More Illegal Tax Moves by Janklow
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More Illegal Tax Moves by Janklow |
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Janklow refuses to pay taxes to one SD tribe, even though the state would be reimbursed, and in the next breath he is demanding taxes from another tribe that legally doesn't have to pay them. Janklow makes his own rules and follows none that have been set forth for him in Congress. We wonder just what Janklow intends to do if elected to Congress. Eliminate the reservations once and for all? Many feel that’s exactly what he intends to do. See Hearing Ordered on Fuel Tax and State disputes 'illegal jurisdiction' of tribe |
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Hearing
ordered on fuel tax SIOUX FALLS (AP) — South Dakota Revenue Secretary Gary Viken has ordered a formal hearing to decide whether the Sisseton-Wahpeton Sioux Tribe should lose its fuel-importer license for refusing to pay fuel taxes, which are required by state law. A Sept. 30 letter to the state Revenue Department that contained a fuel-importer's tax return from the tribe did not include $4,645.78 that the state says should have been paid. But tribal leaders claim the state does not have legal jurisdiction to levy the tax on fuel transported by a tribal corporation and sold through a tribal station to agencies and members of the tribe. Viken has ordered the state Office of Hearing Examiners to hear arguments in the dispute. The hearing is set for Nov. 13 in Pierre. It is the second case this month in which the state and an American Indian tribe have gotten into a legal dispute over tax payments. Last Tuesday, the state sued the U.S. Transportation Department in federal court over a construction tax charged by the Rosebud Sioux Tribe. The suit also challenges a tribal ordinance that gives hiring preference to Indians for construction of roads on the reservation. In that case, the fight is over taxes the tribe wants the state to pay. In the Sisseton-Wahpeton case, the dispute focuses on a state tax the tribe does not believe it should collect and pay. "Under federal law, the state of South Dakota is without jurisdiction to impose or assess its motor-fuel excise taxes" on the tribe or its members, the Sept. 30 letter to Viken from Tribal Chairman Andrew Grey Sr. said. The dispute arose from the tribe's creation last summer of SWST Fuel Inc., a tribally owned corporation that imports fuel from North Dakota. The Revenue Department issued a state motor-fuel importers license for the tribe in August. A holder of such a license is required to file monthly reports to the state, revenue documents say. Any taxes collected by the importer are due at the end of each month. But in his letter, Grey said SWST Fuel Inc. shares the tribe's sovereign status. "Over 99 percent of the purchasers at the tribe's retail gas station are tribal government agencies and tribal members," Grey wrote. "The tribe imposes its own tax on all fuel sold at the tribe's retail gas station." Federal law does not give the state jurisdiction to assess the motor-fuel tax directly on SWST Fuel or to collect taxes from tribal members that buy fuel within tribal jurisdiction. |
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State disputes
'illegal jurisdiction' of tribe South Dakota Governor Bill Janklow (R) sued the Bush administration on Tuesday to dispute a tribal road tax and an Indian hiring program. In papers filed in federal court, Janklow refused to submit to the "illegal jurisdiction" of the Rosebud Sioux Tribe. He said the state will not pay a two percent tribal tax or require highway contractors to give preference to tribal members and other Native Americans. "[T]he tribe lacks the authority, as a matter of federal law, to subject state contractors to tribal civil jurisdiction," the October 8 complaint authored by deputy attorney general John P. Guhin stated. Janklow, who is running for the state's sole U.S. House of Representatives seat, is not suing the tribe. He is challenging Secretary of Transportation Norman Y. Mineta's decision to withhold federal highway funds to the state. Upholding a Clinton-era policy, Mineta recently informed the state that it was in violation of the Rosebud tribal law. An August 20 investigative report concluded that all tribes in South Dakota "have the jurisdictional authority" to impose tax and hiring preferences. The position is based on a 1993 notice issued by the Federal Highway Administration, an agency of the Department of Transportation. The goal is to promote "employment opportunities for Indians on reservations." "Tribes may impose this tax on reservations, but they have no tax authority off reservations," the document states. But the state asserts that its road maintenance programs are threatened by tribal jurisdiction. Although the notice provides for federal reimbursement of tribal taxes, the court papers claim otherwise. The state also disputes the "extraordinary" power of the tribe to enforce its road programs. Fines, suspensions and termination can be imposed if highway contractors do not follow the tribal ordinance. During a six-year period, the state paid about $335,000 in taxes to the tribe but stopped in 1999. South Dakota receives federal highway funds in excess of $20 million. Federal law was amended to allow for tribal taxes and Indian preference under the Indian Reservation Roads (IRR) program. Tribal leaders yesterday testified before a House committee to support an increase in Indian highway funds. "Indian people," said Navajo Nation council delegate Andrew Simpson, "need better roads to reach a better future." Other witnesses said support from the federal agencies was crucial to their success. "We think the federal government could serve Indian Country better if it trusted us more," said Timothy Tubby, a planner for the Mississippi Band of Choctaws. The IRR program is funded through a percentage of a federal highway trust fund. It receives about $275 million per year, to be distributed to more than 500 tribes and Alaska Native governments. Sen. Jeff Bingaman (D-N.M.) has introduced a bill to double the amount. |
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The "STAR - Students and Teachers Against
Racism" web site is the |