"like a foreign tribe invading our land"

An Oklahoma tribe has recently opened the second tax-free tobacco and gasoline store in Seneca Falls.  The original Indian tax-free retailer in the area, Lake Side Trading, is not at all happy with the competition, reports the Finger Lakes Times:

SENECA FALLS — A second Indian tribe-owned gas station and convenience store has opened in Seneca Falls, a move that has the leader of the Cayuga Indian Nation questioning its legality and comparing it to a foreign invasion.

Named Sky Dancer, the store at East Bayard and Stevenson streets, is owned by the Seneca-Cayuga Tribe of Oklahoma and opened Wednesday.

The Cayuga Indian Nation purchased and opened the Lake Side Trading gas station and convenience store at Route 89 and Garden Street Extension in 2004.

Neither store charges sales tax on cigarettes or gasoline purchases, the source of ongoing federal court litigation.

The Oklahoma-based tribe is selling several brands of cigarettes it makes at its reservation cigarette-making facilities in the Miami, Okla. area, plus several name brands. The gasoline it sells is also from Oklahoma, provided by Eagle Fuels.

 Lake Side's tribal leader lets us know how he feels about the competition:

Clint Halftown, head of the Cayuga Nation, now based in Seneca Falls, is not thrilled by the new business.

“It’s wrong. They are not from here and have been in Oklahoma for a long time,“ Halftown said. “It’s like a foreign tribe invading our land. They are trespassing and I don’t think they are allowed by state tax law to sell tax-free cigarettes or gasoline.”

Emphasis added.  The New York Cayugas also operate a tax free store in King Ferry.  This development adds a new level of complexity to New York's long unresolved Indian tax issue.  

We suggest new governor Andy Cuomo remove sales tax on all gasoline and cigarettes, statewide.  This will resolve the Indian tax dispute while providing an immediate boost to New York's suffering economy.