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FROM: THE ASHEVILLE (NORTH CAROLINA) CITIZEN-TIMES NEWSPAPER

http://www.citizen-times.com/apps/p...1/NEWS01/501300
06/1001

Ruling Could Change Tax Status Of Indian-Owned Land

Eastern Band officials don’t think N.Y. case will affect them


photo: Steve Dixon/STAFF PHOTOGRAPHER
Patrons try their luck earlier this month at Harrah’s Cherokee Casino, which
was opened by the Eastern Band of Cherokee Indians in 1997. A Supreme Court
case that originated in New York state may affect the tax exempt status of some
American Indian-owned land.

By John Machacek
GANNETT NEWS SERVICE
and Andre A. Rodriguez
STAFF WRITER

January 31, 2005 6:00 am

WASHINGTON — Indian tribes across the country are watching for a Supreme
Court ruling they fear could drastically alter the legal foundation of Indian land
ownership.

The case comes out of central New York, where the tiny town of Sherrill is
demanding that the Oneida Indian Nation pay taxes on land the tribe bought that
is home to a convenience store and textile plant.

The tribe says the property is sovereign territory and is tax-exempt under
federal law.

Using profits from its hugely successful Turning Stone resort and casino, the
Oneidas have been able to bypass stalled legal efforts to reclaim ancestral
lands. The tribe has bought nearly 17,000 acres in Oneida and Madison counties
since the casino opened in 1993.

Sherrill, a town of about 3,000 people and 2.2 square miles just a few minutes
’ drive from the growing casino-resort, wants to tax an Oneida-owned gasoline
station-convenience store and a plant that makes T-shirts and sweatshirts.

Sherrill officials argue that the Oneidas’ refusal to pay about $3,000 a year
in property taxes on the commercial parcels shifts more of the tax burden to
non-Indian property owners.

Two lower courts already have ruled in favor of the Oneidas, saying the two
properties are part of Indian country and therefore entitled to federal
protection.

The U.S. Supreme Court heard arguments on the case Jan. 11. The Sherrill case
deals only with the taxability of Indian-owned land, but tribes nationwide
are watching the case closely, fearing that the court could alter the legal
foundation of Indian land ownership.

Albert Crowe, chairman of the Eastern Band of Cherokee Indians tribal council
in Western North Carolina, said a majority of the land owned by the Eastern
Band is held in federal trust through the Department of Interior and is exempt
from taxes. He doesn’t think that the outcome of the Oneida case will affect
the tax status of these properties.

However, the Eastern Band does own other property that is not yet held in the
trust, less than 1,000 acres according to Eastern Band Attorney General David
Nash.

“The Eastern Band has an application to Department of the Interior through
the Bureau of Indian Affairs to put land into trust status,” Crowe said.

It’s a long, drawn-out process, but “the tribe will continue to pay taxes on
this land until it is placed in trust status.”

The 143-acre Ravensford tract the tribe recently acquired through a land swap
with the National Parks Service went directly into trust under the terms of
the land exchange bill, Nash said.

Nash also doesn’t think the outcome of this case will affect the tax status
of lands held by the Eastern Band of Cherokee Indian.”

“As far as I know, the specific nature of (the Oneida) case isn’t paralleled
down here,” he said.

But Robert Odawi Porter, a Cornell University law professor specializing in
Indian law said a ruling against Oneidas “could be cataclysmic for Indian
nations, certainly for the traditional nations in New York.”

“When you start tinkering with the infrastructure of the way in which Indian
land is held and protected by federal law, you create openings for predatory
actions by states and local governments,” Porter said.

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