Last month, Jonathan Smith who is a Medicine Man (i.e. spiritual leader) in the Shinnecock Indian Nation filed a federal lawsuit claiming that imposing federal income tax on him, filing a tax lien and seizing funds from his bank and brokerage accounts violated his religious liberty. The complaint (
full text) in
Smith v. Elkins, (ED NY, filed 12/7/2011), claims that:
Smith's traditional spiritual activities as a Medicine Man are self-funded from Smith's own assets, including use of funds from Smith's personal and business bank accounts....
Smith's spiritual activities are, in part, directed at helping Shinnecock and other Indian peoples heal and overcome the personal and spiritual difficulties which have and continue to afflict them as a People due to their history at the hands of the United States Government and the British Crown over the last 400 years, a history which is passed on generation to generation through traditional oral traditions.
Smith argues that the tax assessment, the lien, and the levy, are prohibited by the free trade provision of The Fort Albany Treaty, 1664; by the
Indian Religious Freedom Act of 1978, by the
Religious Freedom Restoration Act, and by Art. I, Sec. 8 of the Constitution. The
Dec. 22 New York Daily News reported on the filing of the lawsuit. In 2008, in
Smith v. Everson, (ED NY, March 21, 2008), a federal district court dismissed Smith's similar challenge to the assessment of taxes and penalties on him, holding that jurisdiction over that claim lies in the Tax Court.
