On Tuesday, the Oklahoma Supreme Court decided that when it comes to paying taxes, Indian Country isn’t necessarily Indian Country.
Federal law says Oklahoma can’t collect income tax from a tribal member who works and lives in Indian Country. That’s simplified, but that’s the gist. So, what’s Indian Country?
Alicia Stroble filed her 2017, 2018 and 2019 state income tax returns in 2020, after the U.S. Supreme Court decided the McGirt case. Strobel is a member of the Muscogee (Creek) Nation and earned that money working for the tribe. That’s undisputed. But whether her home in Okmulgee is in Indian Country was in dispute after the Oklahoma Tax Commission denied her tax exemption.
It’s no penny-ante case. The Tax Commission estimated that if the McGirt decision were extended to the Five Civilized Tribes, the state would lose $72.7 million per year in tax revenue, with an additional $218.1 million of potential refund claims from 2017, 2018 and 2019.
Stroble’s house, which she bought in 2008, is on fee land, which is to say it’s not on Bureau of Indian Affairs trust land, but well within the never-disestablished Creek Nation reservation according to the McGirt decision.
That decision, regarding a criminal case, relied on the Major Crimes Act definition of Indian Country, which includes all formal and informal reservations.
The Oklahoma Tax Commission has arguably used the same definition.
Although six justices affirmed the lower court decision rejecting Stroble’s argument, two of them, Dustin Rowe and Dana Kuehn, concurred for different reasons, agreeing with Stroble that she lives in Indian Country.
The other four held that the definition of Indian Country used in McGirt applies only to criminal law, despite the Tax Commission having adopted the same definition.
Read it for yourself; the justices had a lot to say. There are five concurring opinions plus the dissent after you get through the decision.
Ed. Note: This newsletter was updated on July 3, 2025.
Other Takes:
[The Oklahoman] [Oklahoma Voice] [Tulsa World ▲] [KOSU]
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“No one left his home cold or hungry.”
—Inscription on Jesse Chisholm’s headstone
Ciao for now,
Ted Streuli
Executive Director, Oklahoma Watch
tstreuli@oklahomawatch.org
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