# Buying Gasoline at an Indian reservation in CA

**URL:** <https://boards.straightdope.com/t/buying-gasoline-at-an-indian-reservation-in-ca/614519>\
**Category:** Factual Questions\
**Created:** [March 2, 2012, 4:09am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/buying-gasoline-at-an-indian-reservation-in-ca/614519 "2012-03-02T04:09:28Z")\
**Posts on this page:** 3\
**Page:** 1

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**Author:** ![Mangosteen](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/m/6a8cbe/32.png) [@Mangosteen](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Mangosteen)\
**Post date:** [March 2, 2012, 4:09am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/buying-gasoline-at-an-indian-reservation-in-ca/614519/1 "2012-03-02T04:09:28Z")

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Coming home to our place in Orange County, CA from AZ, we stopped to get something to eat at the A&W off the freeway near Palm Springs.

Its the same off ramp for the huge Marongo Indian Casino so I assume the area is all within the boundaries of the reservation. I noticed that the gas was priced at least 30 or 40 cents lower than all the other gas stations in the area.

Is there some sort of gasoline tax that doesn’t have to be paid when buying it on an Indian reservation? Or does the casino subsidize the gas station hoping some people will swing over to the casino and blow some money at the slots?

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**Author:** ![joebuck20](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/j/74df32/32.png) [@joebuck20](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/joebuck20)\
**Post date:** [March 2, 2012, 4:46am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/buying-gasoline-at-an-indian-reservation-in-ca/614519/2 "2012-03-02T04:46:39Z")

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> [@Mangosteen](#):
>
> Coming home to our place in Orange County, CA from AZ, we stopped to get something to eat at the A&W off the freeway near Palm Springs.
> 
> Its the same off ramp for the huge Marongo Indian Casino so I assume the area is all within the boundaries of the reservation. I noticed that the gas was priced at least 30 or 40 cents lower than all the other gas stations in the area.
> 
> Is there some sort of gasoline tax that doesn’t have to be paid when buying it on an Indian reservation? Or does the casino subsidize the gas station hoping some people will swing over to the casino and blow some money at the slots?

I don’t have the answer to your question, but I can tell you it’s same in upstate New York. The gas on the Indian reservations there is typically a little cheaper than in the surrounding area.

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**Author:** ![Darryl\_Lict](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/d/7cd45c/32.png) [@Darryl\_Lict](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Darryl_Lict)\
**Post date:** [March 2, 2012, 5:54am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/buying-gasoline-at-an-indian-reservation-in-ca/614519/3 "2012-03-02T05:54:28Z")

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There’s a gas station outside of Bishop California that is apparently on Indian reservation land that is quite a bit cheaper due to what I believe is their exception from some gas taxes.

This [article](http://64.38.12.138/News/archive/002399.asp) talks about some court decisions, although the particular ruling states that states do not have to refund taxes collected questionably on reservations.

> [@](#):
>
> But several courts, including at least two federal courts, have ruled the law does not authorize taxes on Indian reservations.