Chad Hunter
Cherokee Phoenix
OKLAHOMA CITY – On July 1, the Oklahoma Supreme Court rejected an attempt to exempt tribal citizens living and working within their own reservations from personal state income taxes.
The 6-3 opinion supported the Oklahoma Tax Commission’s fall 2022 decision that Muscogee (Creek) Nation citizen Alicia Stroble is subject to state income taxation. She and others, including the Cherokee Nation, have argued that because she lives and works on the MCN reservation within Indian Country, she is immune to state income tax under federal law.
“Today’s decision by the Oklahoma Supreme Court was wrong,” Cherokee Nation Principal Chief Chuck Hoskin Jr. said in a statement following the opinion’s release. “The Cherokee Nation’s views on this matter have remained consistent and in line with settled law: Our reservation is Indian Country, as affirmed by the U.S. Supreme Court’s decision in McGirt and related cases.”
Chief Justice Dustin Rowe supported the opinion, arguing that the U.S. Supreme Court “has not extended its ruling in McGirt to Oklahoma’s civil jurisdiction or taxing jurisdiction.”
“Nor is it our place to do so,” he added.
In his dissenting opinion, Justice Douglas Lee Combs wrote that the majority’s insistence that McGirt is limited to defining Indian Country only for purposes of federal criminal law “is simply a cherry picked statement out of a broader discussion.”
The Cherokee Nation and other tribes were party to Stroble v. Oklahoma Tax Commission via amicus curiae briefs, or “friend of the court” briefs, which allow interested parties to speak to the court on the subject matter at hand.
“I am proud of our advocacy in this case on the side of tribal sovereignty, and that advocacy must continue,” Hoskin said. “As we review today’s decision, we have serious concerns that the rule of law and the rights of tribes are being blatantly ignored. Established law sets guidelines surrounding taxation of tribal citizens, but this decision seemingly runs counter to those guidelines.”
Stroble had initially filed for a refund on her 2017 through 2019 state income taxes. Her supporters cited previous cases that include Oklahoma Tax Commission v. Sac & Fox Nation (1993) and McGirt v. Oklahoma (2020), a decision that held Congress never disestablished the MCN reservation, and through later state-level cases, other Oklahoma tribes, including the Cherokee Nation. A brief filed in 2023 by the Cherokee, Chickasaw and Choctaw nations states they have a special interest in the Oklahoma Tax Commission’s “claim of authority to tax Indians who live and work in Indian Country – and, in this instance, work directly for their own tribe – as it threatens the Nations’ sovereignty.”
In his statement, Hoskin says it’s “unfortunate” that Oklahoma Gov. Kevin Stitt “continues to mislead Oklahomans by describing this case as tied to ‘race-based tax exemptions.’”
“That’s simply not true,” Hoskin added. “It’s about respecting the law and long-established precedent. Tribal nations are critical to success in Oklahoma, continuing to drive economic growth and investment in infrastructure, education and public safety. Cherokee Nation stands ready to fight for our sovereignty wherever it is threatened, and we are evaluating our next steps as a result of this decision.”