From: Robert Jones 

To: TTAC 

Cc: Councilor Linda Doxtator; Councilor Tina Abrams 

Subject: TTAC comments from Seneca Nation Indians 

Date: Monday, November 18, 2019 4:16:31 PM 

Greetings, 

Below are my comments regarding the Department of Treasury’ most recent attempt to address 

taxation matters specifically on Seneca lands. A more in depth meeting is required before the 

Department of Treasury moves forward on Sovereign Seneca lands as it’s the belief of most all , that 

there can be No tax lawfully executed at Seneca via the IRS as the lands are not under the Authority 

of the House of Congress but are still under the Exclusive Authority of the Senecas themselves unless 

an agreement can be mutually reached thru our Governmental process. 

1)- the current lands at Seneca known as the Cattaraugus & Allegany are lands that were reserved 

by the Senecas themselves after the Treaty of Big Tree in 1797. Statutes –at-Large page 601). 

2)- Treaty of Buffalo Creek entered into May 20, 1842 ( Statutes-at Large page 586)- Senecas at the 

time of the signing of this treaty and currently believe this Article 9. Makes the Senecas immune 

from any and all taxation . 

3)- Title to Senecas Lands are strictly held under themselves and not under the state of NY Nor, 

under the United States and title has been described as being Original, Absolute and Exclusive” by a 

prior committee of the Dept of interior in regards to Taxation attempts at a time in 1857 at Seneca. 

Dept of Interior made the state of NY Comptroller return lands (over 13,000 acres) unlawfully taken 

and return them to Seneca Government as they were and always have been ours exclusively by 

treaty. (NYS passes legislation shortly after stating in part- Section 4. “ No tax shall hereafter be 

assessed or imposed on either of said reservations, or on any part thereof , FOR ANY PURPOSES 

WHATEVER, so long as said reservations remain the property of the Seneca Nation , and all acts of 

the legislature of this state conflicting with the provisions of this section ,are hereby repealed”. 

4)- Senecas are citizens of their Nation and not the United States – Documents are available to share 

if requested. IRS would have no authority to implement any tax unless senecas were actually US – 

citizens. The Senecas should be referred to the International division of the IRS so we can educate 

them further on our unique status. Upon Information and belief Documents exist and are still on the 

books that state if a Seneca wanted to become a US citizen, he could but would have to give up all 

his lands here at Seneca and leave the Territory. Not sure how we would handle this if the Dept of 

Treasury and IRS claim they have a right to tax because of US-citizenship. 

5)- The Internal Revenue Service is wholly without any authority to implement any Tax on Seneca 

lands and some type of authoritative line and structure should be made known to both the Nation 

and the Senecas if it even exists. Seneca lands are not held under the House of Congress( as per the 

Dept of Interior Report from 1857) due to its status when the lands were negotiated way back in 

1797 and then the Treaty of Buffalo Creek. 
 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

6)- Upon Information & belief, the Original United States ceased to Exist in March of 1861 when the 

7 southern states left the North. There was apparently no functioning operating original US Congress 

& government after that point and therefore any Treaties signed would have terminated. If this is 

the case , which it is, than there are no lands that the US has authority over currently. Ely Parker , a 

Seneca Indian served under Grant and wrote the surrender papers at Appomattox when Lee 

surrendered to the North. Old stories exist but im certain there must be some paperwork to verify 

all this in the records of the US somewhere. Possibly the organic Act of Feb 21, 1871 should be 

reviewed. 

7)- It is possible that the US Congress can exempt the Senecas from any Taxation efforts much like 

what occurred with the Dawes Act. Its my belief that the US Governemt could not make any laws 

which negatively impacted the Senecas and therefore this particular Act had to be contain language 

that excepted the Senecas out of it. 

8)- The General Welfare Exclusion Act ( GWEA) would apply to US citizens who have access to 

banking and housing loans from banks. Due to the unique status of Seneca lands, there is no 

“General Public” here as Tribal members have absolutely no access to Banking loans . the only 

General Public that exists for Senecas is the Seneca General Public. Although after much 

indoctrination and schooling to assimilate our people into thinking they are part of the General 

Public, the banking needs matter clearly show this is not the case and the GWEA has no place here 

at Seneca. 

9)- An Act of Congress known as the “Seneca Settlement Act of 1990” should be reviewed in order 

to further prove that that Senecas have lands that are beyond the reach of the State of NY and the 

US Govt as they did not attempt to try an approve any future leases within our Treaty lands and a 

portion of that ACT has language within it that states that- none of the income from that act can be 

subject to levy ,execution , forfeiture, garnishment, lien, encumbrance, seizure , or state or local 

taxation”. The Annuities of the Senecas are derived from utilizing this act from 1990 to acquire 

property in Bufffalo, NY and Niagara Falls NY for Gaming purposes and a large portion of our 

annuities are derived from revenue generated from a “Head-Lease” at these two locations. 

10)- The Senecas themselves have no language in their Constitution that allows the Seneca 

government to tax. Since this is the case , The US Govt, Dept of Treasury and the IRS have no lawful 

authority to Tax under any circumstance absent some type of “Referendum” of the Seneca people to 

ascertain if they would even be agreeable to Taxes. This should be strictly recognized by any outside 

entity or US- governmental Agency as a type of Intra- Governmental affair and matter for the Seneca 

Government themselves to handle and should not be interfered with. Any and all revenue should be 

utilized to promote the economic self-sufficiency of the Senecas themselves as per the SSA Act of 

1990 mentioned above as we are at a huge disadvantage as we have had no economy until just 

recently . If the US govt were to be allowed to Tax the Senecas , you would most likely destroy our 

ability to create the economy needed for our Seneca Communities due to no banking capabilities. 

I just realized the deadline was near so I didn’t have time to gather any documents. Most everything 

mentioned should be able to be obtained thru the regular research channels minus the item 

regarding Ely Parkers papers and those who apparently knew the story. I can provide the docs if 
requested Regards, Robert Jones (SNI- Councillor) 

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