TAHLEQUAH, OK – Cherokee Nation Principal Chief Chuck Hoskin Jr. issued the following statement on Indian Country income tax exemption in the Stroble v. Oklahoma Tax Commission case:
“I wholeheartedly support Cherokee Nation Attorney General Sara Hill’s filing of an amicus brief in the Oklahoma Supreme Court opposing the State of Oklahoma’s imposition of state personal income tax of a tribal citizen who lives and works within a reservation in Stroble vs. Oklahoma Tax Commission. It is settled law that an Indian reservation is ‘Indian Country’ within the meaning of the state’s own Exempt Tribal Income Exclusion rule. As Attorney General Hill argues in her brief, the Oklahoma Tax Commission’s ruling to the contrary violates the rule of law and undermines tribal sovereignty. Cherokee Nation stands ready to defend the rule of law and tribal sovereignty in this case and anywhere it is threatened.”