Supreme Court Asked To Burn Tobacco Co.'s $58M Tax Tab
Christopher Browning Jr. and Bryan Haynes are mentioned in a Law360 article titled “A Native American tobacco company urged the Supreme Court Asked To Burn Tobacco Co.'s $58M Tax Tab.” The attorneys are representing King Mountain Tobacco Co. Inc., which was founded by a member of the Yakama Nation in a case before the U.S. Supreme Court to resolve a disagreement between lower appellate courts on how to interpret treaty tax provisions, after the Ninth Circuit concluded the company owes $58 million in federal excise taxes. The company also allegedly owes $6.4 million under the Fair and Equitable Tobacco Reform Act, which is tied to the federal excise tax and calculated based on the amount of tobacco removed from a manufacturing facility. According to the article, “King Mountain Tobacco Co. Inc., which was founded by a member of the Yakama Nation, told justices in a petition that the Ninth Circuit failed to consider how the Yakamas would have interpreted an 1855 treaty granting them ‘free access’ to public highways to trade and travel outside reservation boundaries.”