Is it true that Native Americans don't have to pay taxes?

Question

Someone told me this and they also said if you can prove you have a Native American bloodline/lineage you can get out of paying taxes. If this is true couldn't thousands if not millions of people trace their family tree and find some Indian blood. How does that work?

Yeah but what about the Native American ancestry part of the question?

Answer 1

I think it is true for those who live on tribal land - Reservations.
Certainly not those who live elsewhere.
OK .. I defer to Coragryph ...(and I looked it up ;O)
They pay federal income taxes even on the reservation.
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As to the ancestry part, it isn't really relevant as far as taxes go.
Native American or not, If you live on a reservation you will pay Federal income tax. If you work on the reservation, you will be subject to any taxes the reservation might impose.
If you work off the reservation (Native American or not) you will be subject to the taxes of the state in which you work.
I presume, If you want your bloodline to accepted into the particular tribe, you will have to take it up with the tribal council.

Answer 2

Many Native Americans do pay taxes. Like most people, Native Americans are hard-working people with jobs that obligate them to pay income tax.

The exceptions are those individual Native Americans who do not earn enough income to be taxed or have property that is held in trust by the tribe. As the US government views the tribal lands as sovereign, the state and local government can not levy taxes on tribal property.

Answer 3

i live close to the Otoe-Missouri reservation and the Osage Nation rez is just across the river. beautiful land!

tribal citizens living on the reservation — on non-taxable trust lands — are not subject to local or state property and income taxes. That's because they fall under tribal jurisdiction, not the state.

Tribes try to make up lost tax revenues by creating businesses, such as casinos. Those enterprises are no different than state-owned lotteries, which don't pay federal income taxes either.

not all who have native american ancestors are able to be on the tribal rolls. one has to have proof that you are part of the original tribe to do so. recently dna testing has been done and may become accepted evidence.

Answer 4

Every Native American who receives income must pay federal income taxes along the same guidelines as everyone else. Most also pay state income taxes. Only the small percentage of American Indians who both live and work on the reservation are exempt from paying state taxes. The reason for this is very simple: Reservations are not part of the state. They are sovereign lands. Our sovereignty is a legally guaranteed right outlined in treaties and protected in the U.S. Constitution. A recent Minnesota Supreme Court decision on sovereignty says, "Indian tribes are not states; nevertheless, they possess a kind of sovereignty superior to that of states but inferior to that of the federal government." Asking people who both live and work on the reservation to pay taxes to the state of Minnesota would be like asking people who live and work in Minnesota to pay taxes to the state of Wisconsin.

Answer 5

I once knew a Cherokee guy, lived a little north of me in PA (had a class together at an art school down here), and he had all the same headaches as the rest of us...

Granted he was not living on a reservation, where people have more say over their own rules...but I think even they are still subjected to a lot of what other people still have.

So no, genes won't get you out of it.

(P.S. And I do mean "real" Cherokee...not the lily white "great grandma was a princess" type...)

Answer 6

The state governments have no jurisdiction over Indian territories. Thus, no tax on tobacco is one example. Reservations have their own police force, also. You can consider the treaties the US government made with the various Indian nations to be above the US Constitution. So, to answer your question: whatever lands the various Indian nations have control over, there can be no taxes, distribution of wealth to registered members of the tribes and some social benefits.

Answer 7

That only applies to "CANADIAN INDIANS", they flash their reserve registration cards and don't even pay sales tax.

Here in the states the ONLY taxes we can get out of is STATE tax, and ONLY if we LIVE on the reservation.

I worked at a tribal casino, BUT lived off rez. So when my check came, same as everyone elses, State, fed, fica, ss, etc was taken out.

It's a MYTH, just like the FREE everything we allegedly get.

Answer 8

Income from lands held in trust by the Secretary of the Interior for non-competent Indians is exempt from income tax. Everything else is treated the same as for regular people. Non-competent in this context is a legal term and does not mean incompetent in the normal sense of the word.

Answer 9

No.

If you live on a reservation, you pay only federal taxes -- because the reservation is federal property that is outside the jurisdiction of any state.

Just like living in one state puts you outside the jurisdiction of a different state.

Answer 10

lol, i wish this was true. Im damn near full blooded, yet I pay taxes. not sure about people on the rez, but us alaskan natives pay taxes just like any other joe.