Tax
Cigarette tax; Indian Country

To get a refund of cigarette taxes under sec. 139.323, the sale must occur on land designated as trust land on or before Jan. 1, 1983.

"First, we can discern no rationale for anchoring the time limitation in Wis. Stat. § 139.323(3) to a broader concept of trust land than that in the introductory paragraph. In other words, we see no purpose in having a time period during which the property where the sale occurred meets the condition of subsec. (3) but for which no refund is available because the land was not held in trust at the time of the sale. The Nation offers no rationale for this discrepancy.

"Second, tying the date in Wis. Stat. § 139.323(3) to the approval of the request to purchase produces uncertainty regarding the lands that will be eligible for the refunds.

Because § 139.323 affects the State's revenues,[10] it is more reasonable that the legislature intended to choose a certain method of determining which lands would qualify for the refunds. Lands that were held in trust by the United States government on or before January 1, 1983, would be easy to determine. Lands for which the Secretary had approved purchase before that date might or might not be finally acquired and would take varying and unpredictable amounts of time to be finally acquired." Affirmed.

Recommended for publication in the official reports.

2007AP1985 Ho-Chunk Nation v. DOR

Dist. IV, Dane County, O'Brien, J., Vergeront, J

Attorneys: For Appellant: Sheu, Edward P., Minneapolis, MN; For Respondent: Creeron, F. Thomas , III, Madison

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