Jim Gray: Osage Reservation intact despite court decision

Opinion

Monday, May 3, 2010

"Since 1872, the Osage Nation has been blessed to have one of the many federally established Indian reservations in America. To this day — despite a recent decision by the 10th Circuit U.S. Court of Appeals ruling to the contrary — it remains intact.

According to federal law, any Indian living and working on a federal Indian reservation is exempt from paying state income taxes. However, the Oklahoma Tax Commission argues that the U.S. Congress intended to disestablish the reservation in 1906 under the Osage Allotment Act. That claim is 100 percent false.

Before and after 1906, with very clear language, Congress had specifically disestablished several Indian reservations. That was not the case with the Osage reservation, however.

The Osage Nation bought the land, which most Oklahomans know as Osage County, in 1872 with its own money and established a federal Indian reservation. The Osage Nation's reservations status was later reaffirmed in 2004 when President George W. Bush signed the Osage Nation Reaffirmation Act.

While the Oklahoma Tax Commission failed to identify any clear language to back its argument, the court ruled in its favor. In doing so, it departed from precedent, established new law based on opinions of a handful of historians and glossed-over evidence. We simply cannot let this decision stand, and we have made that clear by filing for rehearing of the case."

Get the Story:
Osage Nation: Defending our reservation (The Tulsa World 5/1)

10th Circuit Decision:
Osage Nation v. Oklahoma (March 8, 2010)