Osage Nation members denied state tax exemption by federal judge

The Osage Nation began in 2001 in a federal lawsuit that tribal members living and working in Osage County, Oklahoma, should be exempt from state taxation. Those who live and work on tribal trust land in the county ARE so exempt. The Osage Nation's claim was that, since the Osage Reservation was never formally dis-established by Congress, it continued to exist.....that it consisted of all of the county....and that all 2,296 square miles was therefore ALL Indian Country and hence the claim for the exemption.

But a federal judge disagreed. The Osage Nation is "disappointed." See the story in the Tulsa World HERE, and more in the Native Times website HERE.

twp