New York Association
of Convenience Stores
130
Washington Avenue, Suite 300, Albany NY 12210
TELEPHONE: (800) 33-NYACS or (518) 432-1400 FAX:
(518) 432-7400
MEMORANDUM IN OPPOSITION
A.8900 by Committee on Rules
(Governor's
Program Bill #70)
AN ACT to amend the executive law, the state finance law, the education
law and the tax law, in relation to authorizing the settlement of the Akwesasne
Mohawk land claim; and to repeal section 11 of the executive law relating to
fuel and energy shortage state of emergency
The New York Association of
Convenience Stores is a trade organization representing an industry that has
been decimated by Native American outlets that have lured hundreds of thousands
of non-Indian customers away from our stores by charging prices that are
artificially and irresistibly lower because they don't include applicable
taxes.
In asking the Legislature to ratify a land
claim/casino/taxation settlement he has negotiated with the St. Regis Mohawk
tribe, A.8900 continues Governor Pataki's tradition of ambiguity on how he will
resolve the rampant motor fuel and cigarette tax evasion that he has allowed to
flourish at Mohawk tribal stores for years.
As in his earlier proposal, A.5159, the Mohawks
would agree under A.8900 to collect all applicable state and local taxes on
retail products sold to non-Indian New Yorkers at their Sullivan County casino,
which is laudable. But just as with A.5159, there is no agreement to do so at
their existing stores on the Akwsesasne reservation upstate, thus
perpetuating unfair competition, which is unacceptable.
While the new bill sheds the nebulous term "tax
parity," it contemplates an amorphous "trade agreement" under
which the tribe might someday consent to an internal "regulatory
program" requiring their Akwsesasne reservation stores to be licensed by
and pay fees to the tribe and "to maintain certain levels of minimum
retail pricing."
Why not simply require them to collect and remit all
applicable state and local taxes on cigarettes, motor fuel and other retail
products sold to non-Indian New Yorkers, as prescribed by the budget provision
approved by the Legislature earlier this year, which will take effect March 1,
2006?
Further, why would the Legislature assign to
Governor Pataki, whose stated policy toward tax cheating on Indian reservations
is "cooperation not confrontation," unilateral
authority to permanently codify, without any further review by the Legislature
whatsoever, any concessions on the tax issue he wishes to make to the Mohawk
tribe.
CONTINUED à
With the Mohawks receiving extensive tracts of land,
a new casino, free SUNY tuition, and free hydropower, and with St. Lawrence and
Franklin counties being generously compensated for lost tax revenue, it appears
that everyone affected by this settlement would be "held harmless" – except
the hard-working, licensed mom-and-pop retailers whose livelihoods have been
ravaged by the tax evasion epidemic the bill fails to address.
"With only a handful of session days remaining
in the current legislative session, fairness to the Akwesasne Mohawks and other
affected parties dictates that we immediately move forward with this important
legislation to approve the settlement agreement," said Governor Pataki in
a press release heralding this legislation.
In our view, fairness to
non-Indian storekeepers who work seven days a week struggling to serve their
customers, pay their taxes, collect taxes, provide employment, comply with
regulations, and make a living dictates that any such tribal settlement legislation
level the retail playing field. As submitted, A.8900 does not.
Accordingly, NYACS urges the
Assembly to either reject this bill outright or amend it to require the Mohawk
tribe to fully comply with the provisions of Part K of budget bill A.6845/S.3671
of 2005 by collecting and remitting applicable state and local taxes on retail
sales to non-Indian New Yorkers.
The Assembly should not allow Governor Pataki to use
the rush to adjournment and the appeal of otherwise meritorious land claim and
casino settlements to codify the status quo for existing tribal stores whose
brazen defiance of the tax law has crippled New York's convenience store
industry and deprived the State of hundreds of millions of dollars a year in
much-needed revenue.
James S. Calvin
President, NYACS
June 20, 2005