All The World's A Stage

Native News

Natives at the Supreme Court

The Supreme Court on Monday considered the power of states to tax fuel sold on Indian reservations, a source of increasing conflict as more retailers thrive on tribal lands outside U.S. control.

At issue is whether the state of Kansas can tax distributors who sell fuel to a gas station owned and operated by the Prairie Band Potawatomi tribe. Gamblers driving to the tribe's casino 15 miles north of Topeka, Kan., often stop for gas at the reservation's "Nation Station." The Denver-based 10th U.S. Circuit Court of Appeals ruled that the tax violated tribal sovereignty even though it was not directly imposed on the tribe.

It looks like the real question may be:
Do state governments have the right to tax any good or service used by a tribe on tribal land at all?

"Every upstream tax raises the price of goods and services," Justice Stephen Breyer said. "If that's the basis for saying it's an interference, then every tax is an interference."

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Another interesting clash

A half-century-old clash of spirituality and science between Minnesota Indian tribes that consider wild rice sacred and University of Minnesota scientists who continue to study its genetic make-up is again boiling over.

[This is also about money.]

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In News That Makes Hannah Cry, But Does Not Surprise Her

The [GOA] said many government-funded Indian Health Service facilities do not provide adequate behavioral health or specialty dental care. The agency also falls short in providing care for non-urgent conditions such as arthritis, allergies and chronic pain, investigators said.

"Most of the facilities we visited lacked the equipment necessary for certain ancillary services and had few medical specialists on site," GAO said.

"dramatically underfunded" --- "It's not surprising, but it's still a big disappointment," --- Native Americans in areas served have shorter life spans than the U.S. population as a whole.

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“What did Columbus discover? That he was lost?”

Posted by Liz at October 6, 2005 9:43 AM