The Osage Nation is asking the 10th Circuit Court of Appeals to recognize Osage County, Oklahoma, as its reservation.

Congress created the reservation in 1872 and has never diminished it, the tribe said in a brief to the court. That would mean tribal members who live and work in the county don't have to pay state income taxes.

“The nation’s suit is based on well-established federal law prohibiting a state from imposing and collecting tax on income of tribal members who both reside and earn that income in Indian country,” the tribe’s brief stated. “Here, the nation’s Indian country includes all land within the Osage Reservation, as established by an act of Congress in 1872.”

Judge James Payne rejected the claim in a January ruling. He said "Congress and the courts have repeatedly recognized there are no reservations in Oklahoma."

Get the Story:
State, Osage tribal members dispute validity of reservation (The Oklahoma Journal Record 7/28)

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