Brutus, ElwoodCuse, would the two of you like to get a room?
Tax arguement aside.
Would any of you feel the same if they put up that sign (“We are proud United States citizens that pay all New York state sales tax.”) if their competitors were hispanic? (Spanish American)
-curious
[hijack] :eek: Medina?? Me too! Small world. Especially since I go to school right up the road from Union Springs now… [/hijack]
Sorry guys, besides this, I have nothing else to contribute to the conversation. I’ve heard this debate ever since I was old enough to understand it.
I see what you’re saying, but you can’t really put the tax argument aside and still answer this question, because without those laws there would be no question. A Hispanic-owned store would still be subject to the levy imposed on cigarettes and other goods. The AI-owned store is not, because, well, they’re AI, and thus part of a sovereign nation of sorts not under the jurisdiction of all state or federal law.
Okay, here’s where ratty whips out her street cred lest anyone get the wrong idea: I am part American Indian. (And don’t start with the “Native American” stuff, because no one is a native here, and if it’s good enough for Russell Means, it’s good enough for me.) My grandfather was what we in the business refer to as a “fullblood”, and he took great pains to assimilate his family. He spent a lot of his life loudly and vehemently denouncing all reservations of any sort anywhere, and this has filtered down to my own personal politics. I hate it when anybody gets treatly differently, good or bad, simply because of their race/ethnicity/religion, or any of those either little group terms people use to define themselves. Putting up that sign is certainly a subtle dig, no question, but it’s not actually racism. And for my part, I’m on the side of the Nice n’ Easy. It may be the law, but the law has done more harm than good in that it creates endless and near-unresolvable tension in the community and forces small business people out of business by creating different rules for different small businesses.
Say what you will about capitalism, at least it doesn’t discrimminate on any basis other than how much money you can hoard up. And everbody theoretically has a chance to get theirs. Except when well-meaning legislators who’ve obviously never seen Hell’s front walkway decide to start messing around with the tax laws. Frankly, I think it’s a bunch of crap and it makes me pretty sick. I personally believe (and here’s more street cred: I’m a smoker myself) that if you want to smoke you should pay for it just like everybody else regardless of what your great-great-grandaddy did to somebody else’s great-great-grandaddy. Enough of this different taxes for different groups. I like capitalism because it’s so viciously impersonal: it says “I don’t give a fuck who you are, I just want your money.” And in this imperfect world, maybe that’s the best we can hope for.
Well, I’m glad to see that you completely agree with me, Brutus.
First, we have to change the law back so that states cannot level taxes on its own residents outside of the state’s own jurisdiction.
Second, we have to compel New York to level the playing field against tribes by forcing the state’s residents to return a quarter of a billion dollars’ worth of profits gleaned from the theft of Indian land, land which was and still is impossible to convey without the express approval of Congress, and is therefore not subject to any statute of limitations or fairness doctrine.
Third, the disparity in federal funding to states and tribes has to be rectified, which by my guess would require approximately tripling the amount of federal funding which goes to tribes.
Fourth, we must force Congress to make explicit law which reduces state governments’ ability to interfere with tribes’ competitive business practices through the use of litigation which tribes cannot hope to defend against, perhaps by forcing states to pay the legal costs of the tribes any time a case decided in favor of tribes is appealed.
And finally, we should probably agree that the way things ought to be is when a tribal gas station takes advantage of its lower gasoline taxes to gain a competitive edge, the proper way for the state government to respond is to offer tax credits to its own residents in the immediate vicinity, rather than attempt to hamstring the competitiveness of its poorer, weaker, less legally defended, and equally sovereign neighbor.
Glad to see we’re on the same page here.
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Wow, we agree.
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Theft of land? Given that part of the settlement (still under appeal), allows residents to stay where they are, I don’t see how this could possibly be construed as ‘theft’.
The entire concept of ‘Indian-only’ land is ridiculous and offensive. The sooner it is eliminated, the better.
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Just how much money do the indians now get? And just how poorly off are they? If anything, this shows the utter failure of the welfare/handout system. Wean the indians off the gov’t teat, and I bet they won’t be among the poorest and least educated folks in America anymore.
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Nonsense. The indians are citizens of America. They can play by the same rules as the rest of us.
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The way things ought to be is the elimination of the entire outdated concept of ‘reservations’. America is America, for better or worse. These stupid little psuedo-independent (except when it comes to money, eh?) regions should be incorporated into Greater America.
Tax cuts? Hell ya.
I’m willing to bet that your count of stupid little psuedo-independent regions is fifty short.
Yeah, lets march those dirty savages to a barren postage stamp piece of land. Hopefully they’ll starve to death during winter(after all,many did during the march). If they dont all die-off well take that land if we ever need it anyhow. Were colonialist after all, there are too many of us for them to fight.
-TM of the Lakota Sioux Nation on my mothers side, Haida on my fathers.
Tony, how did you get “march em off” from “‘Indian only’ is ridiculous”? Please elaborate.
Knee-jerkish on my part.
But I’m neither elaborating nor retracting what I said.
These things usually turn into a flame-fest with either side slinging shit at the other like two apes stuck in cages.
I will say this: I do not hate nor hold animosity toward anyone, regardless of race color etc for any reason. The road I make for myself is my own, and I hold no-one responsible for my lot in life but me.
-Peace