If the state budget gets worse your job may be in jeopardy.

My land is for sale and I wish they would buy it and build a Casino.

Just give back as they claim it is theirs.

Its outside the claim area.

Not by the court ruling. Any land that the tribe wandered on is a reservation.

Step up Paterson....................

Can Patersons approval rating drop any farther?

Paterson approval ratings in the single digits.

Just give it back

Non-collection of Indian tobacco taxes will spark Senate hearingsAugust 20, 2009 at 6:06 pm by Rick Karlin
In the latest example of how not even Democrats are cozying up to Gov. David Paterson these days, Craig Johnson, the Long Island Democrat who heads the Senate Investigations Committe, wants hearings on the lack of tax collections.

This comes in the wake of a story earlier this week in the Buffalo News noting that Paterson has quietly written off the estimated $65 million it could have gotten by taxing Native American cigarette sales.

Republican Sen. Joe Griffo of the Utica area also decried the lack of tax collection in a recent release.

Here’s Johnson’s statement on the upcoming hearings, followed by Griffo’s release.

Senator Craig M. Johnson, chairman of the Senate Standing Committee on Investigations and Government Operations, announced today plans to hold a hearing on the state’s long-unsuccessful attempts to collect taxes from cigarettes sold to Non-Native Americans on Indian reservations.

This move was prompted by news that the Paterson Administration has quietly written off collecting this revenue — a move that is in direct violation of a law that the governor himself signed last year. The failure to collect this revenue is costing the state $65 million this year, according to the state Office of the Budget.

Non-collection of this tax revenue from Native American retailers has long been an issue in New York that has confounded several administrations. Senator Johnson, however, contends that the current economic crisis, and budget deficit, make a resolution vital.

“We literally can’t afford to look the other way, nor should the state Department of Taxation and Finance ignore a law that is barely a year old,” Senator Johnson, (D-Nassau,) said. “This Committee wants to be helpful in finding a solution, but the public also deserves to know where things stand between the state and Native American retailers and why there has yet to be an agreement.”

Other states – most recently Florida – have been able to reach tax collection agreements with their local Indian nations on this issue.

Senator Johnson was joined in this call for a hearing by fellow committee members Deputy Majority Leader Jeff Klein, (D-Bronx/ Westchester,) and Senator T. William Stachowski, (D-Lake View.) Both senators sponsor legislation that would stem the sale of tax-free cigarettes and further strengthen enforcement of current laws.

“Our state has already lost hundreds of millions of dollars by not cracking down on Native American cigarette retailers. It’s time to stop losing money and start collecting it,” said Deputy Majority Leader Klein. “I believe a public hearing is the next logical step and the best way to find a solution to this problem.”

“I absolutely agree with calling for a public hearing on the issue of collecting state taxes on sales made on native territories,” Senator Stachowski said. “Governor Paterson has repeated time and time again that we are faced with a financial deficit of record proportions. The Supreme Court of the United States has ruled that the collection of taxes is legal on Indian lands, so why would we not pursue this?”

The hearing will take place in Albany this Fall. It will be set pending scheduling and the date of the Governor’s expected special session.

And Griffo:

Senator Joseph A. Griffo (R,C, I- Rome) today condemned the Executive’s action to end efforts to collect sales taxes on cigarette sales to non-Indians at Indian-owned businesses.

“This is wrong on multiple levels,” Griffo said. “First and foremost, the tax should be collected. The law of this state says sales of tobacco products to non-Indians should be subject to sales tax. “I don’t know how the Administration can pick and choose which laws they want enforced. Existing law is intended to be abided by, not to be negotiated. I can’t imagine what would happen to employers that went 14 years without obeying the law. We can’t just ignore the law. If the Administration thinks the law is wrong, the redress open to him is to go through the political process to enact a new law, not to simply give up on making the law work.”

Griffo also noted disappointment with the Governor’s inconsistency. “Last year, the governor signed a bill to collect the taxes. This year, he says he will not work to collect the taxes. This is another example of the inconsistent leadership that has governed by stops and starts. How can we move this state forward when in instance after instance, we keep flopping back and forth or going in circles?”

Griffo said the tax is not a Native American issue. “The rise of the Oneida Indian Nation from poverty to prosperity is a great chapter in their history and the history of our region. The real issue in this case is the fiscal impact local residents face from the loss of tax revenue in cigarette sales purchased by non-Indians. ”

Griffo noted that according to some estimates, New York fails to collect $400 million a year in sales taxes on cigarette sales to non-Indians at Indian-owned businesses. “What this can mean to the state, and also to the local communities in Oneida County that should have been sharing in this money for 14 years, is very important given our current fiscal crisis,” Griffo said. “This is also a very important issue for the small convenience stores located near Indian-owned businesses. There should be a level playing field for them in which to compete.”

Gotta love the Native Americans.....They can find a way around ANYTHING!!! Not only will I get TAX-FREE gambling, Smokes, and gas....NOW come Labor Day I can get TAX FREE BOOZE too!!! Wooooooo HOOOOOOO!!! Booze and Gambling....doesn't get much better than that!!!


Turning Stone to serve alcohol in restaurants
by Glenn Coin / The Post-Standard
Tuesday August 25, 2009, 2:54 PM

Diners at Turning Stone Resort and Casino's fine-dining restaurants will soon be able to buy drinks with dinner. The resort general manager, Peter Carmen, announced today that five of the resort's restaurants will become private clubs -- but becoming a member will be "as seamless as possible."

The announcement marks the resort's most sweeping effort yet to serve alcohol to a wide spectrum of guests. The state Liquor Authority has repeatedly refused to grant liquor licenses to the Oneida Indian Nation, which runs Turning Stone, but the resort has been able to serve alcohol at conventions, banquets and weddings by using outside caterers.

Starting on Labor Day, guests can pay $25 for a lifetime membership to the restaurants and three lounges, where they will be able to order drinks. All hotel guests will automatically receive a lifetime membership, as will resort guests who spend enough money in the showroom, spa and golf courses.

The nation will contract with Beeches Restaurant of Rome, which caters hundreds of events at the resort each year, to serve drinks at five Turning Stone restaurants: Pino Bianco, Wildflowers, Rodizio, Peach Blossom and Forest Grill. Alcohol will also be served at two lounges and the resort's sports bar.

Carmen said Turning Stone's ability to compete with other resorts is limited by the current alcohol policy.

"There is only so far we can go with this destination when we are unable to offer the amenities that other destinations offer," Carmen said. "This is Turning Stone's way of trying to improve the situation that in a way that is respectful of what this community and the state Liquor Authority feel comfortable with."

A liquor authority spokesman, Bill Crowley, said he was not familiar with the new Turning Stone program but would research the issue.

Judge Delivers Blow To NY Reservation Smoke Shops
Source: Finger Lakes News Radio


NEW YORK (AP) - A federal judge has issued a ruling that could doom an Indian reservation's booming business in tax-free cigarettes and spell trouble for other native American tobacco dealers in the state.

In a decision announced Wednesday, U.S. District Judge Carol Bagley Amon in Brooklyn barred a group of smoke shops on Long Island's Poospatuck reservation from selling tax-free cigarettes to the general public, saying their location on tribal lands didn't exempt them from state and federal tax law.

Only members of the Unkechaug tribe, which controls the reservation, have a right to buy cigarettes there without paying taxes, she ruled, not the many non-Indian customers who flock to the shops for cheap smokes.

If upheld, the injunction would eliminate much of the business at the stores, which sell millions of cartons of cigarettes a year and are among the biggest suppliers in the state.

The judge stayed the ruling for 30 days to give the shops time to appeal, and Unkechaug Chief Harry Wallace quickly promised that the tribe wouldn't let the decision stand unchallenged.

"It's improper," he said of the ruling.

He accused the judge of ignoring state law and policy regarding taxes and Indian reservations because she dislikes cigarettes.

"She wanted to stop sales at any cost," he said, adding that the ruling would be difficult to comply with, while robbing the stores of their competitive edge. "It would put every Indian store ... out of business."

The ruling is a victory for the city and its mayor, Michael Bloomberg, who sued the stores over their sale of tax-free cigarettes, saying they were illegal.

In its suit, the city claimed the reservation shops had made a mockery of rules restricting the sale of tax-free cigarettes to members of the tribe.

Each resident of the 55-acre reservation, near the town of Mastic, would need to consume 19,200 cigarettes a day to account for the tons of tobacco sold by the shops, the city said.

City lawyers estimated that smoke shops cost the city and state a combined $840 million in tax revenue, much of it lost to smugglers who traveled to the reservation to stock up on cigarettes, then resold them in the city.

"The city will go after every dollar that is owed to city taxpayers," Bloomberg said in a statement announcing the court decision.

Smoke shops located on state-recognized Indian reservations have enjoyed a huge business in cigarettes since the mid-1990s, in part thanks to a string of governors who have refused to enforce state laws that were supposed to set up a system for taxing sales to the general public.

State courts have repeatedly split on whether that policy, known as forbearance, absolves the reservation shops of any responsibility of collecting taxes.

As recently as July, a midlevel state appeals court ruled that smoke shops on land claimed by the Cayuga Indian Nation could not be prosecuted under state law for failing to collect taxes on cigarette sales.

Federal judges, however, have taken a harder line. One Poospatuck smoke shop

$10 parking fee and now you will have to pay higher cig prices................

Actually no parking fee..... I didn't get a handicap sticker.... I decided I don't want the disease to define me or hinder me.

As far a more expensive smokes.... that ruling was for downstate and they have time to appeal and waste more of the State's money for lawyers etc... that they will NEVER get reimbursed for LOL

Also even if they raise their prices.... there is always Mail Order that remains CHEAP and tax-free! Also even if they hand out the "coupons" the Native American will find a way around it or start selling them out of the trunk of their cars LOL Just like they did will serving booze at Turning Stone! LOL

People can sit on their lazy butts all day and mooch off the system while I pay their bills for them.... The tax-free gas and smokes I see as my own "public assistance" considering after payroll taxes (that goes to WELFARE)I don't have much $$ left over thanks to the welfare rats

Never???
How long before Paterson is out of office?

So it was never about being sovereign but about high profits



welfare rats?
And what do you call someone that collects "welfare" and sells millions of illegal cigs and runs illegal casinos?

Judge rules for Oneida Indian Nation in trust case
By Glenn Coin / The Post-Standard
September 29, 2009, 2:09PM

A federal judge has ruled in favor of the Oneida Indian Nation in three related lawsuits over the nation’s request for trust land.

Judge Lawrence Kahn tossed out several key arguments made by the state, Madison and Oneida counties, the towns of Vernon and Verona, and the city of Oneida in challenging the trust land. In the decisions, Kahn ruled that:

-- The federal government has the authority to take land into trust in New York.

-- The ancient Oneida reservation still exists, and therefore Turning Stone casino is operating legally under federal law

-- The transfer of 18 acres of land in Verona from the Air Force to the Department of Interior as trust land for the Oneidas was legal.



WOOO HOOOOOOOO!!! CONGRATS on ANOTHER win!!! How much more time, money, and resources is gonna be spent by NYS only to LOSE!!!