U.S. wants to join Washington tribe's lawsuit against local taxes
By Laura Zuckerman
(Reuters) - The U.S. Justice Department on Tuesday sought to join a tribal lawsuit alleging Washington state and a Seattle-area county are violating federal law by imposing taxes on a sprawling casino and mall on Native American lands.
The Tulalip Tribes argued in a lawsuit in June that Washington state's Department of Revenue and Snohomish County have impinged on their rights to self-determination and economic development enshrined in federal law and policy.
The state and county have done this by illegally imposing $40 million a year in property, business and other taxes tied to a casino, resort, retail stores, restaurants and other businesses in the tribe's Quil Ceda Village, DOJ said.
In a motion filed on Tuesday, DOJ asked to become a plaintiff in the lawsuit because Native American lands are held in trust by the United States and because federal money helped fund the 2,163-acre development on the Tulalip Reservation.
The tribe owns the facilities outright, provides related municipal services like police and fire protection, and leases space to businesses and retailers, all of which should be exempt from state and local taxes in Washington, DOJ argued in a complaint.
The state did not contribute to establishment of the village and provides no services to it, U.S. attorneys said.
State and county taxes geared toward non-tribal businesses that operate in the village have hampered the tribe's ability to amass tax revenues to be pumped back into infrastructure and other needs, DOJ said.
"The United States takes seriously the federal role in protecting tribal self-government, which has its foundation in federal statutes, treaties and regulations," Assistant Attorney General John Cruden said in a statement.
"To this end, we are committed to eliminating barriers, such as these, which hinder tribes from developing healthy economies and providing necessary governmental services on the reservation," Cruden said.
Washington state has not yet filed a legal response in the case. The state attorney general's office has a policy of not commenting on pending or ongoing litigation, a spokeswoman said.
"The Tulalip Tribes looks forward to defending its legal rights with the support of the United States, and has long recognized the strong federal interests in the Quil Ceda Village economy," Tulalip Tribes Chairman Mel Sheldon Jr. said in a statement.
(Reporting by Laura Zuckerman in Salmon, Idaho; Editing by Eric M. Johnson and Eric Walsh)
