LINCOLN, Neb. (AP) – State tax commissioner Doug Ewald says the decision to seize $14,000 worth of cigarettes from the Ponca Tribe of Nebraska was a mistake.
Ewald said Monday that last week's seizure was based on a misunderstanding.
State officials took the cigarettes from Ponca Smoke Signals, a tribally owned shop, after discovering that employees had failed to affix its packages with a state tax stamp.
Ewald said state officials falsely believed the tribe was subject to Nebraska's tax-stamp laws because it occupies federal trust land, and not a reservation. He said a closer review revealed that tribal trust land enjoys the same protections from the state.
The cigarettes were returned Monday to the store in Niobrara (nigh-oh-BRAR'-ah) in northeast Nebraska. Ewald said he personally apologized to the tribal chairwoman, Rebecca White.