Monday, Feb 23, 2009

Unkechaug Indian Nation and the Legal Battle with New York City

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Join your host Dr. J. Kehaulani Kauanui for an episode that focuses on a legal battle being fought by the Unkechaug Indian Nation as the tribe fends off attacks by the City of New York. City officials claim that the tribe has become a "tax evasion haven" and a drain on the city's coffers because it sells tax-free cigarettes at its Poospatuck Smoke Shop & Trading Post located on the Poospatuck Indian Reservation on Long Island, NY, which is part of the Sovereign Territory of the Unkechaug Indian Nation. The Bloomberg administration says the city and the state lose more than $1 billion a year in tax revenue because of what it calls bootleg cigarettes distributed on Indian reservations in New York. As part of their legal challenge, city lawyers have asked a federal judge to block the smoke shops from selling untaxed cigarettes to
non-Indians without collecting state and city taxes from them. The show will feature an interview with Harry B. Wallace, Chief of the Unkechaug Indian Nation, who is an attorney and member of the New York State bar. He give background on the legal battle, historical context for this form of economic development, and a status report on the case. Chief Wallace suggests that this is simply an attack on legitimate Indian livelihood that is an exercise of tribal sovereignty, and the result of elected officials feeling the economic downturn and blaming the budget crisis on the smallest reservation in the state. Original air-date: 2-24-09.

Posted by Indigenous Politics at 7:52 PM |   

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