Please Help the Crow Creek Sioux Fight Washington and the IRS

Please help the Crow Creek Sioux in their struggle against an unusual land grab by Washington D.C. Have a look at the petition below, and please sign it. The Sioux made a video that explains their desperate situation, with the long but appropriate title, "As Obama promises 100 billion a year for UN Climate Scam, Our people live like this!!!" A summary of the landgrab situation here, from USA Today: SIOUX FALLS, S.D. — About 7,112 acres of land on a poverty-stricken South Dakota Indian reservation was auctioned Thursday by the Internal Revenue Service but the buyer's identity is a mystery. The IRS auctioned the land on one of America's poorest Indian reservations after efforts Wednesday to block the sale in U.S. District Court failed. The Crow Creek Sioux Tribe had gone to court to try and stop the IRS auction to settle overdue employment taxes it claims are owed by the tribe. But the auction went ahead, with a winning bid of $2,577,210, IRS spokeswoman Carrie Resch said "It's the first time I've ever heard of the IRS moving against tribally owned property in this manner," said Robert Williams Jr., a law professor and director of the Indigenous Peoples Law and Policy Program at the University of Arizona. (Source, and full story: USA Today, IRS to auction land on Indian reservation, by Jeff Martin, Dec. 3, 2009, accessed Dec. 22, 2009) An excerpt from the petition reads as follows: On December 3, 2009 the Internal Revenue Service unlawfully auctioned off 7100 acres located on Crow Creek Sioux Tribal land. The land is owned by Crow Creek Tribal Farms, Inc. a Tribal corporation and distinct legal entity from the Crow Creek Sioux Tribe. According to the recent motion for temporary restraining order, filed by the Crow Creek Sioux Tribe, the IRS seized and auctioned the land to recover $3,123,789.73 dollars in unpaid employment taxes. The document states, Because of erroneous tax advice received from the Bureau of Indian Affairs, the Crow Creek Sioux Tribe became delinquent in the payment of employment taxes collected by the IRS beginning in 2003. The BIA had informed the Tribe that, because it was a federally recognized Tribe, it was not necessary to pay federal employment taxes. The Crow Creek Indian Reservation was created by the 1868 Treaty, Act of April 29, 1868, 15 Stat. 635, and by Section 6, Act of March 2, 1889, 25 Stat. 888. "Taxes collectd by the IRS?" Wait a minute. By treaty, the Indian nations are - nations. For Washington to tax any of the reservations created by treaty is illegal. Imagine Canada trying to tax Illinois, Michigan or North Dakota. It's long past time for Washington to live up to the treaties that it made with the Sioux and other Indian nations within our borders. RELATED: Crow Creek gains support of Calif. tribe IRS sells SD Indian tribe's land to settle debt Obama Administration Agrees to Settle 13-Year-Old Indian Lawsuit for $3.4 Billion Crow Creek: Stolen Lands, Wind Farms and Taking a Stand for the People South Dakota Office of Tribal Government Relations -- Crow Creek Sioux Tribe Video: Native American Rights Under Assault Video: Crow Creek Indian Tribe on The Power Hour, 1/9: Government land theft Leave a Comment * Conservative T-Shirts * Follow CNB on Twitter * RSS Feed