False accusations and unstable compacts: An update on the situation at Frank's Landing

author : Daisy Ouye topic : Frank's Landing

by Daisy Ouye

Frank’s Landing smoke shop in the Nisqually Valley has been temporarily closed since June. Federal Agents raided the smoke shop on May 15 and confiscated all of their tobacco stock and computers.

According to the Department of Revenue, their Deputy Director is supposed to act as Tribal Liaison to resolve issues with tribes and taxpayers. Instead, a business and the private home of its operators were invaded, accused of selling untaxed cigarettes to non-tribal members.

Currently, back at the negotiating table with the Department of Revenue for a state tax compact (agreement), this native community has been forced to completely shut down operations at the shop. Each day of the closure takes dollars from school funding, mental health care and other essential programs.

It is estimated the shop will be closed another month or more, but that remains uncertain until Governor Christine Gregoire signs the agreement.

Promised sovereignty and a good quality of life in exchange for their ancestral lands, the tactics used by the government and the negotiated compacts can systematically rob the Nisqually people of both. While the Department of Revenue worries that corporations like Costco and 7-11 should get equal footing with tribes, treaties are ignored.

Under the Yakama’s previous compact, which was recently terminated by the Department of Revenue, the tribe was to charge 80 percent of Washington’s state sales tax. Within 3 years they were to gradually raise the tax to be equivalent to that of the state. This was not a workable agreement for the tribe, and the community suffered.

The Puyallup just signed a compact with a different arrangement. They are allowed to charge a lower tax rate in exchange for sharing some of their profit with the state.

Tribes have taken hit after hit over the years, nicking away at crucial funding and sovereignty. Financing of the war in Iraq has also cut deeply into dollars previously used for tribal programs.

Details about the ongoing Frank’s Landing negotiations with the state are unknown. Those who would like to support this native community’s efforts to get a fair deal and get the smoke shop up and running again can encourage Governor Christine Gregoire to only sign a compact that reflects the tribes’ wishes and seeks to honor the promises made to them.