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Taxes on slot machines are a necessary part
of life. Chances are, even if you operate the slots on an Indian
reservation, or in conjunction with a racetrack, the state government will
take a percentage of the slot machines revenue. This tax is a necessary part
of the slot machines system because of the necessity of gambling addiction
treatment centers and other state-funded programs. In some states, the taxes
even go toward higher education scholarships. But for the Mashantucket
Pequot tribe, the taxes are just too much. The town of Ledyard has levied
taxes on the tribe’s slot machines that they believe are unfair.
The Mashantucket tribe is not alone in their complaint against Ledyard—but
currently the tribe is hoping to drop the two other co-plaintiffs on the
case and take up the lawsuit on the federal level. The tribe believes that
it is in their best interest to drop Atlantic City Coin and Slot Service
Company from the lawsuit and that their case is really under federal
jurisdiction rather than local or state.
Part of why the other companies might be dropped from the lawsuit concerns
the differences between slot machines legislation for the tribes and
non-tribal slots legislation. The other two companies are independent
vendors, and thus do not fall under the blanket of protection awarded to the
tribe. “This tax was not assessed on the Tribe, and ACC, the non-Indian
entity on which the tax was imposed, is not entitled to the benefit of the
tribal exception. The Tribe cannot rely on the exception to avoid the [Tax
Injunction Act] and bring a federal challenge to a tax that was imposed on a
non-tribal entity and has no direct impact on the Tribe.”
Though that may be the case, the Tribe believes they still have a case and
that that piece of fact does not alter their claim. They stress that no
taxes on tribal slot machines is legal—and that right is guaranteed to them
under federal protection and legislation and that all of the dismissals from
the town and the state are against federal tribal slot machines law.
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