Taxpayer advocate warns 1 vote could cost U.S. $1 billion

An advocate for American taxpayers is warning that a new bill in Congress could put citizens on the hook for as much as $1 billion.

Expected to see a vote later this month, the bill would ban more casinos in the area north of metropolitan Phoenix.

But since one federally recognized tribe, the Tohono O'odham Nation, already has begun building a casino on its tribal lands, under the law taxpayers likely would be on the hook for whatever profits might have come from the project.

David Williams of the Taxpayer Protection Alliance spotlighted the bill, H.R. 308, by Rep. Trent Franks of Arizona, which would "restrict gaming activities on certain Indian reservation lands."

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"Even though the legislation is vague, the bill would realistically prevent just one tribe, the federal recognized Tohono O'odham Nation, from exercising its right to establish a casino on tribal lands," he wrote recently.

A description of the bill on the House website confirms it would restrict gaming "on land within the Phoenix, Arizona, Metropolitan area acquired by the Secretary of the Interior in trust for the benefit of an Indian tribe after April 9, 2013."

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And the Congressional Budget Office reports the tribe expects to begin operations on its casino resort, now under construction, within a year.

"Based on information from the Tohono O'odham Nation, CBO expects that if H.R. 308 were enacted, the tribe would pursue litigation against the federal government to recover its financial losses caused by the prohibition on gambling," the CBO said.

"Whether the tribe would prevail in such litigation and when those proceedings might be concluded are both uncertain. The basis for any judicial determination of the tribe's financial losses is also uncertain."

But it said its best estimate is that "possible compensation payments from the government could range from nothing to more than $1 billion."

"By prohibiting gambling on land that the tribe is currently planning to use for such a purpose, the bill would impose an intergovernmental mandate, as defined in the Unfunded Mandates Reform Act. … Absent the bill, CBO estimates that the tribe will collect more than $100 million annually once the casino it is building begins operations, probably in 2016."

Williams explained the legislation is "backed exclusively" by several casinos that already are in operation in the area.

"The legislation … is the very worst sort of special interest capitulation," Williams wrote. "And, if adopted, the nonpartisan Congressional Budget Office has warned that taxpayers could be on the hook for upwards of $1 billion."

He called it a "crony capitalist attempt at protecting a special interest."

The situation developed because Congress in 1986 approved the Gila Bend Indian Reservation Land Replacement Act to give the Tohono Nation land to replace property lost in flooding linked to the Army Corps of Engineers' Painted Rock Dam.

It allowed the Tohono O'odham to use its land for "all purposes" involving economic development.

Williams noted that Rep. Tom McClintock, R-Calif., has been among the lawmakers sounding the alarm.

He called out Congress, in a letter, for stepping in to rewrite the deal.

"That is what H.R. 308 does – it targets one tribe, and retroactively prohibits a specific casino, on their reservation land, that is already under construction, because other wealthy interests don't want the competition," he wrote.