Lawyer: Oneida's tax may spur land-claim talks
Oct. 27, 2001

By R. PATRICK CORBETT
Observer-Dispatch

ONEIDA — The new Oneida Indian Nation “sales tax” may be a first step toward a broader initiative to settle the many tax issues swirling around the Nation and its land claim, a Nation lawyer said Wednesday.

Eric Facer said that before the Nation implemented its 5 percent tax on sales last week at Indian businesses, it floated the idea during talks with New York state lawyers. He said the Nation only proceeded when the state representatives agreed it was a good idea.

Facer also suggested that such talks might lead to a resumption of negotiations on the Oneida land claim even as that lawsuit moves closer to trial in federal court.

The Oneida Nation is suing the state in federal court for damages for some 250,000 acres in Oneida and Madison counties that the Nation claims that the state took from its people illegally 200 years ago.

“In the last few months we’ve exchanged phone calls ... to resume land-claim talks,” Facer said. “I’m cautiously optimistic” about returning to formal negotiations, he said.

“There’s been a change in attitude by both parties. We’re being more cooperative,” he said.

Gov. George Pataki’s press secretary, Michael McKeon, wasn’t as optimistic. He said speculation about renewed Oneida land-claim talks “is premature.”

“We have ongoing discussions with Indian nations on a whole host of issues to protect taxpayers and to respect the nations’ sovereign status,” McKeon said.

Facer said the Nation land claim is strong, but taxes and some other issues would not be settled by a court verdict. He said the Nation is willing to negotiate with the state to tie up those loose ends because, “the thing we still want is certainty.”

Oneida Nation spokesman Mark Emery has said the sales tax on cigarettes, soda and other items will raise prices so that non-Indian businesses can compete more effectively. The Oneidas can use the tax money any way they choose. It will not go to local or state governments, Emery said.

A federal court has awarded the Cayuga Indian Nation $237.9 million for its claim to land in the Finger Lakes region, but the court left open local tax issues that have set Indians against non-Indians in all the land claim areas.

U.S. District Court Judge Lawrence Kahn has ordered lawyers in the much larger Oneida land claim to submit their final motions to him this month. He has not set a trial date nor indicated when he might do so. Lawyers earlier speculated that a trial could start sometime in 2002.

Facer said the current level of talks with the state could continue parallel to a land-claim trial, if necessary.

Oneida County Executive Ralph J. Eannace Jr. said that while the counties are not directly involved in the present talks between the Oneida Nation and the state, the governor “has continuously sought our input on the issues.”

He said that before the governor considers any new land claim negotiations, “I would encourage (Pataki to have) face-to-face discussions with the counties.”