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NOVEMBER 22, 2000

The dispute over the legality of a tax imposed on businesses on the Crow Reservation in Montana continues as a county attorney has ordered tax liens removed on non-Indian businesses.

The liens were placed by the Crow Tribe because the businesses failed to remit a 4 percent resort tax. A federal court in August ruled the tax couldn't be collected on non-Indians, however, so the Big Horn County attorney ordered the liens removed per that ruling.

The tribe counters, though, that the ruling is being appealed to the Ninth Circuit Court of Appeals, so the lift on the liens is premature. A similar tax imposed by the Navajo Nation was upheld in the Tenth Circuit, so there may be some resolution needed, possibly in the Supreme Court.

The Crow tribe lost a similar taxation case in the Ninth Circuit in July. Then, the court decided that a tax imposed on a public utility wasn't lawful since the land was effectively passed out of Indian control by Congress. The tribe is planning to appeal that case to the Supreme Court.

Get the Story:
Removal of Crow liens ordered (The Billings Gazette 11/22)

Related Stories:
Crow may appeal tax case to Supreme Court (Tribal Law 09/19)
Crow lose another taxation case (Tribal Law 08/10)
The effects of the Crow tax ruling (Tribal Law 07/21)
Court rules against Crow tax (Tribal Law 07/18)