Cornell University’s American Indian Program will host a seminar titled “Indian Economic Futures: Governance and State Taxation” on Aug. 30 and 31 in the David L. Call Alumni Auditorium in Kennedy Hall.

The seminar costs $25 for pre-registrants and $30 at the door; students can apply for a limited number of registration waivers.

The seminar opens Friday with a traditional Iroquois Thanksgiving Address and a keynote address from 7:30 to 9 p.m. by Artley Skenandore, a Wisconsin Oneida, who will speak on traditional principles and business management.

Speakers at Saturday’s sessions, which run from 9 a.m. to 5 p.m., will include Rebecca Adamson, president of the First Nations Development Institute; Robert Porter, a Seneca law professor; and John Mohawk, a historian at SUNY-Buffalo, who will discuss such topics as the history of state-tribal relations relative to jurisdiction and economic sovereignty, and long-term strategic planning around Native enterprises.

Setting the stage for the seminar are two rulings: first, the landmark 1994 U.S. Supreme Court decision that states could collect taxes on gambling casino profits and goods like cigarettes and gasoline sold on reservations; and second, a New York state court decision made earlier this month that mandates a 120-day deadline for the state to collect such taxes.

“This new decision creates intense pressure and heightens the potential for conflict,” according to José Barreiro, associate director of the American Indian Program.

Barreiro said media coverage of the contentious issue of taxation, and the issue itself, has been divisive, and his hope is that the seminar will produce constructive, practical suggestions for shaping the economic futures of Native communities and ensuring continued growth.

In the current issue of the Cornell-based journal Native Americas, editor-in-chief Barreiro writes, “In New York state and elsewhere, Indian reservation businesses . . . have become the backbone of new transition economies. In some cases, Native enterprises have amassed capital bases and investment funds that fuel empowerment through community economics. In other cases, serious conflicts have ensued as businessmen and traditional chief councils lock horns over proper accounting and taxation procedures, proper strategies and proper values.

“Meanwhile, and with certainty, the states want in on Indian revenue and have moved to tax it. The high court backs the states consistently while Indians are still rallying and vowing to fight any erosion of sovereign rights,” Barreiro adds.

For more information about the economic futures seminar, contact the American Indian Program at (607) 255-6587. The seminar is funded in part by the SUNY Western Consortium.