Yakama cigarette maker ordered to pay $58 million in taxes

8-15-2018

WHITE SWAN, Wash. — The 9th U.S. Circuit Court of Appeals upheld a lower court’s ruling that a cigarette manufacturer on the Yakama Nation Indian Reservation is on the hook for $58 million in unpaid federal taxes.

The Yakima Herald-Republic reports the court rejected arguments by King Mountain Tobacco, which claimed it was exempt from federal excise taxes because of a treaty and other tribal land laws.

The lower court ruled that “Indians — like all citizens — are subject to federal taxation unless expressly exempted by a treaty or congressional statute.”