Upstate NY Media Outlet Calls For End Of Indian Nations' Real Estate Tax-Dodging "Charade"

In upstate New York, the editorial board of the Auburn Citizen writes:

• The U.S. Supreme Court, in choosing to kick back a case involving county foreclosure on Oneida Indian Nation land, perpetuated the use of the state and federal court systems as a business strategy for New York state Indian nations.

• What’s become clear in the past couple of years is that tribes such as the Oneidas and the Cayuga Indian Nation of New York have well-oiled litigation machines whose primary purpose is to avoid abiding by property and sales tax laws.

• A few months ahead of a Supreme Court hearing on the foreclosure matter, the Oneidas suddenly decide to waive their right to sovereign immunity in those cases, thus kicking the case back to a lower court to consider other aspects of their contention that they’re not subject to foreclosure. The Oneidas knew that a ruling on the sovereign immunity issue by the high court would have brought an end to the charade, so they once again employed the strategy of delay through legal maneuvers.

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• We’re disappointed in the Supreme Court’s punting of the Oneida case because there are key legal questions that need some final answers. There’s a good chance that a similar foreclosure effort in Cayuga and Seneca counties against the Cayuga Nation will be headed up the appeals chain. We urge our leaders to fight that battle all the way to the Supreme Court, which we hope will do better the next time around.

For the op-ed, see Our View: Foreclosure issue needs a final ruling.

For bakground on this story, see Oneidas Dodge Potentially Adverse Supreme Court Ruling In R/E Tax-Dodging Case; 11th Hour Waiver Of Lawsuit Immunity Moots High Court's Role In Case.