court ruled (in Attea v. New York State) that New York was within its right to tax all cigarette sales to non-tribal members. Yet in the twelve years since that ruling the Pataki administration did not attempt to apply the law to a single Native American sale. Therefore, lacking accountability, these untaxed sales have reached an astounding 40 million cartons annually with lost revenue to New York State of $20 million per week or one billion dollars per year.
*It should be noted, since our first letter dated August 6, 2007, New York State has lost an additional $440 million in revenue, why?
Shame:Major illegal profits from these sales are funding terrorism while the New York State treasury is robbed!
The connection between Native American untaxed cigarette distribution and the funding of terrorism is well established and documented by New York and Federal agencies, public officials and numerous criminal court cases. Among some recent examples:
New York City 11/03/2007, Rep. Anthony Weiner and state senator Jeff Klein, in calling for a congressional investigation and putting additional teeth in existing federal laws , issued a press release that documented several recent government cases which uncovered the funding of Hamas, Hezbollah and other terrorist groups. They also quoted public officials who have stated that illegal cigarette profits have become one of the leading sources of domestic terrorist funding. ATF agent Patrick Awe, who testified before the US Senate, stated "... the link to terrorism has been established".
v Cattaraugus Indian Reservation 09/20/2006, Karim H. Nassar from Canada pleads guilty to smuggling $500,000 of cigarettes off the reservation for general market consumption and sending profits to Hezbollah guerillas.
v Dearborn, 05/29/05, nineteen men are federally indicted for a smuggling operation that evaded "tens of millions in state cigarette taxes" by purchasing truck loads of untaxed product from a Western New York State Indian Reservation and reselling in New York and Michigan. The profits were funneled to Hezbollah.
v The New York State Tax Enforcement Group arrested a couple in Brooklyn who were part of a group of 200 terrorists smuggling and reselling into New York City.
v Police commissioner, Ray Kelly in a speech before the United Nations, states that the smuggling of cigarettes is the leading means of funding forterrorist organizations.
v New York Post 10/16/07 State Senator Martin Golden who sits on the Homeland Security Committee, states that "ATF has opened hundreds of illicit cigarette trafficking cases; ... [having] links to extremist groups such as al Qaeda ... He adds that ATF senior intelligence analyst William Billingslea wrote in the Police Chief Magazine that, "Because of the immense profit, illicit cigarette trafficking now rivals drugs as the method of choice to fill the bank accounts of terrorist groups." Golden goes on to say, "The solution is simple. Both federal and state laws are already in place, and the courts have reaffirmed their constitutionality. What we need now is a governor with the guts to enforce them. The result of not enforcing the law has transcended the issue of Native American sovereignty into an issue of national security."
Shame: Why has leadership not acted to enforce the law and protect public safety?
v Newsday 11/06/2007, "Trial of smoke-shop millionaire set to begin". In a criminal case heard before the Eastern District Court, RodneyMorrison a Costa Rican, who is an "Indian" through marriage, has offered to put up $56 million cash for bail. This criminal case involves massive amounts of cigarettes that were sold tax free to and from an Indian reservation.It certainly should not surprise anyone that the purchase of tens of thousands of cartons of cigarettes from just one of these Indian stores is not for personal consumption. The Distributor who supplies the "store" should know that those cartons cannot be consumed legally without taxation. The manufacturers who supply the distributors receive a mandatory report each week that states how many cartons go towhom, and yet continue to allocate and sell this product. These outlets are the major source of counterfeit and untaxed cigarettes sold in high taxed localities (NY) to complicit stores and street merchants.
Shame: Manufacturers who are allocating and their distributors who are selling should have knowledge of the laws requirements.
On April 12, 2005 legislation was passed that required the collection of taxes on all Indian sales of cigarettes, motor fuel and other products to non-Indian New Yorkers starting 3/1/06 (without exception) and was signed into law the next day. It was with both courage and conviction that Sheldon Silver and Joseph Bruno led the legislature to overturn Pataki's ill-advised veto, demonstrating their understanding of the urgency for stopping this outflow. The methodology of tax stamping of all cigarettes and the issuance of "exemption coupons" to tribal members was conceived 12 years ago and favorably ruled upon by the US Supreme Court.
Shame: NYS State government still continues to invent ingeniousexcuses for non-enforcement.
During his final year in office, Attorney General Eliot Spitzer, in various correspondences, made it crystal clear that current law prohibited the shipping of untaxed cigarettes within New York. And further, that manufacturers, truckers, distributors and Indian traders who aided and abetted or criminally facilitated these shipments would be guilty of crimes against the State. Recently, Attorney General Cuomo, under an order from the Federal Eastern District Court, testified that the state's policy of forbearance (i.e. non-enforcement) was not a valid defense for the causing to be sold or the causing to be shipped of untaxed cigarettes for resale to non-tribal members. In another criminal case heard before the Eastern District Court; Judge Hurley ruled that there was knowledge of the illegal use and therefore criminal aiding and abetting.
Shame: As yet, there is no State enforcement and criminals and terrorists continue to grow rich.
The Math:
From 1996 - 2006 there was a recorded twenty percent reduction in the national
cigarettes sales (excluding New York State).
In 1996 New York State Taxes were paid on 127 Million Cartons Sold.
In 2006 New York True Consumption should have fallen to 102 Million Cartons
Actual 2006 New York State Legal cartons sold amounted to only 62 million!
That equals a loss of 40 million cartons sold in 2006!!
Shame:
A $Billion give away of our taxes!
It is patently absurd to argue that Native American sovereignty can only be preserved by allowing them unregulated access to FORTY MILLION cartons of untaxed cigarettes annually. This would amount to a staggering EIGHT BILLION cigarettes smoked per year by 2,500 adult Native American smokers in New York.
Shame: Let us not fall asleep at the switch again! Solution: Tax Stamp all cigarettes!
Summary of some Applicable Laws that may be violated are:
The Jenkins Act; The Contraband Cigarette Trafficking Act 18 U.S.C.Sec.2342; New York Public Health Law1399II; NYS Tax Law, Article 20, Sec. 471E; Criminal Facilitation, Article 115 NYS Penal Law; provisions under The National Security Act.
Why have we suffered 12 years of non compliance and the feeding of terrorists? Why have the cigarette manufactures continued to allocate millions of cartons of cigarettes to Indian sellers knowing exactly what is being shipped to each Indian store? Why has Albany not exercised its duty to protect its citizens by simply upholding the law? Why have these complicit venders been permitted to become the leading source of untaxed cigarettes sold in the 50 states? It certainly cannot be up to Native Americans, manufactures, or recalcitrant Public Officials to dictate the terms of our safety. Our Supreme Court has already spoken. Now our elected officials must act by recognizing that where law dies, terrorism lives.
Shame: The failure of Government and manufacturers to act in these past twelve years is a classic case of politics and greed vs. country!
Sincerely,
Arthur H. Katz
Executive Director
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