Ledyard Battle over Slot Machine Tax Rages On

The Mashantucket Pequot Indians are trying to keep the town of Ledyard from taxing their slot machines. They say that the town taxes the slot machines that Atlantic City Coin and Slot Service Co. leases them, and thus they are taxing them. They say that as a tribe they are tax exempt, so the town cannot tax them on the slot machines.

The town says that they are not taxing the tribe on the slot machines, they are taxing their leasers. They say that the tax is legal, and that AC Coin must pay it. They say the tribe doesn’t have any say in the matter because it is not them who are being taxed on the slot machines.

The tribe says that to tax AC Coin on the slot machines is to tax them as the tax will only filter down through the price of the slot machines. Therefore, the town is, in fact, taxing the tribe. Connecticut’s Attorney General Richard Blumenthal disagrees.

Blumenthal says that property taxes must be paid on the slot machines and is seeking to dismiss the claim to eliminate the slot machine tax. He says that AC Coin is not entitled to the immunity against tax just because they are dealing with an Indian tribe and that they have to pay the tax.

Blumenthal is upset that the state is trying to get the federal government involved, as he says it is a state matter. He says the slot machine taxation case belongs in state court, and that this is a “meritless attempt” to avoid taxes by AC Coin.

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