Judge keeps Osage income tax lawsuit alive

In a case with potentially far-reaching implications, a Denver appeals court has kept alive a lawsuit seeking to exempt many Osage Nation members from paying state income taxes.

The 10th U.S. Circuit Court of Appeals returned the lawsuit to a federal judge in Tulsa. However, a state Tax Commission attorney said a trial probably still is years away.

The lawsuit, filed by the Osage Nation in 2001, seeks income tax exemption under a federal law that prohibits such taxes on tribal members who live in "Indian country.” Indian country includes reservations, dependent Indian communities or trust land.

Osage officials maintain that the tribe never surrendered its 1.5-million-acre reservation. Additionally, Congress never changed the reservation's legal status, not even when Oklahoma became a state in 1907, the tribe claims.

State officials say the reservation was incorporated into Oklahoma at statehood and therefore lost its legal status.

In its ruling last week, the appeals court twice noted that the eventual outcome of the lawsuit may alter Oklahoma's sovereignty.

Page 1 of 2

1 2 Next