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Constitutional federalism.


The U.S. Supreme Court has agreed to hear an important case involving state taxation and the sovereignty of Indian tribes, Montana vs. Crow Tribe. if a 9th Circuit Court of Appeals decision is upheld, the state of Montana and Big Horn County Big Horn County is the name of several counties in the United States:
  • Big Horn County, Montana
  • Big Horn County, Wyoming
, Mont., will be obliged to pay (potentially) hundreds of millions of dollars to the Crow Tribe as a means of recovering tax payments collected by the state and county from Westmoreland Resources, a coal mining operation.

This case began in 1975 when Montana adopted a coal severance tax severance tax
n.
A tax imposed by a state on the extraction of natural resources, such as oil, coal, or gas, that will be used in other states.
 payable to the state and a gross proceeds tax payable to the county. Westmoreland Resources, operating the Absoluka Mine in a part of Big Horn County, paid the state and county taxes until September Until September is a 1984 romantic drama set in France. It stars Karen Allen as an American tourist in Paris who falls in love with a married Frenchman (Thierry Lhermitte). External links  1982. In 1982, the Crow Tribe filed suit against Montana, arguing that the taxes on the Absoluka Mine were preempted by federal Indian law Indian law

Legal practices and institutions of India. Indian law draws on a number of sources, beginning with the customs of the ancient Vedas and later accretions of Hindu law, which largely concern social matters such as marriage and succession.
. The mine was located in the "ceded strip," an area north of the Crow reservation. A federal law had opened the "strip" to settlement but the subsurface sub·sur·face  
adj.
Of, relating to, or situated in an area beneath a surface, especially the surface of the earth or of a body of water.

Adj. 1.
 mineral rights were retained in trust for the Crow nation The Crow, also called the Absaroka or Apsáalooke, are a tribe of Native Americans who historically lived in the Yellowstone river valley and now live on a reservation south of Billings, Montana, USA. , which leased mining rights to Westmoreland. In June 1987, the federal court of appeals held that the state taxes were preempted by federal Indian law, and the U.S. Supreme Court affirmed that decision. The Crow Tribe then sought restitution of $58.2 million in taxes paid by Westmoreland, along with hundreds of millions of dollars in prejudgment pre·judge  
tr.v. pre·judged, pre·judg·ing, pre·judg·es
To judge beforehand without possessing adequate evidence.



pre·judg
 interest.

Keep in mind, the taxpayer in this case was Westmoreland Resources, which ultimately settled its claim for a refund in 1991. Nevertheless, the Crow Tribe demanded restitution for the equivalent of all the taxes paid by Westmoreland, plus interest. Montana argued that the Crows could not sue to recover taxes that they did not pay and that the tribe could not have assessed itself (During the period in question the Interior Department had not approved such a tax and the constitution of the Crow tribe did not allow it.)

A federal district court found that Montana did not owe the Crows restitution, but the 9th Circuit reversed it. Now the case will be argued before the U.S. Supreme Court.
COPYRIGHT 1997 National Conference of State Legislatures
No portion of this article can be reproduced without the express written permission from the copyright holder.
Copyright 1997, Gale Group. All rights reserved. Gale Group is a Thomson Corporation Company.

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Title Annotation:The States' Advocate, Dec 1997; federal Indian law's preemption of state taxation in Montana
Publication:State Legislatures
Date:Dec 1, 1997
Words:365
Previous Article:Preemption watch.
Next Article:The coming court calendar.
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OXLEY: OCC PREEMPTION RULE THOUGHTFUL AND APPROPRIATE.

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