[Congressional Bills 106th Congress]
[From the U.S. Government Publishing Office]
[S. 550 Introduced in Senate (IS)]







106th CONGRESS
  1st Session
                                 S. 550

To provide for the collection of certain State taxes from an individual 
                who is not a member of an Indian tribe.


_______________________________________________________________________


                   IN THE SENATE OF THE UNITED STATES

                             March 4, 1999

  Mr. Gorton introduced the following bill; which was read twice and 
              referred to the Committee on Indian Affairs

_______________________________________________________________________

                                 A BILL


 
To provide for the collection of certain State taxes from an individual 
                who is not a member of an Indian tribe.

    Be it enacted by the Senate and House of Representatives of the 
United States of America in Congress assembled,

SECTION 1. SHORT TITLE.

    This Act may be cited as the ``State Excise, Sales, and Transaction 
Tax Enforcement Act of 1999''.

SEC. 2. FINDINGS.

    Congress finds that--
            (1) through a long line of decisions, the United States 
        Supreme Court has established that States have the right to 
        collect lawfully imposed nondiscriminatory State excise, sales, 
        and transaction taxes on the purchase of a good or service from 
        an Indian tribe (including a tribal government or tribal 
        corporation) by a person who is not a member of that Indian 
        tribe;
            (2) the collection of those State taxes has been impeded by 
        the assertion of tribal immunity by Indian tribes (including 
        tribal governments and tribal corporations) and members of 
        Indian tribes as a defense in Federal actions in Federal 
        courts; and
            (3) the failure of an Indian tribe (including a tribal 
        government or tribal corporation) or a member of an Indian 
        tribe to act as an agent of a State to collect such a State 
        tax--
                    (A) unlawfully deprives that State of essential tax 
                revenues needed for making improvements to 
                infrastructure and ensuring the health and welfare of 
                all of the citizens of that State; and
                    (B)(i) creates a disadvantage for law-abiding 
                businesses that are not associated with the Indian 
                tribe and that fulfill an obligation to act as an agent 
                of the State; and
                    (ii) as a result of that disadvantage, some of 
                those businesses may be forced out of business.

SEC. 3. COLLECTION OF STATE TAXES.

    Section 1362 of title 28, United States Code, is amended--
            (1) by inserting ``(a) In General.--'' before ``The 
        district courts''; and
            (2) by adding at the end the following:
    ``(b) Collection of Qualified State Taxes by Indian Tribes.--
            ``(1) Definitions.--In this subsection:
                    ``(A) Good or service.--The term `good or service' 
                includes any tobacco product or motor fuel (within the 
                meaning of the Internal Revenue Code of 1986).
                    ``(B) Indian tribe.--The term `Indian tribe' 
                means--
                            ``(i) an Indian tribe or band referred to 
                        in subsection (a); and
                            ``(ii) any governing body or tribal 
                        corporation of such a tribe or band.
                    ``(C) Qualified state tax.--
                            ``(i) In general.--The term `qualified 
                        State tax' means any lawfully imposed, 
                        nondiscriminatory excise, sales, or transaction 
                        tax imposed by a State on a purchase of a good 
                        or service from a tribal retail enterprise by a 
                        person who is not a member of the Indian tribe 
that is (or with respect to which a member is) the owner or operator of 
the tribal retail enterprise.
                            ``(ii) Exceptions.--The term does not 
                        include any State tax otherwise described in 
                        clause (i) if--
                                    ``(I) as of the date of enactment 
                                of the State Excise, Sales, and 
                                Transaction Tax Enforcement Act of 
                                1999, the tribal retail enterprise is 
                                exempted under the law of that State 
                                from collecting and remitting that tax 
                                because the Indian tribe associated 
                                with that tribal retail enterprise 
                                imposes and collects an equivalent tax 
                                on such sale in an amount equal to the 
                                tax that would otherwise be imposed by 
                                the State;
                                    ``(II) as of the date of enactment 
                                of the State Excise, Sales, and 
                                Transaction Tax Enforcement Act of 
                                1999, the State has waived the 
                                applicability of that tax to the 
                                purchase of a good or service from that 
                                tribal retail enterprise by a person 
                                who is not a member of the Indian tribe 
                                that is (or with respect to which a 
                                member is) the owner or operator of the 
                                tribal retail enterprise;
                                    ``(III) as of the date of enactment 
                                of the State Excise, Sales, and 
                                Transaction Tax Enforcement Act of 
                                1999, the tax is the subject of an 
                                agreement between a tribal retail 
                                enterprise and a State that exempts 
                                that tribal retail enterprise from 
                                collecting and remitting that tax; or
                                    ``(IV) the incidence of the tax 
                                falls on an Indian tribe or member of 
                                an Indian tribe.
                    ``(D) Tribal immunity.--The term `tribal immunity' 
                means the immunity of an Indian tribe from jurisdiction 
                of the Federal courts, judicial review of an action of 
                that Indian tribe, or any other remedy.
                    ``(E) Tribal retail enterprise.--The term `tribal 
                retail enterprise' includes any entity that--
                            ``(i) is owned or operated by an Indian 
                        tribe or member of an Indian tribe; and
                            ``(ii) engages in the business of the 
                        wholesale or retail sales of a good or service.
            ``(2) Collection of qualified state taxes.--The owner or 
        operator of a tribal retail enterprise shall collect and remit 
        applicable qualified State taxes.
            ``(3) Conflict resolution.--
                    ``(A) Declaratory judgments.--A State may bring an 
                action for a declaratory judgment under section 2201 in 
                a district court of appropriate jurisdiction concerning 
                the applicability or lawfulness of a qualified State 
                tax.
                    ``(B) Actions.--A State may bring an action against 
                a tribal retail enterprise or the Indian tribe or 
                member of an Indian tribe that owns or operates the 
                tribal retail enterprise in a district court of 
                appropriate jurisdiction to enforce the collection or 
                remittance of a qualified State tax under paragraph 
                (2).
                    ``(C) Waiver of tribal immunity.--In an action 
                referred to in subparagraph (A) or (B), to the extent 
                necessary to obtain a judgment in that action, the 
                tribal immunity of the Indian tribe is waived.''.

SEC. 4. APPLICABILITY.

    The amendments made by section 3 shall apply to sales of goods or 
services referred to in section 1362(b) of title 28, United States 
Code, as added by section 3, that are made after the date of enactment 
of this Act.
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