Please Help (Onondaga Nation) - Democratic Underground

H2O Man

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Wed Sep-17-08 07:18 AM
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Please Help (Onondaga Nation)

Hello, DUers:

I am writing this to ask for your support for the Onondaga Nation. The Onondaga are the "Fire Keepers" of the Haudenosaunee, or Six Nations Iroquois Confederacy. At issue is an attempt by the NYS legislature to collect taxes from the Onondaga. We need people from across the United States to contact Governor David Patterson’s office, and encourage him to honor Onondaga sovereignty.

The issue involves a bill, passed by both houses of the state legislature, which would attempt to collect taxes from the Onondaga Smoke Shop. Certainly, many people are opposed to smoking. However, our focus is on sovereignty.

At this point, Governor Patterson seems to understand the significance of the history between Onondaga, the United States, and New York: "I would like to at least begin by going up and having a conversation. Now, if it’s just, ‘We do it because we feel like it, and there’s nothing you can do about it, get out of here,’ well, that might create a different reaction," Paterson said in an interview with The Buffalo News.

In the interview, Paterson said he wants to treat talks with Indian leaders "almost like international diplomacy." He said he wants to reach an "accommodation" with the tribes on the tax issue; he did not say precisely what that may entail.

Paterson offered warm words for the Indians. "I think that they feel that they are always labeled as the villains in this whole process, and maybe if they were treated or thought to be just like other businesses here and they started to feel like they’re part of our state, even if they live on sacred land, that we might be able to reach an accommodation," the governor said. (Buffalo News; 8-21-08)

Joseph Heath, the attorney who has represented Onondaga in other cases with NYS, has provided the following suggestions for those writing, e-mailing, or calling Governor Patterson:

SUGGESTED TALKING POINTS FOR LETTERS TO GOVERNOR ON CIGARETTE TAXES ON ONONDAGA NATION:

1. This is much too complex a situation, with such a long history; no such bill should be signed until the Governor has been able to sit down with the Traditional Chiefs and talk about other solutions.

2. These taxing attempts are in violation of the Nation’s sovereignty and its federal treaty rights. For instance, Article II of the 1794 Treaty of Canandaigua, guarantees the Onondagas the "free use and enjoyment" of their remaining Territory.

3. Taxing the sales on the Onondaga Nation will result in a net loss of tax revenues for the state, given the facts that:

{a} All of the profits from the one, Nation owned store, go to the Nation’s government which:

{b} Funds dozens of programs that benefit the Onondaga people and their non-Native neighbors, and which

{c} Employs hundreds of Onondaga Nation citizens in these programs, who then spend these wages outside the Nation, thereby generating a ripple effect of tax generation.

4. There is only one, Nation owned store at Onondaga, with:

{a} No gas stations;

{b} No internet sale;

{c} No casino or gambling revenues; and 4. Prices that are not that much lower than non-Native stores.

5. Honoring the sovereignty and the Treaties and not taxing these sales should be seen as an economic stimulus package for the Central NY economy, very similar to the Empire Zones and the tax breaks enjoyed by Robert Congel, O’Brien & Gere and the new downtown Marriott hotel.

6. This current bill is yet another attempt by the Legislature, to tack onto the current tax bill that can not be enforced, due to an injunction from State Supreme Court in Buffalo. It is likely that this new bill may not achieve anything and will be barred by the same injunction.

7. There is a very long history of the state attempting to tax these sales, which should be thoroughly understood before any decision. 8. The Onondaga worked for a year and a half in 1996 and 1997, with the Pataki administration and reached an Agreement to resolve this issue. 9. Diplomacy and respecting the Nation’s sovereignty are the proper approaches.

8. The estimates of tax revenues are grossly over-inflated by the convenience store lobby and the Upstate, Republican legislators who promote it.

Governor Patterson’s address is:
Governor David Patterson, State Capitol, Albany, NY 12224.

The phone number is: 518-474-8390

The following link allows for e-mail:

http://www.state.ny.us/governor/contact/index.html

Please send copies (or verification of a phone call) to Attorney Heath, at:
Joe Heath <jheath@atsny.com>.

Thank you,
H2O Man