Seized cigarettes pit tribe against tax commission

[The Straight Story]

Seized cigarettes pit tribe against tax commission


A federal judge has asked the Oklahoma Tax Commission not to stop Muscogee (Creek) Nation vehicles that are transporting tobacco until a judge can rule on part of a lawsuit filed against the commission by the tribe.

"I hope this doesn't cause a flurry of vans filled with illegal cigarettes traveling the roads late at night, but I would ask that you stop this (until the court can rule)," U.S. District Judge Terence Kern said Wednesday while making the ruling.

The tribe filed the suit against the Tax Commission on Friday in Tulsa's federal district court after agents working with the Oklahoma Highway Patrol stopped trucks on May 13 and May 15. Agents seized $40,000 worth of cigarettes in the first stop and about $68,000 in the second.

Each stop and seizure happened without a warrant, without the driver's consent and without probable cause, the tribe alleges.

The Tax Commission estimated that $42,000 worth of taxes on the combined loads would have been lost by the state had the tobacco been sold.

The cigarettes were not on the state's Master Settlement Agreement roster, which lists what brands can legally be sold in the state. None had tax stamps.

The Muscogee (Creek) Nation is the largest tribe in the state that does not have a compact with the state to sell cigarettes, and the tribe has used various methods to keep its smokeshops stocked. The tribe has established its own wholesale company — not recognized by the state — and gets non-MSA discount cigarettes from
other tribes.

The tribe's lawsuit alleges that the Oklahoma Tax Commission violated the Fourth and Fourteenth amendments to the U.S. Constitution by stopping the trucks without probable cause and by searching the vehicles without the drivers' or the tribe's consent or a warrant.

http://www.tulsaworld.com/news/article.aspx?subjectid=11&articleid=20090521_11_A1_Afdrlj605765