The Seminole Tribe of Florida has filed a federal lawsuit against the state Department of Revenue, contending that it should be exempt from paying taxes on utilities and the rental of property in its casinos.
The tribe filed the lawsuit last week in U.S. District Court in Fort Lauderdale and argues that the Indian Commerce Clause of the U.S. Constitution bars the state from imposing the taxes. Part of the case centers on a state utility tax that is passed along to the tribe for electricity it uses on tribal land.
The other part stems from a rental tax that the state has imposed on food courts that the tribe leases to companies at the Seminole Hollywood Casino and the Seminole Tampa Casino. The lawsuit says federal law “preempts” state taxing or regulatory authority over such leases.
“The objective of the federal law regulating the leasing of tribal land is to assure that the tribe achieves the highest and best use of its tribal land so that it can fund essential governmental services and to promote tribal economic development, self-sufficiency and self-government,” the lawsuit says. “The imposition of rental tax on rentals paid to the tribe for leases of tribal land adversely affects the economic interests of the tribe and reduces the funds available for the provision of essential governmental services.”
