I have a question that occured to me the other day. Do Native Americans(those living on reservations) have to pay any taxes for public schooling?
I know that they have tax exemptions for many things (casinos come to mind), but is that true for public school taxes? From my understanding, most of the funding for public schooling comes from property taxes, and Native Americans don’t pay any property taxes if living on a reservation.
When I was going to High School, around 3-4% of my class was comprised of Native Americans that also lived on a reservation, so I do know that some Native Americans living on reservations do attend public schools, but as I said before, do they pay taxes for the schooling?
It’s a messy business. But the short version is this, from Infoplease:
But attempts are ongoing to dilute the sovereignty of Indian nations. See Washington v Confederated Tribes of Colville Indian Reservation, 447 U.S. 134, 160-61, 100 S. Ct. 2069, 2084-85 (1980); LMoe v. Confederated Salish & Kootenai tribes of Flathead Reservation 425U.S. 463, 475-476, 96 S.Ct. 1634, 1642 (1976); and New York Dept of Taxation & Finance v. Milhelm Attea & Bros., 114 S. Ct. 2028, 2031 (1994), which are cases that appear to authorize states to collect taxes from Indians who sell goods to non-Indian consumers.
See also Senate Bill 550, introduced by Slade Gorton (R, WA), and House Resolution 1814, introduced by Peter Visclosky (D, IN) as evidence of the continued encroachment on internal Indian affairs.