From: rich@pencil.cs.missouri.edu (Rich Winkel)
Subject: TRADITIONAL MOHAWKS CHALLENGE INCOME TAX
Followup-To: alt.activism.d
Originator: rich@pencil.cs.missouri.edu
Organization: PACH
Distribution: na
Date: Wed, 19 Aug 1992 19:12:44 GMT

/** gen.nativenet: 343.0 **/
** Topic: -- Mohawks Challenge Income Tax **
** Written  4:45 pm  Aug 18, 1992 by gtrujillo in cdp:gen.nativenet **
/* Written  9:44 pm  Aug 17, 1992 by nwtrcc in cdp:nonviolent.act */
/* ---------- "-- Mohawks Challenge Income Tax" ---------- */
                 TRADITIONAL MOHAWKS CHALLENGE INCOME TAX

                            by Peter Goldberger

In 1987, Carol and Glenny Lazore attached an affidavit to their income tax 
return asserting their right not to be subject to U.S. income tax, thereby 
starting a chain of events which now leaves them awaiting a decision from 
the U.S. Tax Court which will shape not only their future, but potentially 
that of their entire nation.

The Lazores belong to the Mohawk Tribe of Native American Indians, part of 
the Six Nations Confederacy, who are also known as the Iroquois or 
Haudenosaunee (People of the Long House). Through their active 
participation in Mohawk self-government they learned that, according to 
their treaty history, they have a right to be free of U.S. taxation. At 
their tax court trial in Philadelphia in September 1991, the Lazores' 
lawyers, Peter Goldberger and Jim Feldman (NWTRCC network attorneys), used 
both Mohawk and European-American historical sources to present the complex 
history involved. Final briefs were filed this spring.

At trial, a sub-chief and a faith-keeper described the Haudenosaunee self-
government and their maintenance of a thorough oral history, and a history 
professor from Cornell interpreted European-American documents to arrive at 
an understanding of the relationship between the U.S. and the Six Nations. 
IRS efforts to exclude their testimony failed. Tax Court Judge Helen 
Buckley seemed particularly interested in Carol Lazore's testimony about 
the matriarchal structure of Iroquois society.

The relevant treaties, signed in the late 1700's, cannot directly exempt 
the Six Nations from income tax, because the Internal Revenue Code did not 
exist at that time. However, by treaty, Native Americans are exempted from 
border duties, the largest source of revenue for the U.S. government at the 
time, and the U.S. government continues to recognize the validity of that 
exemption -- and thus of the treaties -- today. More important, the U.S. 
agreed, in exchange for continued peace and access to the Iroquois lands, 
that it will not "disturb . . . any of the Six Nations . . . in the free 
use and enjoyment [of their lands]," and affirmed the existence of the Six 
Nations as a separate, sovereign nation, politically and economically.

The IRS contends that lack of a specific exemption wins the case for them. 
The Lazores respond that traditional Haudenosaunee remain within the 
category of "Indians not taxes" referred to in the census clauses of the 
U.S. Constitution, so that any attempt to interpret either the Internal 
Revenue Code or the treaties so as to allow imposition of an income tax on 
them would be unconstitutional. Most Indian Nations have lost the 
protection of that clause either by military defeat or by voluntary 
acceptance of U.S. citizenship, but neither of those circumstances applies 
to the Iroquois.

The IRS accepted the Haudenosaunee claim to exemption until the mid-1950's, 
but has recently begun to step up enforcement efforts. Three prior cases, 
litigated in Tax Court without legal assistance and without the aid of 
expert witnesses failed, but the results were not precedential. As the 
Lazores await the decision of the Tax Court, they can only hope that the 
U.S. will honor its agreement fully and cease to impose income tax upon the 
citizens of the Six Nations. Whichever side wins the Tax Court decision, an 
appeal to the federal courts is expected.

The cause of the Six Nations sovereignty has been championed and defended 
by the Philadelphia Yearly Meeting of the Religious Society of Friends for 
over 200 years, and the Indian Committee of the Yearly Meeting continues 
that effort by supporting the Lazore case. Contributions earmarked toward 
this cause are accepted by the Committee at 1515 Cherry St., Philadelphia, 
PA, 19107. 
** End of text from cdp:gen.nativenet **

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