Follow Up: Muscogee Creek Nation files suit against Tax Commission for cigarette seizure.

As reported last week, agents with the Oklahoma Tax Commission stopped two Muscogee Creek Nation trucks, with the help of state highway patrol, and seized $108,000 worth of cigarettes. The tribe has now filed suit in Tulsa's federal district court. 

 

The Commission said that the two loads would have pulled in $42,000 worth of taxes which would have been lost by the state if the tobacco had been sold. As reported on Tulsa World, “[t]he cigarettes were not on the state's Master Settlement Agreement roster, which lists what brands can legally be sold in the state. None had tax stamps.” The tribe alleges that ‘[e]ach stop and seizure happened without a warrant, without the driver's consent and without probable cause.” The Tax Commission asserts that the stops and seizures did not violate the Fourth and Fourteenth Amendments to the Constitution because pursuant to state law the highway patrol is allowed to “stop and inspect trucks without a search warrant if they are believed to be carrying contraband cigarettes.”  

 

A motion for preliminary injunction has been filed. The judge has asked both sides to submit briefs on the motion by Tuesday, and has asked the Tax Commission to refrain from pulling over Muscogee Creek Nation vehicles that are carrying tobacco until the motion can be ruled upon.

 

You can read the full story on Tulsa World.

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