ALBANY – The tax portion of the proposed casino/land
claim/taxation agreement among the Oneida Indian Nation, New York State, and
Madison and Oneida counties is too “limited, imprecise and lopsided” to restore
the level playing field that non-Indian retailers have been denied for the past
two decades, the New York Association of Convenience Stores (NYACS) has
concluded.
“Rather than ending unfair competition, it appears to codify
permanent price differentials that would enable tribal enterprises to forever
underprice tobacco and gas to the detriment of competing non-Indian convenience
stores — with the eternal blessing of the State and the counties,” said NYACS
President James Calvin.
“We applaud Governor Cuomo for making it a priority to
address this issue, and thank him for consulting us along the way,” said
Calvin. “However, we view this settlement as too limited, imprecise, and
lopsided to be fair to licensed, tax-collecting retailers whose livelihoods
have been steadily eroded by cigarette and motor fuel tax avoidance driven by
New York State tax policy and facilitated by the Oneida Indian Nation's retail
enterprises.”
NYACS is urging the state Legislature to disapprove the “Resolution
of Tax Disputes” portion (Section V) of the proposed Oneida Indian Nation
agreement until such time as it is modified in order to achieve the true
fairness and balance that all affected parties deserve. The Governor has asked
the Legislature to ratify the entire OIN agreement this month as part of a
broader casino gambling bill.
“Achieving equality has been a major theme of the last two
legislative sessions in Albany,” said Calvin. “The proposed Oneida Indian tax
settlement doesn't square with that mantra. Under its terms, New York would
forever be more open for business for some than for others. That's not parity.”
NYACS' analysis indicates the agreement would:
- Allow the Oneidas to resume receiving untaxed
deliveries of national-brand cigarettes, circumventing the supply channels
prescribed by state law.
- Allow OIN stores to resume selling underpriced
Marlboro, Newport and other national-brand cigarettes, a practice that was
appropriately halted by the state two years ago.
- Permit the Oneidas to import untaxed Indian-made
cigarettes from other reservations, lifting the existing state ban on such
shipments.
- Permanently grant the Oneidas substantial price
advantages over non-Indian competitors on cigarettes, other tobacco products,
and motor fuel.
- Beyond these price advantages, bestow upon OIN
enterprises a gross retail profit of $50 a carton for cigarettes (eight times
that of most surrounding non-Indian retailers) and up to 45 cents a gallon for
gas (three to four times that of most surrounding non-Indian retailers).
- Permit OIN retail shops to ignore duly enacted state
regulations governing the sale of tobacco and motor fuel that their non-Indian
competitors are forced to comply with – and immunize them from any additional
tobacco or motor fuel regulations the state may enact in the future.
- Allow the Oneidas to expand their tobacco and
motor fuel retailing activity by opening additional stores throughout Madison
and Oneida counties offering the same permanent price advantages and immunity
from state and local regulation as their existing locations.
- Allow the Oneidas to continue selling a wide
assortment of other consumer products — beverages, candy, snacks, frozen foods,
automotive supplies, etc. — without charging the equivalent of state and local
sales taxes, condemning non-Indian retailers to a permanent price disadvantage
of 8% to 8.75% on those items.
- Expose non-Indian retailers in other regions of
New York State to these same price disadvantages and regulatory double standards
should terms of this agreement be replicated in settlements with other New York
tribes that currently sell tobacco and/or motor fuel to non-Indians tax-free in
defiance of state law.
Read a detailed
NYACS analysis of the tax settlement.