Smoking Tax Revisited

[silverfz1]

I haven't been here in a while and was curious if you guys have been paying attention to what is going on with this. I said when I posted this subject before the election that the state could not force the Inidans to add a tax to their cigarette sales. That they would have to get the Inidans to sign a compact with them in order to do so. Does it surprise any of you that the state did not already have this compact negotiated before this bill was introduced and passed? Secondly, does it now surprise any of you that the Cherokee tribe is now saying that under the current compact they have with the state, the state cannot waive sales taxes on cigarettes! So now the Cherokee tribe is saying that the state broke their compact with them! Our wonderful governor is not going to be able to get the tribes to charge this tax without giving them significant concessions in other areas during negotiations. Good job!

Finally, and I didn't even think of this angle until recently. Now that there won't be any sales tax on cigarettes sold within the city, look at all that tax money that now won't go towards that wonderful vision 2025!

So we just voted to lose millions of dollars for vision 2025. We now have the prospect that the Indians will not abide by the law because there was not a compact signed that went along with this bill. As a matter of fact the Indians are saying by passing this law that the state broke the compact that they already had in force. Not to mention that if the state goes through with enforcing this law on other stores and don't have the Indians on board, it will cost Quik Trip money and potentially cost jobs at those stores. Man this is one smart state!

If anybody who voted for this can't see that they have cost themselves a lot of tax payer dollars they are not very bright. Besides, you can always order cigarettes right off of the internet and have them delivered to your door, then nobody gets your money, Indians, city, or state. But they will still be smoking!


Brian