Opinion ID: 623760
Heading Depth: 5
Heading Rank: 3

Heading: Financial Disincentive

Text: MCN argues that the method by which the Excise Tax Statute is applied to tobacco products other than cigarettes creates a financial disincentive for OTC-licensed -34- wholesalers to do business with MCN. The OTC-licensed wholesalers must bear the initial incidence of the excise tax and receive a refund at the end of the month equal to the lesser of 1/12 of their allocated share of the probable demand or their verifiable tax-free sales to tribally-licensed retailers, see Okla. Stat. tit. 68, § 349.1(D)(5). The Supreme Court, however, has held that a tax on non-Indians “may be valid even if [the tax] seriously disadvantages or eliminates the Indian retailer’s business with non-Indians.” Colville, 447 U.S. at 151; see also Wagnon, 546 U.S. at 114 (“But the Nation cannot invalidate the [state] tax by complaining about a decrease in revenues.”). The Court has never “go[ne] so far as to grant tribal enterprises selling goods to nonmembers an artificial competitive advantage over all other businesses in a State.” Colville, 447 U.S. at 155. Thus, even if the application of the Excise Tax Statute to other tobacco products disadvantages MCN’s tribally-licensed retailers, it does not infringe on MCN’s tribal self-governance.