Oklahoma Ruling on Tribal Citizen Taxation Muddies Precedent

A recent ruling from Oklahoma’s top court that Native Americans living and working on tribal land must pay state income tax has rankled tribal sovereignty advocates, who say the issue is ripe for US Supreme Court review.

“This should be a simple case: a reservation is a reservation is a reservation,” said Riyaz Kanji of Kanji & Katzen PLLC, who represented the Muscogee (Creek) Nation in its attempt to show they were exempt from state taxation under the US Supreme Court’s 2020 decision in McGirt v. Oklahoma. The decision held that the state lacked jurisdiction to criminally prosecute a ...