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Tuesday, August 19, 2003

California Indians "live in exclusive homes, drive expensive cars and don't pay a penny in state taxes," according to Fox News.

Picking up on a July 25 story in The Los Angeles Times, Fox claims the U.S. Constitution gave tribes sovereignty. It then quotes two people who are critical of a "small, very wealthy group" of Indians are free from all forms of state taxation.

Fox doesn't report that the vehicle fee exemption only applies to members of California tribes who live on reservations. Less than 20,000 Native Americans qualify, out of nearly 630,000 Native Americans in the state, according to the U.S.Census.

The Los Angeles Times, in its story, claimed that "many" Indians are exempt from taxation but did not provide the U.S. Census numbers. The only example The Times gave was exemption from the state's vehicle tax.

Get the Story:
Indian Casinos Earn Rebuke From Tax Hawks (Fox News 8/19)

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