Here are the materials in Canadian St. Regis Mohawk Tribe v. Town of Bombay:
St. Regis Mohawk Reservation
News Coverage of “Chaos” Created by Local Impoundment of Akwesasne Tribal Smokes Destined for Out-of-State
Here.
An excerpt:
An odd thing about the seizures, which have affected several native manufacturers that are paying licensing fees to the federal government and to the Mohawk tribal government, is that it is in conflict with a state tax department memo. The memo comes up frequently in the HCI litigation and was placed into the record in a separate tobacco arrest case. Written in July 2011 by the leader of the tax department’s criminal division, it specifically says that untaxed native-made cigarettes bound for reservations in New York or outside of New York should not be seized.
The memo is irrelevant, according to an assistant to Attorney General Eric Schneiderman, who is defending the State Police in the case. “All cigarettes within New York State are presumed to be subject to tax until the contrary is established,” said Aaron M. Baldwin, in a brief. He said that only a licensed cigarette agent can possess untaxed cigarettes in New York and that agent must show proof of a legal sale exempt from taxes. The brief suggests that HCI could resell the Signals to customers in New York, thereby denying New York required taxes. The driver of the seized Signals shipment told State Police that he often delivers cigarettes from the Winnebago reservation in Nebraska to the Poospatuck reservation on Long Island, according to court documents.
Federally Licensed Indian Trader Assessed State Tobacco and Income Taxes in New York State
Here is the opinion in Attea v. State Tax Tribunal. An excerpt:
As noted by respondent Commissioner of Taxation and Finance, petitioner’s licenses authorized him to sell cigarettes and tobacco products only to Native Americans at the St. Regis and Tuscarora Indian Reservations. Nevertheless, while petitioner produced documents indicating that he imported and shipped tobacco products to Indian reservations, these records included no books of original entry for his business, such as sales journals, general ledgers, balance sheets, expense receipts, income statements or bank statements. In light of these deficiencies, the Tribunal was again unable to substantiate that the sales made by petitioner actually took place on reservations and were made to qualified tribal members-as required by petitioner’s Indian trader licenses-or to formulate any allocation of what percentage of petitioner’s sales might be tax exempt. Accordingly, as in the prior proceeding, we conclude that petitioner failed to meet his “heavy burden of demonstrating by clear and convincing evidence that [his] business traded exclusively with Native Americans and maintained no presence in this State,” and we will not disturb the Tribunal’s determination….
Turtle Talk 