The suit objects to taxes being charged by those two entities to businesses on tribal land.

“As a matter of federal law, Tulalip is entitled to collect its own tribal taxes on business activities in Quil Ceda Village, and Tulalip will defend its right to function as a sovereign government,” Tribal Chairman Mel Sheldon said in a news release.

Tulalip cannot do that as long as the state and county continue to impose their taxes because businesses and customers in the village would be subject to dual taxation.

For more than a decade the Tulalip Tribes has requested to work with the state and county to reach a fair resolution on the issue, but the requests have been ignored, Sheldon’s release says.

Quil Ceda Village generates approximately $40 million in tax revenues each year, but none goes to Tulalip or the Village.

“This is a grave injustice,” Sheldon said.  “Like any government, Tulalip must generate tax revenues to fund the infrastructure and local government services it provides, which benefit not just village businesses and patrons, but everyone in Snohomish County.”

The Tulalip Tribes and its political subdivision, the Consolidated Borough of Quil Ceda Village, filed the suit in the U.S. District Court for the Western District of Washington, asking the court to permanently enjoin the state of Washington and Snohomish County from imposing and enforcing sales and use, business and occupation, and personal property tax on economic activities within the boundaries of the Quil Ceda Village, to the extent of similar taxes imposed by Tulalip.

”With its own resources, the Tulalip Tribes transformed over 2,000 acres of vacant land into Quil Ceda Village, one of the premier shopping and entertainment destinations in Western Washington,” Sheldon said.  “Today, Quil Ceda Village has over 150 businesses, creating more than 6,000 jobs, attracting up to 60,000 visitors a day, and contributing hundreds of millions of dollars to the north Snohomish County economy.”