November 21, 2008
- Yakima, Washington 29
Cigarette Laws Looking Smokey
By Valerie Hurst
TOPPENISH--
It was a grey area solved by a compact. On nation land, everyone could buy cigarettes for almost $5.00 less a carton. But that compact is over. And the state says it can't be a "free for all" for the tribe to charge what it wants. Action News broke the news to tribal member Nicky Worley... that her favorite brand at Yakamart was going up in smoke. "A lot of tribal members do come here because this is a tribal owned store so most definitely, it'll affect a lot of people..." she says. The popular store says without clear laws, it's not worth it to sell cigarettes at all. It''ll stick with other forms of tobacco. Nicky hopes other tribal stores won't follow suit. "That'd be really unfortunate because I'd have to travel off the reservation and stock up it'd be gas money, gas at $4.36." The state tells us tribal smoke shops are doing their own thing right now. But it was that behavior that ended the tax deal in the first place. "We found stamps were not being sold at the right amount, so non-Indians were buying contraband cigarettes," explains Leslie Cushman. The AG's office says customers have to be careful. Ignorance isn't a defense, and you'd be the one in trouble. The only safe route is buying with a state tax. That's a good $4.00 more a carton the tribal tax. "If they have a Yakama stamp on them they are not in compliance with the law," Cushman says. Treaty rights are important to the US government, but the Supreme Court says tribes should not sell un-taxed cigarettes to non-Indians... For now, the state wants everyone to pay the state tax. "Because that allows a control mechanism and we would refund their tax to them..." the state says. The state tells me the tribe was using that tribal tax revenue to pay for things like emergency services. But tribal chairman Ralph Sampson, Junior tells me it's not clear yet whether the lack of a compact is really hurting the tribe. Both the tribe and state seem willing to sit down and work things out. |
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