Laws, Regulations & Annotations

I

525.0000 INDIANS AND INDIAN LANDS

Annotation 525.0020

525.0020 Possessory Interest Tax. While a possessory interest tax is not preempted by the federal Indian leasing statute, the sovereignty analysis in Gila River Indian Community v. Waddell (1996) 91 F.3d 1232 and in Segundo v. City of Rancho Mirage (1987) 813 F.2d 1387 is nevertheless instructive and relevant to the application of a possessory interest tax to a non-Indian residential lessee of Indian land. Because of the concern for Indian sovereignty and economic self-sufficiency, automatically imposing the tax on any non-Indian possessory interest in Indian land is no more appropriate than automatic refusal to impose the tax on the grounds of preemption. Consideration should always be given to factors such as the role, if any, of the tribe and its members in generating value for the leasing operation, the importance of the revenues produced by the leases to the economic self-sufficiency of the tribe, and the importance of state and county services, such as law enforcement and the judicial system. C 11/9/2000.