Indian Smoke Shops

  States want to claim taxes for purchases made on Indian reservations.  As Indian smoke shops and gas stations charge less for gas and cigarettes, the State governments are feeling cheated out of tax revenue.  Sales tax and price parity are the rallying cry of the off-reserve businessmen and the politicians they put in their pocket.  These two issues "will give us a chance to play on a level playing field," say the tax lobbyists.

  Level playing field for whom?  The reservations around the country do not have the economic clout to sustain the Native businesses that have sprung up in recent years.  The modern Native community has finally turned around the treaties that were forced upon us by the "Great White Father" and found ways for us to take advantage of them.  The Supreme Court recognized this as creating a loophole allowing for massive tax evasion.  Is that what the writers of these treaties had in mind?  I think not.  The underlying purpose was to recognize Indian sovereignty and indigenous rights.

  Government policies for the past two hundred years have had two purposes, to remove the Indian or assimilate them.  Removal to the old west was, let's face it, meant as a death sentence [akin to events like the Trail of Tears]; and the modern policy resulted in the reservation system.  In an effort to retain cultural identity, Natives have vehemently refused to be assimilated.  Having been forced into a form of economic subjugation and dependency due to the remoteness of Indian lands, Natives in the last few decades have been scrutinizing the treaties that your government crammed down our throats, seeking and finding ways for us to prosper and rejuvenate Indian reservation economies.

  You want to close some loopholes? How about the ones that the Department of the Interior and the Nuclear Regulatory Agency are using in their despicable policy of trying to place nuclear storage and waste treatment facilities on Indian land.  “Hey, they have lax regulation and the absence of controls on the reservation?  Great!  My family didn't want this near their house anyway!"

  Given the sales tax and price parity that the [white] majority businessmen want, who's going to drive to these little out of the way towns and villages that our people call home to shop?  Your treaties didn't allow for placement of Indian reservations along a main drag or right at the edge of town.  The Natives do not have an economic base; no mineral rights, no industries, and no chance of anyone relocating to Indian land.  Banks won’t make loans to Native businesses on tribal lands because they are unable to secure collateral.  Businesses won’t relocate to reservations because of the costs associated with doing business outside of recognized business and trade zones central to infrastructure and shipping; and, the lack of a ready, trained workforce in the local commuting area.

  A direct result of the loss of economic power will mean a variety of welfare and medical payments and social ills.  Native communities are already dealing with these issues, along with factors like 50-75% unemployment.  People without any sense of hope suffer unseen as substance abuse, crime and suicide rates soar on reservations.  Indian country needs economic development for the sake of humanity.

  We need to use treaties to strive for autonomy and avoid the status quo of this vile economic subjugation and dependency.  The revenue generated by businesses on reservations goes for the social good of these communities.  You don't see sports cars and mansions on the rez, you see health clinics, housing and schools and paved roads as a result of these businesses.  You want a level playing field?  Leave us alone and we'll turn into team players. Continue the infringement of our sovereignty and we'll continue to be the sickly kid sitting on the end of the bench.