The Gila River Indian Community (the Tribe) appeals the district court’s dismissal of its action for declaratory and injunctive relief. The Tribe sought to enjoin Paul Waddell, in his capacity as Director of the Arizona Department of Revenue (the State), from imposing a tax on the sale of tickets and concessionary items in connection with the sporting and cultural activities that take place on the Gila Reservation. The Tribe claimed that the doctrines of federal preemption and tribal sovereignty preclude the State from levying taxes on entertainment events occurring wholly on reservation property. The district court dismissed the Tribe’s suit for failure to state a claim. We reverse.
I.
We accept the allegations of fact found in the Tribe’s complaint as true for purposes of reviewing the dismissal of its action for failure to state a claim.
Abramson v. Brownstein,
In the early 1970s, the Tribe constructed a lake and marina on its reservation wholly from federal funds. With the assistance and supervision of the Bureau of Indian Affairs, the Tribe sought to develop these facilities, known as Firebird Lake and the Sun Valley Marina, in a manner that would foster its economic growth. It chartered the Sun Valley Marina Corporation (Sun Valley), a tribal entity, and leased to it the Firebird Lake property. This lease was authorized by the Secretary of the Interior pursuant to 25 U.S.C. § 415 (1988), which provides that the Secretary must review and approve the lease of all lands held in trust for a tribe by the United States.
In April of 1983, Sun Valley subleased four separate parcels of the Firebird Lake property, including the lake, to a non-Indian partnership known as Firebird International Raceway Park (Firebird). The lease, which again was approved by the Secretary of the Interior, provided that Firebird would construct substantial improvements on the property in order to conduct motor and aquatic racing events. Pursuant to the lease, Firebird built improvements around the lake to facilitate boat racing, constructed a drag strip and other racing tracks for automobiles, erected bleachers to seat more than fifteen thousand people, and built picnic facilities, restrooms and concession stands. Under the terms of the lease, these improvements belong in their entirety to the Tribe. Firebird further pays the Tribe a sizeable base rent annually, as well as a graduated percentage of its gross receipts in excess of four million dollars. In addition, the Tribe taxes the sale of
Firebird subleased, with the approval of the Secretary and the Tribe, a portion of the Gila property to another non-Indian entity, the JBD Corporation (known as Compton Terrace), for the construction and operation of an amphitheater for the performing arts. In accordance with the terms of the sublease, Compton Terrace built a theater, restrooms and dressing facilities, and Firebird constructed additional concession buildings and a road leading to various parking areas. These improvements also belong to the Tribe. The Tribe further receives a percentage of Compton Terrace's gross receipts for each performance, and places a sales tax on theater tickets, concessions and souvenirs. As in the case with Firebird, Compton Terrace employs a significant number of Tribal members in connection with its operations. Compton Terrace began putting on shows at the Tribe's facilities in late 1984.
The State assessed its transaction privilege tax of five percent on Compton Terrace's ticket revenues during the 1987 and 1988 seasons. It has also advised Firebird that it must commence paying the same tax in connection with the sporting events which it conducts on the Tribe's property. On May 31, 1990, the Tribe filed the instant suit seeking declaratory and injunctive relief from the imposition of the State's taxes on events occurring on its reservation.
II.
The district court has jurisdiction under 28 U.S.C. §* 1331 and 1362. The barrier posed by 28 U.S.C. § 1341 to suits in federal court challenging the assessment, levy or collection of State taxes does not apply to actions commenced by an Indian tribe. Moe v. Confederated Salish & Kootenai Tribes,
We review de novo a district court's dismissal of an action for failure to state a claim. Abramson,
III.
The Supreme Court has addressed on a number of occasions the efforts of states to impose taxes on non-Indians conducting business on Indian reservations, and has repeatedly declared that there exists "no rigid rule" governing such exercises of State authority. White Mountain
Apache Tribe v. Bracker,
A.
The Court has stressed that the standards generally used to determine
Rather than relying on the normal principles of preemption, the Court has declared that a determination as to whether a state’s efforts to regulate non-Indians engaging in on-reservation activity are preempted “call[s] for a particularized inquiry into the nature of the state, federal, and tribal interests at stake, an inquiry designed to determine whether, in the specific context, the exercise of state authority would violate federal law.”
Id.
at 145,
On a number of occasions, the Court has found state efforts to tax the activities of non-Indians on tribal reservations preempted by federal law. In
Bracker,
the Court invalidated the State of Arizona’s attempts to collect motor vehicle taxes from a non-Indian logging company doing business on a reservation. The Court observed that strong federal and tribal interests were implicated by the comprehensive federal regulation of the harvesting of Indian timber. Federal statutes provide that the Secretary of the Interior must approve all sales of such timber, and require a determination of where the best interests of the Indian owners of the timber lie in deciding whether to grant approval.
The
Bracker
Court concluded that “the federal regulatory scheme is so pervasive as to preclude the additional burdens sought to be imposed in this case ... There is no room for [the state’s] taxes in the comprehensive federal regulatory scheme.”
Id.
at 148,
In contrast to these federal and tribal interests, the State posited only a generalized interest in raising revenue. It did not assert that its taxes would fulfill a legitimate regulatory purpose. Nor did it claim that the tax represented compensation for services provided in connection with the logging activities.
Id.
at 150,
In
Ramah Navajo School Bd. v. New Mexico,
However, the Court has not always perceived the federal, tribal and state interests to weigh in favor of the preemption of state efforts to tax on-reservation activities involving non-Indians. In a trio of decisions, the Court has upheld the imposition of state tobacco taxes on the sale of cigarettes to non-Indians by stores located on tribal reservations.
See Oklahoma Tax Commission v. Potawatomi Indian Tribe,
— U.S. -,
In Colville, the Court elaborated on the reasoning underpinning these decisions. The cigarettes sold by reservation stores to non-Indians do not incorporate materials produced on tribal land, nor do the tribes participate in any meaningful way in their design or manufacture. The tribes simply import the cigarettes onto the reservation, where they are sold to individuals who take them back off. The only value the tribes proffer to the general public is the value in not having to pay the state sales tax which would otherwise apply. Neither the federal government nor the Tribes have a legitimate interest, the Court concluded, in marketing this sort of tax loophole.
It is painfully apparent that the value marketed by the smokeshops to persons coming from outside is not generated on the reservations by activities in which the Tribes have a significant interest. What the smokeshops offer these customers, and what is not available elsewhere, is solely an exemption from state taxation ... We do not believe that principles of federal Indian law ... authorize Indian tribes thus to market an exemption from state taxation to persons who would normally do their business elsewhere.
Colville,
In
Cotton Petroleum Corp. v. New Mexico,
In this case, the Tribe alleges active involvement in the production of the entertainment events which take place on its reservation. Not only did the Tribe initially develop the Firebird Lake property and select, after detailed negotiations, the companies that would conduct sporting and theatrical activities there, but it continues to work closely with those companies to ensure that they provide high quality entertainment to the public. Thus, the Tribe alleges that it actively regulates and monitors the Firebird Lake property, enforcing tribal ordinances concerned with water quality, pest control, sanitation and sewage disposal. Exercising its authority under the leases, the Tribe further limits the size of the audiences which may attend performances, approves or rejects proposed additional construction by its lessees, and coordinates law enforcement and security at the events conducted on its land.
That a tribe plays an active role in generating activities of value on its reservation gives it a strong interest in maintaining those activities free from state interference and distinguishes its situation from that of tribes which simply allow the sale of items such as cigarettes to take place on their reservations.
See California v. Cabazon Band of Mission Indians,
Here the Tribes are not merely importing a product onto the reservations for immediate resale to non-Indians. They have built modern facilities which provide recreational opportunities and ancillary services to their patrons, who do not simply drive onto the reservations, make purchases and depart, but spend extended periods of time there enjoying the services the Tribes provide. The Tribeshave a strong incentive to provide comfortable, clean, and attractive facilities and well-run games in order to increase attendance at the games_ [T]he Ca-bazon and Morongo Bands are generating value on the reservations through activities in which they have a substantial interest.
Cabazon,
Furthermore, the Tribe alleges the existence of strong federal interests and a comprehensive federal regulatory scheme governing the development and leasing of its Firebird Lake property. The Tribe asserts that it first constructed the Firebird Lake and Sun Valley Marina complex using federal funds and assistance. The Bureau of Indian Affairs strongly supported the development project as a means of furthering the Tribe’s economic well-being. The Tribe’s subsequent leasing of the Firebird Lake property to its own tribal corporation and then to the Firebird International Raceway Park and the Compton Terrace corporation required the approval of the Secretary of the Interior pursuant to 25 U.S.C. § 415 (1988).
Section 415 establishes a federal regulatory scheme governing the leasing of tribal lands similar to that described by the Bracker Court as controlling the harvesting of Indian timber. It provides that the Secretary of the Interior must authorize all leases of reservation property, and establishes certain factors which the Secretary must consider before giving approval. Included among these factors are the uses to which the land will be put and the effect of those uses on neighboring tribal property, the availability of services appropriate to the maintenance of the uses, and the quality and safety of any structures to be erected pursuant to the leases. As is the case with timber harvesting, the Secretary has also promulgated detailed regulations governing leasing to ensure “the highest economic return to the [tribal] owner consistent with prudent management and conservation practices_” 25 C.F.R. § 162.8 (1991). These regulations govern the length of leases and the terms under which leases will be approved. 25 C.F.R. §§ 162.1-162.14 (1991). They are of a scope and detail sufficient to support an argument that, as the Supreme Court held in Bracker and Ramah, there exists no room for additional regulation by the State. The Tribe has thus alleged precisely the sort of federal involvement in the leasing of its Firebird Lake property that could support a claim for the preemption of the State’s taxing authority.
The Tribe, finally, has alleged that the factors which led the Supreme Court in Cotton Petroleum to reject a challenge to the imposition of state taxes do not exist in this case. The Tribe asserts that Arizona’s assessment of a transaction privilege tax will cause it “direct, serious, and irreparable injury and economic loss_” (Complaint ¶ 25). Unlike the tribe in Cotton Petroleum, which was found to be entirely unaffected by the taxes at issue in that case, the Tribe here alleges that it receives significant revenues from the theatrical and sporting events that take place on its property, in the form of a base rent paid by its lessees, a percentage of their gross receipts, and a sales tax, and that those revenues would suffer from the imposition of the Arizona tax. The district court found, indeed, in rejecting the State’s claim that the Tribe lacked standing to bring this action, that the Tribe “would be affected, in a real economic sense, if [state] taxes were imposed upon [its] tenants.” Memorandum Decision at 3.
Furthermore, the Tribe asserts that the state interests which the
Cotton Petroleum
Court considered decisive in conducting its preemption balancing are not present in this case. The
Cotton Petroleum
Court noted that New Mexico had provided sub
In dismissing the Tribe’s complaint, the district court lent dispositive weight to the State’s assertion, made in its memorandum in support of its Motion to Dismiss, that any criminal charges concerning non-Indians attending the Firebird Lake events, and any tort or contract disputes arising out of those events, would fall under the jurisdiction of the State court system. In doing so, it ignored the elementary principle that a court reviewing a motion to dismiss for failure to state a claim should not look beyond the facts as alleged in the plaintiff’s complaint, but should accept those facts as true and construe them in the light most favorable to the plaintiff.
Scheuer v. Rhodes,
Furthermore, even if the district court acted properly in taking into consideration the State’s assertions of interest at this early stage of the litigation, those assertions do not warrant dismissal at this point in the proceedings. We have previously held that a State may avoid the preemption of its taxing authority in a case where strong federal and tribal interests exist only if its taxes are “narrowly tailored” to funding the services it provides in connection with the activities taking place on tribal land.
Crow Tribe Of Indians v. Montana,
Thus, we conclude that the Tribe has stated a cognizable claim that the transaction privilege tax which the State of Arizona seeks to impose on the activities taking place on its reservation is preempted by federal law.
B.
The Tribe has also alleged facts which, if proved, would suggest that Arizona’s tax impermissibly interferes with the Tribe’s right to govern itself. The doctrine of tribal self-government, while constituting an independent barrier to the assertion of state taxing authority over activities taking place on tribal reservations, bears some resemblance to that of federal preemption.
Bracker,
The Tribe’s “interest in raising revenues for essential governmental programs ... is strongest when the revenues are derived from value generated on the reservation by activities involving the Tribes and when the taxpayer is the recipient of tribal services. The State[’s] ... interest is likewise strongest when the tax is directed at off-reservation value and when the taxpayer is the recipient of state services.”
Colville,
The Tribe is entitled to prove these allegations on remand. To sustain its claim of impermissible interference with tribal self-government, it will have to show that the State’s taxes “substantially affect its ability to offer governmental services or its ability to regulate the development of tribal resources, and that the balance of state and tribal interests renders the state’s assertion of taxing authority unreasonable.”
Crow I,
IV.
The decision of the district court is REVERSED and the case is REMANDED for further proceedings in which the Tribe will have the opportunity to prove that Arizona’s efforts to impose its transaction privilege tax on the entertainment events taking place at Firebird Lake are either preempted by federal law or prohibited by the doctrine of tribal self-government.
