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Law
Supreme Court urged not to take Indian tax case


The state of Connecticut is urging the U.S. Supreme Court not to hear an Indian tax case.

Jo-Ann Dark Eyes, a member of the Mashantucket Pequot Tribal Nation, says she shouldn't have to pay taxes for income she earned between 1996 and 1998. She was on the tribal council at the time and lived on land within the tribe's settlement area as defined by Congress.

But since the land wasn't actually taken into trust until 1988, the state says she owes about $200,000 in taxes and interest. In a decision published this past January, the Connecticut Supreme Court told her to pay the taxes.

Dark Eyes filed a petition with the U.S. Supreme Court on May 15. The state filed its opposition brief on Tuesday [Case Documents].

Get the Story:
Blumenthal Urges High Court Against Dark Eyes Appeal (The New London Day 7/19)
pwday

Court Decision:
Dark-Eyes v. Commissioner of Revenue Services (January 3, 2006)

Related Stories:
Connecticut's top court hears Indian taxation case (09/07)
Connecticut towns join case over Indian taxation (08/10)
Connecticut towns want to join case over taxation (07/30)
Brief filed in Indian taxation case in Connecticut (07/19)
State claims tribal tax decision could be costly (05/21)
Mashantucket Tribe joins appeal over taxation (5/20)