Today, the Second Circuit Court of Appeals smacked down a New York county assessor's attempt to foreclose upon Cayuga-owned fee lands in a desperate attempt to recover state ad valorem property taxes from the Tribe. Cayuga was a benefactor of both the Oneida Nation's genius mooting of Oneida Indian Nation of N.Y. v. Madison County, before the U.S. Supreme Court, as well as the Bay Mills Tribe's lucky win before the Supreme Court in Michigan v. Bay Mills Indian Community. Bay Mills should have been mooted too.
The Cayuga decision represents another win in a surprising run for tribes in state property tax or fee assessment disputes before federal circuit courts of appeals.
Last year, the Ninth Circuit struck down property taxes on permanent improvement to Chehalis tribal trust lands in Confederated Tribes of Chehalis Reservation v. Thurston County Bd. of Equalization; and the Seventh Circuit struck down a local assessment of stormwater "fees" against Oneida trust lands in Oneida Tribe of Wisc. Indians v. City of Hobart.
Amidst serial federal court losses in other state-tribal tax contexts (i.e. sales and excise taxation), it seems that Indian property tax or tax-related cases are still winnable. See also Crow Tribe of Indians v. Montana (9th Cir. 1987). Granted, Cayuga was a sovereign immunity, not Bracker, case but the county's suggested in rem exception to tribal immunity would have catalyzed state taxation of Indian property nationwide.
In any event, Richard Guest of NARF's advice remains sound:
Stay out of the courts! The federal courts are not your friends anymore. The majority of judges sitting on the lower federal courts were appointed by Bush II – very conservative, have no understanding of Indian country at all. No interest in your issues. And that can be said of the Roberts court as well. It’s a very difficult place for tribes to secure victories.
Difficult, but thankfully not impossible, at least in the Indian property tax context.
Gabriel “Gabe” Galanda is the Managing Partner at Galanda Broadman, which handled various Indian tax controversies. He is a citizen of the Round Valley Indian Tribes. Gabe can be reached at 206.300.7801 or gabe@galandabroadman.com.
