State and Local Relations (Lexy Becker)

I'm a bit late due to my forgetfulness! I'm sure everyone read it (or can already assume from the title) but this chapter talked about how the state and the tribe have interacted. One thing I wanted to focus on is the recurring issue of taxation and public services. The book states, "Some local officials complain that Indians living on reservations require services that must be paid for by property taxes, but Indians do not pay this tax."* They also continue to talk about later on how tensions between the tribe and the state are releasing due to the success of the casinos.
I looked up some of the Casinos mentioned in the book and I found the Mille Lac Ojibwe Tribe to be extremely interesting. For those who don't know, they own the Grand Casino enterprise. This may be a good example of a tribe who prefers to have steady connection to the state and various counties. They defend themselves saying,

"The Mille Lacs Band, the Corporate Commission, and Grand Casino Mille Lacs paid $395,226 in property taxes to Mille Lacs County in 2008.The Mille Lacs Band, the Corporate Commission, and Grand Casino Hinckley paid $1,039,881 in property taxes to Pine County in 2008. The Mille Lacs Band and the Corporate Commission paid $56,308 in property taxes to Aitkin County in 2008." **


As we talked about in class today, there are far more tribes who offer money in order prove their willingness to negotiate. If you would like to read more on what's contributed, I provided some links down below.

1. http://www.shakopeedakota.org/4neighbor.html
2. http://www.millelacsojibwe.org/Page_FactSheet_Benefiting.aspx
3.http://www.maicc.org/tourism.aspx

*Graves, Kathy Davis, and Ebbot, Elizabeth. Fifth Edition: Indians in Minnesota.

Minneapolis: University of Minnesota Press, 2006.

**Millelacsojibwe.org. Benefiting the Local Economy. Retrieved 5 October 2009 from Millelacsojibwe.org: http://www.millelacsojibwe.org/Page_FactSheet_Benefiting.aspx