The Osage Nation will continue its lawsuit against the Oklahoma Tax Commission, Chief Jim Gray said.

The tribe claims all of Osage County as Indian Country. That would lead to state income tax exemptions for tribal members who live and work in the county.

Judge James Payne, however, rejected that claim in a decision last Friday. He said the tribe only recently argued that the entire county was its reservation.

“The mere mention of the nation’s failure to timely raise this claim indicates that the court has fully failed to understand and consider the facts of this claim,” Gray told The Oklahoma Journal Record.

An appeal to the 10th Circuit Court of Appeals, which previously said the case could proceed, is possible.

Get the Story:
Chief: Federal judge failed to consider merits of tribe’s case (The Oklahoma Journal Record 1/27)

10th Circuit Decision:
Osage Nation v. Oklahoma (December 26, 2007)

Related Stories:
Osage Nation loses state taxation lawsuit (1/26)
Supreme Court won't hear Osage Nation case (10/6)