Opinion ID: 614134
Heading Depth: 2
Heading Rank: 2

Heading: Yakama Nation Retailers

Text: The Yakama Nation is a federally-recognized Indian nation with approximately 10,000 enrolled members. It is a party to the Yakama Treaty of 1855 with the United States, 12 Stat. 951, and it exercises the sovereign right of self-government over the 1.4 million-acre Yakama Indian Reservation, located in central Washington. There are nine Yakama member-owned businesses on the reservation engaged in the retail sale of cigarettes and other tobacco products. Each of these businesses is organized, licensed, and operates under the laws of the Yakama Nation. By affixing Yakama Nation tax stamps, the Nation imposes a tax on tobacco products sold by Yakama retailers. The revenues generated by this tax support essential tribal government services, as well as fisheries, forestry, and other programs. In 2004, the Yakama entered into a cigarette tax compact with the State (the 2004 Agreement). Under the 2004 Agreement, the Tribes were required to impose and maintain a tribal tax on the retail sales of cigarettes equal to the amount of State and local sales taxes. Despite the compact, disputes arose between the Yakama and the State, and in February 2007, the Department sent a notice to the Tribes indicating its intent to terminate the 2004 Agreement. Following unsuccessful dispute-resolution talks, the 2004 Agreement was terminated in July 2008. The Department thereupon informed the Yakama that it was reinstating the cigarette tax on sales of cigarettes to nonmembers of the Tribes, and that it would require cigarette tax stamps to be affixed for all such sales.