Cayuga County District Attorney Jon Budelmann said Monday that county officials are reviewing the appeals court ruling. "Our position is that the Cayuga Indian Nation benefits [image-nocss] from the same infrastructure and services as the taxpayers of Cayuga County, but they do not pay their fair share of the cost," Budelmann said. "As a result, those obeying the tax laws are forced to pay more."
In late November, sheriff's deputies in the counties raided the Cayugas' two LakeSide stores, seizing about 17,600 cartons of cigarettes. The Cayugas estimated the cigarettes were worth more than $500,000.
"The Nation is very gratified by this decision, which will permit it to resume doing what every other Indian tribe in the state has been doing for years without threat of criminal prosecution," said Dan French, the lawyer representing the Cayugas.
The counties claimed that because the Cayugas do not have an official reservation, they were violating state tax law. The Cayugas claim the stores lie within their former ancestral homeland. They argue that the territory is a reservation that was established by federal treaty and that it has never been disestablished.
The stores had been selling gasoline and sundries since the raid. Cigarette sales resumed almost immediately Friday after the ruling. The Cayugas have said they intend to sue Seneca and Cayuga counties to recover the value of seized cigarettes as well as lost revenue, French said.
Jim Calvin, president of the New York Association of Convenience Stores (NYACS), told CSP Daily News in January, after Governor David Paterson signed a law barring wholesalers from selling untaxed cigarettes to the tribe, "The U.S. Supreme Court ruled unanimously and unequivocally that New York State is entitled to collect taxes on gas and cigarettes purchased by non-Indians from Indian enterprises. New York State law prescribes a constitutionally sound method for collecting these taxes under which no state personnel would ever need to set foot on Indian soil and no Indian would pay one dime of taxes. Licensed, tax-collecting convenience stores whose businesses have been ravaged by an epidemic of cigarette and motor fuel tax evasion abetted by the Seneca Indian Nation commend Governor Paterson for his efforts to restore tax fairness."
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