The Seneca-Cayuga Tribe of Oklahoma paid $70,185.45 in property taxes for land it owns in New York.

The payment to Cayuga County was the first-ever for taxes owed on the tribe's 229-acre farm. The tribe hopes to use the land for a gaming establishment.

The tribe agreed to pay the taxes in light of the U.S. Supreme Court decision in the Sherill v. Oneida Nation case. In an 8-1 decision, the court said that the Oneida Nation couldn't "unilaterally" revive its sovereignty over ancestral lands that had fallen out of its possession.

The court left open the possibility of following the land-into-trust process to gain a tax exemption.

Get the Story:
Seneca-Cayugas pay back taxes (The Syracuse Post-Standard 8/19)
Tribe pays $70K in taxes (The Auburn Citizen 8/19)
Oklahoma tribe pays back taxes to New York county (AP 8/19)

Oneida Nation Decision:
Syllabus | Opinion [Ginsburg] | Concurrence [Souter] | Dissent [Stevens]

Cayuga Nation Decision:
Cayuga Nation v. New York (June 28, 2005)

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