State and Tribes Building New Traditions Series: Piecing Together the State-Tribal Tax Puzzle

State-Tribal Relations

States and Tribes Building New Traditions Series

This publication is a product of the State-Tribal Relations Project, a partnership between the National Conference of State Legislatures and the National Congress of American Indians. The NCSL State-Tribal Relations Project policy series is designed to help legislators and tribal leaders gain a greater understanding of the issues affecting each constituency and to identify methods for cooperative policymaking in an issue-specific context.

Piecing Together the State-Tribal Tax Puzzle

By Judy Zelio
March 2005

Citizens receive a myriad of services for their tax dollars. In addition to schools, governments provide public services that range from nursing homes to street lights, from trash collection to law enforcement, from roads to national defense. Federal, tribal, state and local governments recognize the necessity of taxes as the main source of funding for services, even though taxation may be an unpopular topic. All levels of government have collaborated and cooperated in sorting out tax jurisdictional questions in order to ensure that citizens receive the services they need.

Tribal governments have the authority to collect taxes on transactions that occur on tribal lands. Some tribes collect sales, excise or severance taxes. Some tribal governments also receive revenues from tribal gaming operations. Unlike state and local governments, Indian tribal governments do not, as a rule, levy income or property taxes on their reservations. 2005, 16 pages.

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