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DOR terminates YN cigarette tax compact
- By Richard Burger
- Published 07/30/2008
- Agriculture
- Unrated
Non-Indian smokers beware. If you buy your cigarettes from a smoke shop on the Yakama Reservation and the pack doesn’t have a state tax stamp, they’re now officially contraband.
That’s because the State of Washington and the Yakama Nation have terminated the cigarette tax compact that’s been in effect since 2004.
Tribal Council Chairman Ralph Sampson Jr. said at a press conference July 7, that the tribe was approached by the state to extend the 2004 compact to Dec. 31, while a proposed new compact is completed and put into effect.
He said the Council voted down that offer, and that it was not interested in continuing negotiations on a new compact “at this time.”
“We’re working to figure out exactly what our treaty rights are on our reservation,” said Sampson.
Fidelia Andy, Chairwoman of the Fish, Wildlife, and Law and Order Committee, and who has been involved in the negotiation process with the state, was more terse.
“We no longer want to be dictated to by the State of Washington,” she said.
That’s because the State of Washington and the Yakama Nation have terminated the cigarette tax compact that’s been in effect since 2004.
Tribal Council Chairman Ralph Sampson Jr. said at a press conference July 7, that the tribe was approached by the state to extend the 2004 compact to Dec. 31, while a proposed new compact is completed and put into effect.
He said the Council voted down that offer, and that it was not interested in continuing negotiations on a new compact “at this time.”
“We’re working to figure out exactly what our treaty rights are on our reservation,” said Sampson.
Fidelia Andy, Chairwoman of the Fish, Wildlife, and Law and Order Committee, and who has been involved in the negotiation process with the state, was more terse.
“We no longer want to be dictated to by the State of Washington,” she said.